This corner of Scotland has its fair share of beautiful gardens

The Herald Scotland

24-04-2025

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The south west of Scotland has more than its fair share of beautiful gardens and wonderful nurseries, most of which deserve to be better known, which is why the Threave Garden Show, which takes place on Monday, 5 May, is a great opportunity to discover several of the area's horticultural treasures all in the one place.
The show will bring together some of the best local nurseries in the wonderful setting of one of the National Trust for Scotland's most important gardens, where generations of horticulturists have learnt their craft.
Threave spreads out across Kelton Hill, flowing around a Baronial mansion once owned by daffodil expert, Major Alan Gordon, whose legacy includes many fine trees and a collection of rare 'Southern Gem' daffodils. In April these delicate little blooms, along with a further 360 different varieties of narcissi, carpet the slopes beneath the house, transforming the grass with a wash of pale yellow colour and filling the air with the scent of spring.
However Threave isn't just beautiful it is also home to the National Trust for Scotland's School of Heritage Gardening and the 24-hectare garden receives the expert attention of the school's tutors and its students.
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The NTS has been training elite gardeners at Threave for 60 years, providing them with the skills and knowledge that has allowed them to carve out careers in some of the country's finest gardens. In order to do that, a wide variety of different growing areas and habitats have been developed and the result for visitors is an exciting mix of plants and landscapes.
From woodlands and orchards to formal rose borders and meadows, there are many charming corners to explore, including a heather garden, a rock garden and broad lawns. Hydrangeas surround a Secret Garden that's tucked away beneath dense shrubs, while the planting in the Garden of Contemplation, with its winding paths and views over the countryside, includes the soothing green tones of massed ferns and Box balls.
Threave's ponds are a magnet for the abundant wildlife that lives around the garden, which includes red squirrels and the frogs and palmate newts live within the ponds themselves.
And then there is the walled garden, with its productive outdoor grapevine, greenhouses filled with tender plants and deeply-cultivated vegetable beds where this year's produce is beginning to sprout.
Threave garden of contemplation (Image: free) Threave is a climate-monitoring garden, which means that daily records are kept on wind speeds, sunshine and rainfall and the data from these readings is helping this and other NTS gardens to plan for climate change and weather events, such as Storm Eowyn, which saw some of Threaves trees toppled by hurricane-force winds.
There still remain many majestic trees to be enjoyed, however, including champion specimens of the Dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) and the Handkerchief tree (Davida involcrata.)
Beyond the garden itself lies the Threave nature reserve which stretches along the River Dee, where the wetlands provide rich feeding grounds for ospreys, peregrine falcons and Red kites, while the woodlands closer to the house are a habitat for eight different species of bat.
Details:
Threave Garden is open daily, 10am - 5pm.
Tickets: £10/£8/£5
The nature reserve is open dawn to dusk and entry is free.
Tel: [phone]
www.nts.org.uk
Threave is located one mile west of Castle Douglas, just off the A75
In association with Discover Scottish Gardens www.discoverscottishgardens.org