thanks to the plant hunters

Cycled out to a wonderful garden today, open as part of Scotland's Garden Scheme. Kevock Garden in Lasswade is built on a slope which runs down to a valley below and is the work of a lovely couple, David and Stella Rankin, who run and own Kevock Garden Plants. It was originally planted by the previous owner when he moved there on his retirement, but it became overgrown and 'lost' over time and it was only when the Rankins bought it that it was slowly rediscovered.

This long spell of very cold weather has meant that like all gardens in Scotland at the moment it is several weeks behind. Nonetheless today it offered a lovely show of many different types of snowdrop (and snowflakes) aconites, tiny winter cyclamen, emerging hellebores and peonies all set amidst the striking architecture of winter trees.

After an exploration of the garden, and a bowl of home made soup by the log fire, I returned home by bike through Loanhead where I spotted a plaque on a modest cottage wall. It was to George Forrest, an early plant hunter, who left Loanhead in 1904 to travel to China for seventeen years to hunt for plants and bring them home. It is thanks to him and others like him that we can now enjoy the glossy greens of the trees in this snapshot.

The garden is open again in mid April when it should provide a terrific show of rhodedendrons and azaleas and camelias.