An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Arboretum

Welcome to the start of 26 reflections on my garden in south west Scotland during 2024: one for each letter of the alphabet and all of which will appear as the year closes during the month of December.

I’ve written before about planting trees in the rented field next to my home. It all began in the winter holidays of 2015-16 when I started with oak, holly, dogwood, hazel and beech in circles of varying sizes, plus 100 birches in a ‘Norwegian Wood’ along the field boundary. Later came archways of hornbeam, and a double row of Scots pines. Subsequently I’ve added single specimens of Californian Pine, Ocean Redwood, Quercus Ilex, and Cedar of Lebanon. Plus Juniper, Betula Jacquemontii, Betula Hergest, flowering silver pear and slow growing conifers – all of these in groups of three. Various attempts to establish groups of Yew, Lonicera and Fatsia have been largely unsuccessful.

In nine years however, the growth of most things has been extraordinary. Visitors are bewildered when I reveal the young age of the oaks and pines. Most are delighted with how the circles and archways are linked together by mown paths, leaving the remaining areas, cut just once or twice in the year, to produce a profusion of wildflowers and grasses. The arboretum, with its gravelled areas, cairns and rocks provides interest throughout the year and is a fun playground for young children. I walk its paths and its turf labyrinth morning and night in all weathers, and in contemplation. It has spring bulbs, autumn colour, and beech trees pruned into cheerful mop tops. Every day it seems to offer up some new point of interest.

2024 was a year in which the oaks and hornbeams put on spectacular ‘Lammas growth’ during August. In May the meadow grass was set off handsomely by the tightly mown paths. As the grass got longer it was a welcome hiding place for a mother pheasant with its brood of around eight energetic chicks.

As well as visual and aesthetic pleasures, the arboretum has its productive aspects. Oak leaves, raked up in November, make for excellent piles of leaf mould. Grass cuttings from the paths go into the compost. Hazel stems, removed in January to encourage new growth, provide quality material for sweet pea wigwams and the odd walking stick. Red and green cornus stems are always the preferred choice for an ‘Easter tree’ in the house. Loppings of low branches to keep the paths clear provide excellent hardwood kindling.

When I took on the rental of the field in August 2015, it had been fallow for many years. Now it seems immensely productive. I had little notion that my plan to plant trees would yield such rapid results and completely under-estimated the pleasures it would bring forth in less than a decade. Excuse the pun, but I feel sure that my rental agreement has given this field a new lease of life. I am looking forward to further planting and new growth in the arboretum’s 10th anniversary year, 2025.

The full list of pieces that make up my A-Z in the Dumfriesshire Garden in 2024 can be found here: https://davidgrahamclark.net/a-z-of-the-dumfriesshire-garden-in-2024/