Leisure & tourism PR

Birds, bees, butterflies and brilliant wee beasties: wildlife and biodiversity in Scotland’s open gardens to be celebrated in 2020

Birds, bees, butterflies and brilliant wee beasties: wildlife and biodiversity in Scotland’s open gardens to be celebrated in 2020

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  • 526 gardens to open their gates for charity across the country during the year
  • 89 gardens opening for the first time
  • At least 47 gardens opening for a May Garden Festival Weekend (23-25 May), 26 participating in Snowdrops & Winter Walks (Feb-March) and 17 in the Angus & Dundee Garden Trail during June
  • 8 allotments, 9 therapeutic, 17 community and 3 school gardens, plus several retirement homes
  • Over 250 charities, large and small, to benefit from funds raised
  • Openings will raise importance of ‘healthy gardens’ packed with wildlife and their contribution to environment and tackling climate chang

 

The positive impact gardens can make to the environment in a world battling climate change is to be highlighted this year by the open garden charity Scotland’s Gardens Scheme.

With over 500 mainly private gardens opening their gates to the public, and around 40% of those boasting a wildlife area, the charity is calling on visitors to embrace the natural world by enjoying, learning and being inspired to create nature-friendly features in their own gardens at home.

“Every little helps: whether it be planting flowers to attract pollinators or using natural pest controls; making a garden pond or keeping bees,” says the charity’s President, HRH The Duchess of Rothesay (HRH Duchess of Cornwall) in the 2020 Scotland’s Gardens Scheme Guidebook, which also includes wildlife gardening tips from Simon Milne MBE, Regius Keeper for the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Special wild gardens opening this year include Baile Geamhraidh on a biodynamic farm on the Island of Lismore in the Inner Hebrides, where wildflowers, birds, bees and butterflies abound; Barochreal in Argyll with active beehives, a wild garden, a small glen and waterfall where 40 different species of moth and over 70 species of wildflowers, including three types of wild orchid, have been spotted, as well as red squirrels and pine martins; and Bruckills Croft in Aberdeenshire, the home of award-winning wildlife gardener Helen Rushton, which has its own butterfly alley.

For the first time, a May Garden Festival Weekend (23-25 May) will be held with dozens of gardens opening across Scotland, including many normally only open ‘by arrangement’. Galanthophiles will love the 26 gardens opening for Snowdrop & Winter Walks during February and March including  Kailzie Gardens in Peeblesshire & Tweeddale, a snowdrop collection of over 150 varieties at Ecclesgreig Castle in Kincardine & Deeside, and Danevale Park which is opening for the fiftieth time on 23 February with an old-fashioned tea served in the house. Running over Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in June, the Angus & Dundee Garden Trail will offer 17 diverse gardens to explore, including a wildflower meadow, community garden and productive walled garden.

During the year visitors will get the chance to visit 89 new gardens, opening to the public for the first time for the charity, including:

  • Jupiter Artland, & Bonnington House, Edinburgh & West Lothian: private garden of Bonnington House and extensive grounds of the adjoining award-winning sculpture park, and contemporary arts and education venue – Jupiter Artland, is an example of an extraordinary marriage of arts and nature.
  • Gardyne Castle, Angus: beautiful and varied formal gardens, featuring a fishpond and the family’s collection of chickens, merge into mature woods and parkland with a spectacular display of bluebells and romantic walks along the Denton Burn.
  • Duchess of Montrose Memorial Garden, Glasgow & District: a delightful and peaceful new garden created from the derelict site of a former shipyard. The garden has provided huge therapeutic benefits for everyone who has visited it.
  • 1 Burnton Road, Ayrshire: a serpentine path meanders through dense planting of palms, bamboos and tree ferns. Of particular note are hardy and tender bromeliads and aroids such as arisaema and colocasia.
  • Crinan, Wigtownshire : ten lochs, many unusual conifers including Wollemi Pine.
  • Bothwell Village Gardens, Lanarkshire: four delightful gardens developed by various local organisations in conjunction with the Local Authority. Each has its own atmosphere created by individual plantings. You will find formal and informal gardens, managed woodland, a sensory garden, suffragette-inspired planting, wildflowers, sculptures, plus quirky features such as craft bombing and fairy doors.

“This year we are thinking about healthy gardens by celebrating wildlife,” said Terrill Dobson, National Organiser for Scotland’s Gardens Scheme. “Our gardens and greenspaces are ecosystems that nurture a vast array of biodiversity including insects, butterflies, birds, small animals, earthworms and even beneficial bacteria. And these in turn benefit our gardens, through pollination, improved structure and pest control, just to name a few. It’s wonderful to offer the public so many fantastic nature-friendly gardens to visit and we’re hoping lots of people will walk away inspired by what they’ve seen.”

Other highlights include Shetland gardens celebrating 10 years opening for the charity such as Cruisdale,  Highlands Garden, Lea Gardens, Nonavaar and Norby.

More than 250 local and national charities will benefit from the funds raised through garden openings including Scotland’s Gardens Scheme’s own beneficiary charities – the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland, Maggie’s and Perennial. It will also be offering a £5,000 bursary to a guest charity to help fund projects to improve physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Last year Trellis received a bursary towards its excellent work to support therapeutic gardens across Scotland.  Over £1 million has been raised for charity over the last four years through Scotland’s Garden Scheme’s openings.

