Nursery and Gardens
The nursery and gardens are situated on a series of terraces wrapped around the cafe of Whitmuir Farm. It has open views towards the Pentlands, desite being northwest facing it gets sun most of the day in summer and less in winter as the sun sinks lower in the sky behind the hills.
The gardens are made up of the lower and middle terraces and their banks. The banks are awash with wild flowers through the year and the gardens in between are planted with lots of interesting and tough perennials and grasses to give continuity of colour, interest, texture and movement through out the year. Of course these plants also have to be tough enough to cope with conditions here which means they should grow with you too. Hardy and interesting plants for Scottish gardens, a local nursery for local gardeners.
Because the terraces are very linear, varying in width but pretty narrow, its makes for an interesting area to design gardens. The terraces curve to create an amphitheatre style area around the cafe building which means that as you walk along the terraces we have used the curve to hide what is "around the corner" to create an element of surprise and interest for our visitors. The narrowness of the terraces means we don't have massive space to create swathes of gardens but it's also a great way to think creatively about space and how to use it best and create the feeling of more garden rather than less. Meandering paths means the borders vary in size and using the widest parts to create an area you can't see around immediately makes it more interesting and feel like a bigger garden than it actually is.
On either side of the track to the nursery, two narrow beds include plants for dry shade and plants that will cope with our exposed site and clay soil. Over the past few years I have replanted and added in new plants to these areas. The stream garden as you enter the nursery was the first garden to be created, giving an interesting and enticing entrance to the nursery. We have also taken over a large flat area to the North of the nursery which was grass and fruit trees. We have used part of this to extend the stock beds where customers can shop directly and can see the range of plants we have available.
The sales area occupies the first part of the top terrace where we have filled it with our made to measure, recycled from pallets sales tables. These hold flowering, seasonal and interesting plants, herbs, fruit, shrubs and trees, native plants and alpines. The small shade tunnel houses plants for shade lovers (and shade loving plants too!) and David has created a water feature which incorporates the tubs for the aquatic plants for sale. This adds another dimension to the sales area with a fountain and bench where you can relax, enjoy the views and the sound of running water.
In 2017 we developed the first half of the middle terrace by creating a big scented border that leads into a formal herb garden. The herb garden is made up of small beds and gravel paths leading you through culinary, medicinal and household herbs to a seating area at the end. The scented garden is accessed on a grass path winding it’s way up through vibrant plantings of scented shrubs, perennials, grasses and annuals. There is a seating area where you can enjoy the buzz of the bees and the heady scent of sweetpeas when they are in flower.
In 2017 David and I were married in the herb garden (no pressure to get it ready then!) Our friends and family loved the outdoor wedding, the setting and the quirkyness of it.
In 2019 we extended the stream garden, adding another twenty feet of borders on either side of the stream. I planted these up with big chunky perennials that will cope with the very poor soil in those areas and create big blocks of plants. We also finished off the wildlife garden in 2019, first started back in 2016 when David put in the bottle edging, we just never got back to it. Now as you walk along the path you pass a border for bee plants, one for butterflies, another for birds and bats and a wildlife pond. Information boards have info and plant lists for each border. Within 2 weeks of building the pond we had frogs in it. The wildlife garden takes you to the cornucopia garden through an arch built from recycled ladders. This garden has all year round interest using shrubs, trees, perennials and bulbs.
We also have a garden railway on the middle terrace. Built by David and my youngest son Daniel. This 16mm narrow guage railway runs once a month on a Sunday afternoon, in the summer. The timetable is on the events page when we are open. In 2020 during lockdown David couldn’t work so he came in and dug over the two borders around the railway and on the other side of the grass path. These are planted up with lots of plants to provide year round interest. The design leans towards a prairie theme with lots of late summer perennials and grasses. In 2020 I also removed all the black currents behind the stock beds and have planted up a series of mini borders in this long border.
