Why we love Malleny Garden

Transcript

Four speakers: James Bell (Head Gardener); Eoghann Campbell (Gardener); Bob (Volunteer); Anne (Volunteer)

James
My name's James Bell. I'm Head Gardener here at Malleny Garden, which is cared for by the National Trust for Scotland.
Malleny Garden is based on the west side of Edinburgh in a village called Balerno.
We are a walled garden,  a 2-acre walled garden.
We have a huge variety of plants in the garden. Most notably, we've got a National Collection of 19th-century shrub roses. 

Our most prominent feature in the garden is our four large yew trees: the Four Evangelists.  
These are 400-year-old trees which we believe  were planted in commemoration of the Union of the Crowns in 1603.
Originally, there were 12 planted, the 12 Apostles.
Unfortunately, 8 were removed in the early 1960s,  leaving us today with the Four Evangelists.  
Part of the work we're doing here in the garden is to try and propagate these four yew trees, with a view to replanting the missing eight and also preserving the genetic material of these important trees.
There is a 13th yew in the garden, sort of tucked away at the bottom of the garden. 
It's been left to its own devices; it's gnarled and contorted.
It's an interesting little tree to go and have a look at.

Within the garden we have myself here full-time. We also have a part-time gardener with us as well. And we also have a fantastic group of volunteers.  
The contribution our volunteers make really does help the garden move forward; they keep it looking as good as it does.

Our veg garden is managed by the Balerno Village Trust Gardeners, a local community group who come in every couple of weeks to look after our veg garden.
It's a fantastic little tie-in between the Trust and the local community.

I love Malleny Garden because it's a charming little garden.
It feels very much like a domestic garden; for people visiting the garden, it almost feels achievable.
Even though it is a 2-acre walled garden, it still feels like people could have part of this garden in their own garden.

The garden has quite a positive impact on people's well-being.
It is a very calming, tranquil space, away from the bustling everyday life that most people have, and it's a nice, peaceful place for people to be.

Eoghann
I'm Eoghann. I'm a gardener for the National Trust for Scotland here at Malleny.
I've been here for about a year as a part-time employee, but before that I was a volunteer for a couple of years.

I love Malleny because it's a traditional garden, which has quite a relaxed, romantic feel, but also it has some of the more modern aspects such as wildflower meadows.
As you walk through the garden, there's a nice contrast between the well-manicured elements and the wild elements.
These wildflower areas attract a lot of bees and butterflies. It's a wildlife-friendly garden.

The garden has a National Collection of 19th-century roses, which are a little bit different from what you might have in your own garden.
They're obviously older. They're taller, shrub-type roses and they only flower once.  
The best time to come to the garden to look at the roses in flower is mid-June to mid-July, depending on the weather. It might be slightly earlier or slightly later.

There's always something to look at in the garden, beyond the roses.
In the winter, there will be bulbs or just the structure of the garden might be more visible.
And then there's always herbaceous plants,  bedding plants; there's the greenhouses.
There's always plants or things to look at when you come round.

Bob
I'm Bob Douglas. I started volunteering in the garden with the Village Trust team that was looking after the vegetable plot.
And then I thought, yeah, I might as well volunteer for the rest of the garden!
So I'm now a garden volunteer working one day a week on Fridays.

I love Malleny because just spending time in the garden -- it is quite quiet, and you do see the fruits of your labour, with the flowers doing a wee bit better each year and the weeds hopefully doing a wee bit worse each year, as we get on top of them.

Anne
I'm Anne, and I'm a volunteer here.
My main inspiration for it is art because I'm a retired art teacher, and for a very long time now the garden is a huge inspiration to my work.  
I bring artist friends here. It's so inspiring.
I love this place because it has an enclosed feeling. It's very special.
The colours here are fantastic. The amount of greens, the flowers in the summer, there's always interest in the winter. It's amazing.