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GARDEN OPEN DAY

BLESSED WITH THE SUN!

Thank you so much to all of you who came along to visit the garden last week - the contrast now in the weather could not be more pronounced and we were so fortunate to have such a warm and sunny day.

We sold quite a few plants and some lovely Gilmerton House honey. Quite a number of our volunteers were on hand to help out and it was great to see some new faces in the garden.

Do remember that if you would like to visit just get in touch - the garden is accessible most of the time and we welcome visitors at any point.

SCOTLAND'S GARDENS EAST LOTHIAN GARDEN TRAIL

To inspire and give us all ideas and a passion to create more beautiful gardens in East Lothian have a look at following the East Lothian Garden trail this week with Scotland's Gardens.

Running from the 28th of June to the 2nd of July there are 12 glorious gardens open in the region - tickets are £25 for all 12 gardens or £5 for each garden you visit. Scotland's Gardens is a charity that benefits six Scottish charities including Trellis and MND Scotland.

Find out more at www.scotlandsgardens.org

progress in the garden

JUNE UPDATE

We really have had the whole spectrum of weather this month - not snow.. yet - from scorching hot dry days at the beginning of the month to heavy cold rain and strong blustery winds. The challenges of gardening - what makes it so much fun!

Being relieved of our watering duties has helped enormously as this was the main job for us all leading up to our open day in the middle of the month. The rain was very useful for us though, softening the ground and allowing us to make a great start on one of our main borders at the north wall.

This impressive collection of shrubs will begin our border planting - all sun lovers and the first of our stock plants for our shrub nursery in the garden.

Money from East Lothian Council has gone to the purchase of these plants. We have 18 different plants here, including a Buddleia alternifolia, a Cotinus, a most unusual Syringa pinnatifolia and - somewhat ambitiously - an Abutilon Canary Bird.

We will be trying both green and hard wood cuttings from these this year.

Our valiant crew getting the job done - we came across both a toad and a newt in here as we were working, both relocated to long grass just the other side of our shelter where we are hoping they will continue to thrive and return to this border as it matures.

F O L L O W on F A C E B O O K

F O L L O W on T W I T T E R

garden design course

SATURDAY 22ND JULY

Our next garden design course at the Butler's Residence at Gilmerton House will be on Saturday the 22nd of July. This course is a full day and all participants will learn about how to approach designing their own garden from scratch.

Cost is £95 and includes coffee, cake and a light lunch. All materials are also provided. Students will need to bring along some information about their own garden so booking for the day is essential. All proceeds from the course will go to support our work in the garden.

To book or to find out more, click here or call June on 01620 880207