Time flies when you’re in the garden!
We are lucky to work with some fantastic volunteers at Armadale Castle. Here our latest recruit in the gardens, Isabel, shares impressions of her first few weeks with us. Be sure to say ‘hi’ when you see her in the gardens…
It’s nearly two months since I was welcomed as a garden volunteer on a sunny morning at the start of August and shown around the garden by Garden Consultant Andrew Peters. Andrew is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about trees, plants and his work here at Armadale, so I couldn’t have got off to a better start.
At that time there were still lots of beautiful wild orchids sprouting through the long grass in areas that have been allowed to re-wild under the shade of some of the magnificent trees.
In the first week I joined the ‘girl-power’ team, Lisa and Kathryn, as they were putting a new cover on one of the three large polytunnels. The shade tunnel, as it is called, is a space to bring on new plants such as those recently propagated or potted up. Some of the plants are available at the Gatehouse for a donation – but you have to be quick.
I was excited to hear that Armadale has been selected as an official Satellite Garden for the International Conifer Conservation Programme, a partnership with Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The partnership has resulted in the gifting of 140 young conifers from around the world and I had the privilege of planting a Chilean one myself, with a catchy name Rhaphithamnus spinosus. One to remember!