Silverburn Open Gardens

 

Dawyck in the Rain

My camera and I went on a date to Dawyck Botanical Gardens. I had a feeling that the Rhododendron and Azalea Walk would be nearing it's best and that proved to be the case. Sadly the weather wasn't very cooperative. Fortunately there wasn't anyone else about as I wrestled with my handbag, an umbrella (to protect the camera rather than me) as well as the camera. Here are the resulting pictures (or rather a selection of the best ones I took) in the order they were taken.

Blue and very wet poppy

Iris

Wild Orchid

This one has a fabulous scent

And this is my favourite colour scheme. 

Published in the Financial Times

Today two of my photographs were published in the Financial Times in an article about Craigieburn Gardens. Those who know me might not be too surprised to hear I'm not a regular reader of the Financial Times but I must admit to really liking their weekend edition. So much to read and much of it non-financial. And that pink paper is great for collage.

The photographs they used date back to our visit to Craigieburn Garden back in August 2012 and here is the link to the blog post I wrote at the time.  The gunnera was my blip that day. It's a beautiful place near Moffat and looking back and searching out the pictures for the paper has made me long to revisit. I'll wait till the spring and then I will go back there!

West Linton Open Gardens

 

It was Open Garden day in West Linton today and by some miracle it remained dry the entire afternoon, but it was overcast. Here are some of the amazing flowers we saw in no particular order.

Dahlia

Rose

Dahlia

Alstromeria

 

These beauties (Begonias) will be entered into the Ayr Flower Show next week. They look like winners to me.

 

Lilies

 

Posted with Blogsy

The Secret Herb Garden

I met a friend for lunch in The Secret Herb Garden. This is a veritable plant paradise hiding on the south side of Edinburgh, not far from Ikea. You can easily imagine however that you are miles from anywhere. Inside the glass house there was a wealth of colours and as I had the camera with me I went to town with the photography. There was a riot of malva sylvestris (see above). I'm quite familiar with this one as my mother gave us some seeds.

 It was however the mauve poppies that stole the show for me. 

 Love the orange of these calendula.

 And here is a good view of just how wonderful the overall effect was, like an exquisite embroidery.

The lunch was excellent too and apart from plants there are many other tempting goods for sale. I was particularly taken with the herbal teas. The one I had with my lunch had calendula in it.

Plants from Halmyre Mains

Here are some of the plants who bought last Sunday at Halmyre Mains before they will be put into the ground and various pots.

Dianthus Doris

Primula

Diascia

Plant Sale at Halmyre Mains

There was  a plant sale this morning at Halmyre Mains garden close by, and of course we couldn't resist! We came home with a real treasure trove of plants, and now all we have to do is find a spot for them in our own garden. Needless we say we also had a look around Halmyre Mains garden itself which will be open again this year on July 19th. Hopefully that will be a drier day as you might be able to spot on the pictures that today was very wet, and cold too.  You can see pictures of our previous visits to this splendid garden here and here.

We still loved wandering around and the garden is looking a treat already. Can't wait to see what it will be like in July!

Baddinsgill Garden

We were far from sure if visiting a garden this afternoon was a good option. It was very windy outside and although the sun appeared occasionally there was also some rain and it was quite cold. In fact as we were driving towards nearby Baddinsgill Garden raindrops appeared on the windscreen. But we persevered. The pictures are very deceptive as you could imagine it was a fine summer's afternoon. It wasn't but at least part of the garden (more an estate really) is quite sheltered and in the sunshine you could imagine high summer had arrived (I wish!). Due to our strange weather this spring,  the rhododendrons for the most part aren't out yet, but on the plus side the bluebells were at their very best.

 The lawn looked immaculate and the enormous sycamore tree is the oldest tree on the estate.

 We have visited this garden several times before but I always discover new delights.

 These primulas looked lovely and were very tall.

 Sadly there were no ducks to be seen, only their house in the centre of the pond.

 I just loved the enormous masses of blue!

 It made the whole place look super romantic.

This is the only photograph that represents the windy conditions rather well. At the end of the estate, following the green path shown on the previous picture, you can go through a gate and climb towards Baddinsgill Reservoir. Immediately the wind took hold of us once we left the shelter of the trees and the reservoir looked quite wild and choppy. We decided not to walk all the way round but instead to retreat back to the garden itself and enjoy a cup of tea.