This one-and-a-quarter acre plantswoman’s garden has a variety of different plant habitats: woodland, dry sunny gravel beds, rock garden, crevice garden and mixed perennial and shrub borders. There is also a large productive vegetable garden. The McHales like to grow most of their plants from seed obtained through various international seed exchanges. You can expect to see a large number of unusual and exciting plants. The garden is full of colour with an abundance of spring flowers in March, and in late May and early June the meconopsis should be at their best. The gravel garden comes into its own in July and continues through until winter. Hardy cyclamen are a big favourite and one species or another is in flower in almost every month of the year. Winter is a good time to admire their varied leaf forms.

Threave Garden and Nature Reserve SGS Open Day is a one-day event at the home of the National Trust for Scotland’s School of Heritage Gardening in Dumfries and Galloway, celebrating all aspects of horticulture. There will be plant nurseries, a craft fair, local producers, and plant-related talks from Threave’s Garden Instructors. In addition to this there will be children’s activities including a storyteller, face painting and bug hunting. Threave Garden Café, gift shop and plants sales will be open as normal on the day.
Champion Trees: Acer platanoides 'Princeton Gold'; Carpinus caroliniana; X Cuprocyparis leylandii 'Picturesque' and a further 25 Scottish Champion Trees

A one hectare walled garden containing an outstanding collection of rare and common plants from around the world assembled to create naturalistic habitat for our native fauna. Some plants can be found in no other Scottish Garden whilst many are first introductions to gardens in the UK. This is an example of gardening harmoniously with nature where declining birds such as Garden warbler can be seen nesting amongst Himalayan poppies & American Prairie plants whilst lucky people might glimpse harvest mice in our unique Grassland Ecology Garden. We use no artificial fertiliser or pesticide and this is also true of the plants we grow for our plant sale area which has a wide range of less common plants.

Arbigland House is an Adam-style 18th-century mansion surrounded by 24 acres of woodland gardens running down to a beach on the Solway Firth. The gardens date from the 18th century but the more formal areas were developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are currently undergoing a programme of restoration and development by the current owners Wayne Whittaker and Alistair Alcock. There are 200 year-old trees lining the Broad Walk which runs down to the Solway and a huge variety of rhododendrons and azaleas. Within the woodland are a range of features including a stream-fed lake and a Japanese garden, with a more formal sundial garden and sunken rose garden, all in the process of renewal. Amongst these are a diverse collection of mature trees and shrubs.

Corsock House garden, renowned for its substantial collection of rhododendrons, includes an amazing variety of designed landscape, from a strictly formal walled garden, through richly planted woodlands full of different vistas, artfully designed water features and surprises to extensive lawns showing off the Bryce baronial mansion. This is an Arcadian garden with pools and temples, described by Ken Cox as ‘perhaps my favourite of Scotland’s many woodland gardens’. 

Large old walled garden with a wide selection of plants, including some interesting shrubs and climbers and a kitchen garden. Mature woodland with many established rhododendrons and azaleas, and carpeted with snowdrops in February.

The extensive gardens at Southwick House comprise three main areas. The first is a traditional formal walled garden with potager and large glasshouse producing a range of fruit, vegetables and cutting flowers. Adjacent to this is a hedged formal garden with herbaceous, shrub and rose beds centred around a lily pond, with roses being a notable feature. Outwith the formal gardens there is a large water garden with two connected ponds with trees, shrubs and lawns running alongside the Southwick Burn. 

Dalbeattie Community Allotments Association was formed in 2008 and the site was officially opened in August 2010. A local landowner has leased the land for 25 years at £1 per year, initially providing for 47 plots. The initial results were so successful that the area is now increased to provide for 81 productive plots where local residents can grow their own fruit, vegetables and flowers. Come and enjoy a stroll around the site, chat to members or relax in one of the community areas with a cup of tea. Information will be available and photos of the development of the site will be on display.

An extensive garden surrounded by mature trees and shrubberies, with views to the south west over the surrounding countryside. Originally Victorian, the garden is being restored by the present owners with a colourful variety of herbaceous mixed borders, beds and rockeries. There are snowdrops in February and banks of daffodils and a carpet of white narcissus in the lawns and around the pergola in springtime.

Impressive five-acre garden with a large collection of mature shrubs, including over 200 rhododendron species, many camellias, magnolias including campbellii, embothriums, telopeas, perennials, over 200 hydrangeas and many other rare Southern Hemisphere plants. The garden has several interesting paths and is on a hillside running along the rocky shore of the Dee Estuary in Kirkcudbright Bay. 