ENDS

For further media information please contact: Emma Mason on emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk or 07762 117433.  High res images and logos are available.

OR Terrill Dobson, National Organiser, on  terrill@scotlandsgardens.org  or 0131-226 3714,

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Scotland’s Gardens Scheme raises money for other charities by facilitating the opening of large and small gardens of horticultural interest throughout Scotland to the public. Most are privately owned and are normally inaccessible to the public at other times.

Visitors can plan their days out to participating gardens by clicking onto scotlandsgardens.org.  Click on which area you’d like to visit and details of all gardens opening locally will be displayed, with opening hours, online map and key details. Garden highlights can also be found on Twitter @ScotGardens  Instagram ScotlandGardenScheme and on Facebook ScotlandsGardens.  As well as on the website, garden listings can be found in the Scotland’s Gardens Scheme 2020 Guidebook, on sale in major bookshops, at tourist attractions, garden centres etc and online via www.scotlandsgardens.org.

Sixty percent of funds raised may go to charities nominated by each garden owner with the net remainder being donated to SGS beneficiary charities.

 

 

 

Rock Garden Restoration, Newby Hall, North Yorkshire UK

Rock on! New head gardener at Newby Hall to lead major five-year rock garden restoration project

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  • Phil Cormie appointed head gardener joining from the Himalayan Garden & Sculpture Park
  • Newby’s historic Edwardian rock garden to be completely renovated in five-year project
  • Newby nr Ripon was recently crowned Historic Houses Garden of the Year

Yorkshire’s famous horticultural landmark Newby Hall is set to get an extensive rock garden facelift, thanks to a major restoration scheme being led by new head gardener Phil Cormie.

Phil Cormie has joined Newby’s team from North Yorkshire’s Himalayan Garden & Sculpture Park and the first task on his ‘to do’ list is to crack on with transforming the overgrown historic rock garden area.

Built before WW1 when the new trend for rock garden construction was at its peak, Newby’s rock garden includes a waterfall, stone bridge that doubles as a miniature aquaduct and many vast rocks covered with rare plants and trees. Ellen Willmott, the visionary Edwardian plantswoman and a great friend of Newby’s owners at the time, was integral in its conception and construction. Work on the garden ceased in 1914 when many of the Estate workers signed up for Kitchener’s Army, heading off to France. Sadly, many did not return.

Newby Hall garden team in the rock garden
Picture Credit Charlotte Graham

Over the years, plants and trees in the rock garden have matured and outgrown the space and now, over a century later, the area will once again become the main focus for the Newby garden team. Working closely with specialists Kevock Garden Plants & Design, Phil Cormie, and Newby’s owners Richard and Lucinda Compton, aim to transform the space to ensure it is conserved for generations of visitors to come.

With a team of six, Phil Cormie is keen to ensure Newby remains one of the best gardens in the UK. He said: “The chance to play a part in shaping the spirit and the story of Newby Hall was irresistible. I am delighted to be involved in this exciting and important project, to protect and enhance one of Britain’s finest gardens. Visitors have a real love for Newby Hall so my aim is to provide a real floral spectacle as well as enhancing the beauty and romance of the garden.

“Transforming and renovating the rock garden is a huge project and causes quite a dilemma as it’s obviously important to retain the spirit of the place. The overgrown tree canopy did give the air of a secret garden but this caused the herbaceous underplanting to be wiped out due to a lack of sunlight. There are no original plans or planting schemes so we are trying to interpret what we believe to be the original vision for the rock garden – huge rocky outcrops with intimate planting pockets for unusual alpines. By removing some of the tree canopy, we have already started to unveil the scale and drama of the rock faces which are spectacular!”

Newby was recently crowned the Historic Houses Garden of the Year and its much-loved gardens are visited by over a hundred thousand people every year and often feature on film and TV. Taking centre stage is the eye-catching 172-metre-long double border, celebrated for being the longest in a private garden in the UK, plus 14 other stunning garden ‘rooms’, two heritage orchards and 30 acres of woodland.

Already a star of film and screen productions such as Peaky Blinders, Victoria, Gentleman Jack and the ABC Murders, Newby Hall will step further into the spotlight later this year when the popular three-day Harrogate Autumn Flower Show permanently moves site to its grounds.

ENDS

For further information contact Emma Mason on emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433 or Louise Scott on louise.s@newbyhall.com  01423 320412

newbyhall.com Twitter – @newbyhall  Facebook – newbyhallandgardens Instagram – newbyhallandgardens

NOTES TO EDITORS

  • Newby Hall is a William and Mary house located between Ripon and Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire, built in the 1690s until the guidance of Christopher Wren. John Carr remodelled the house in the 18th century, with interiors by Robert Adam and furniture by Chippendale. Owner Richard Compton is the 10th generation of his family to live at Newby.
  • The House and Gardens are open to the public from April to September, attracting around 140,000 visitors each season. The venue boasts a restaurant, miniature railway, gift shop and plant centre, day visitor events and weddings.
  • The gardening team has a head gardener, 6 full time gardeners and a handful of volunteers.  They care for the 25 acres of formal gardens and a further 15 acres of woodland and orchard, plus a national collection of Cornus.
  • Newby Hall is just a few miles from the A1(M), the main London to Edinburgh motorway. Close by are the magnificent Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire Moors National Parks and the historic cities of York and Ripon.