In 2021 we developed the winter garden on the bottom terrace. This garden has a wide path leading through a laburnum arch with wide borders on either side and continuing up on to the middle terrace where it meets the railway garden. Shrubs and trees with interesting bark or evergreen leaves form a famework underplanted with winter flowering and evergreen perennials and spring bulbs.
Our new garden for 2023 was the Woodland garden. This large area became part of the nursery when we put up our boundary fence 4 years ago. Now we have cleared out the scrubby willow trees and found and tidied up birch, hazel, rowan and apple trees which are growing to create a mid story canopy under the mature beech trees. Isabel planted up the borders in spring and you can follow the path across the stream using the bridges we built across to the natural woodland side before returning via another bridge through the cultivated woodland garden. I am so excited to see this garden develope over time.
2024 saw the loss of two areas of garden along the north east boundery and the creation of a new area behind the nursery where we will now have our new polytunnels right alongside the nursery for the first time in nine years. So a very yin yang year of loss and gain. As well as poly tunnels and more stock bed space we hope to create a replacement meadow, though this will take some work and years and there is no guaranteee it will be as successful as the existing one as these natural areas are a whole microsystem of plants, mycrorhyzza and all those magic things nature does that we can’t see. This will be where the new Silent space will be, a much more relaxing and contemplative space.
Keep visiting the nursery and gardens to see our progress and new ideas.
The sales area bursting with summer colour
Entrance to Quercus
Bulbs and violas for spring
The pond in the wildlife garden
Late summer -
Sales area
Asters and Persicarias in the gardens
Colour in the new trays
The vertical Planter seating area
Sweetpeas from the scented garden
All contents and photographs © Rona Dodds, unauthorised reproduction & use of these images is strictly forbidden
Perennial stock beds
Exotics display
Geums, Achilleas and Nepeta make a good combination
Perennal border in the stock beds
The Herb Garden
The Scented Garden
The Herb Garden
Media Page |
Perennials |
Grasses |
Trees and Shrubs |
Conifers, bamboos and Climbers |
Herbs and Fruit |
Shade Plants and ferns |
Wild Flowers |
Plant profiles |
Garden and Plant Ideas |
Astrantia |
Monarda |
Sanguisorba |
Cercidiphyllum |
Hellebores |
Snowdrops |
Plants for Dry Shade |
Winter Interest in the garden |
Waterlogged and Wet Soil |
Quirky Bird Top 100 Plants |
Deer in the Garden |
Rabbits in the garden |
Nursery Border planting lists |
Herb garden |
Borders in the stock beds
The Scottish Native Garden
Salvias, vintage and recycling
Ragged Robin growing on the terraces
Leucanthemum and Aquelegia
The stream garden
The Railway Garden
mmer colour
The Railway Garden
mmer colour
Cornucopia Garden
The Orchard
Alpines in the sales area
Perennials in the sales area
Silent Space in the Nursery Garden
You will find our silent space in the new wildflower meadow through the hedge where you see the sign inviting you to enjoy some silent space. This area will be enclosed by trees on two sides, looking over the new meadow and grasses stock beds once they are built. Here you will be able sit on the bench, enjoy the sound of the birds, insects and the quiet of the country. You will access our silent space by walking through the arch in the hedge beyond the shade tunnel. Trees, spring bulbs and wild flowers provide interest and colour all year on either side of the meandering path finally arriving at the bench.
As well as the quiet of the country and being surrounded by plants and gardens, a large part of the nursery gardens are dedicated to wildlife and biodiversity. We have a wildflower meadow and banks which are full of wildflowers and grasses and are home to many many insects, bugs and beasties. The gardens and nursery literally buzz with wildlife. We are also on an organic farm and we work as organically as possible helping to enhance the biodiversity and natural habitat of where we are.
Our silent space is open when the nursery is open, Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, March to October.
You can find more info and other gardens taking part on the Silent Space website: Silent Space
Winter garden
The Pink border
Woodland garden
The Woodland garden