Barholm Castle, a 16th-century tower, was restored from a ruin in 2005. The gardens surrounding the tower have been mostly developed from scratch and are now mature. There is a recently-extended walled garden, with a gate designed by the artist blacksmith Adam Booth; a courtyard garden; a wooded ravine with huge hybrid rhododendrons from Benmore; a pond and a large fernery with over 100 varieties of fern, including very large tree ferns; a large Victorian-style greenhouse filled with succulents and tender perennials; and a large open garden with island beds of shrubs and perennials and a pond. Directly around the castle are rockeries and shrub borders. Views over Wigtown Bay are magnificent. The garden is planted for year-round colour, from February, when the castle ravine is a river of snowdrops, to October, when autumn colour is splendid.

This one-and-a-quarter acre plantswoman’s garden has a variety of different plant habitats: woodland, dry sunny gravel beds, rock garden, crevice garden and mixed perennial and shrub borders. There is also a large productive vegetable garden. The McHales like to grow most of their plants from seed obtained through various international seed exchanges. You can expect to see a large number of unusual and exciting plants. The garden is full of colour with an abundance of spring flowers in March, and in late May and early June the meconopsis should be at their best. The gravel garden comes into its own in July and continues through until winter. Hardy cyclamen are a big favourite and one species or another is in flower in almost every month of the year. Winter is a good time to admire their varied leaf forms.

This garden was started in 1995 by Carola Cliff, a keen and knowledgeable plantswoman, and contains a collection of unusual shrubs and small trees, which are growing well. Her aim has been to create different informal gardens around a Galloway farm house, leading down to a lochan. Above the lochan there is a sweet cottage, used for holiday retreats, with its own interesting garden. In 1996 a three-acre arboretum was planted as a shelter belt and it now contains some rare oak trees. 

An extensive garden surrounded by mature trees and shrubberies, with views to the south west over the surrounding countryside. Originally Victorian, the garden is being restored by the present owners with a colourful variety of herbaceous mixed borders, beds and rockeries. There are snowdrops in February and banks of daffodils and a carpet of white narcissus in the lawns and around the pergola in springtime.

A new and developing garden on the outskirts of Gatehouse of Fleet. A rock and spring herbaceous garden of around an acre, with a wide range of alpines, Himalayan and New Zealand plants, shrubs and small trees. There is a rock garden, modern crevice gardens, troughs, a large alpine house and bulb frame. New boulder, scree and stumpery beds, a pond and a woodland area are being developed. Small productive vegetable and fruit garden, plus a bluebell bank in May.

Impressive five-acre garden with a large collection of mature shrubs, including over 200 rhododendron species, many camellias, magnolias including campbellii, embothriums, telopeas, perennials, over 200 hydrangeas and many other rare Southern Hemisphere plants. The garden has several interesting paths and is on a hillside running along the rocky shore of the Dee Estuary in Kirkcudbright Bay. 

An over mature one acre plot is being developed into a many faceted garden with a varied mix of interesting plants. The Secret Path leads to Acer Valley and the Won-Kei Parterre, overlooked by the Loch Corbie Monster. A narrow log-lined way leads to West Wood, from where you follow the Burnside Path by the Flame Tree Forest and through the bamboo arch to Dry Wood to find Wood's Henge. Then up through Bluebell Wood to the top of The Rock, where Big Red, the giant squirrel resides, with views across the Fleet Valley. Back down and cross the lawns below the pond before heading up the granite path to the greenhouse, polytunnel, compost bins and the car park, with its collection of pots and troughs. Visit the front lawn and its well-stocked beds on your way out. Light refreshments may be available by arrangement.

Corsock House garden, renowned for its substantial collection of rhododendrons, includes an amazing variety of designed landscape, from a strictly formal walled garden, through richly planted woodlands full of different vistas, artfully designed water features and surprises to extensive lawns showing off the Bryce baronial mansion. This is an Arcadian garden with pools and temples, described by Ken Cox as ‘perhaps my favourite of Scotland’s many woodland gardens’. 

Large old walled garden with a wide selection of plants, including some interesting shrubs and climbers and a kitchen garden. Mature woodland with many established rhododendrons and azaleas, and carpeted with snowdrops in February.

Open by arrangement for wildflowers. Informal garden around traditional stone buildings with views over pasture, wetland and a loch to mature mixed forest. The garden joins a wildflower meadow dominated by black knapweed and established yellow rattle. It features three species of native orchids and a former mill pond, a notable damselfly site. Both are maintained specifically to allow native wildlife and plants to thrive. There is an ornamental vegetable garden and around the house mixed plantings merge from sun to shade and woodland planting to provide all-year-round interest. There are meadow, wetland and woodland walks to two lochs and a crannog. Refreshments available on request.