Dear Green Place 5 - The Hidden Gardens

I'm not sure I've ever been back here since the first year they opened... which was 10 years ago now...! The xylotheque - the library of native Scottish woodland - is still my favourite part. It has an oak tree growing through the centre and its shelves hold 17 wooden books, each containing a sample of a native species of tree.

The gardens feel a little different now to me -- when they opened they felt more Japanese-like in design, everything seemed ordered and in neat separate spaces. Maybe everything has just grown but it feels like things are more mixed and overlapping and there's more focus on wildlife now with nest boxes and bug hotels and solitary bee tenements (these I also like a lot!). Or maybe I just never noticed all this before!

I almost blipped some lovely heart-shaped flowers, which I'd never seen before, but I thought the xylotheque reminded me more of this particular garden.

The Hidden Gardens are Scotland's sanctuary gardens, dedicated to peace.