It’s always a delight to see these catkins as the year is ending. Bright, shining, moving in the breeze, they are an inspiration for the year ahead. But elsewhere in the Dumfriesshire Garden there are still plenty of reminders of the year that’s coming to a close. The pictures below also have their own beauty, revealing the structures and variations in common plants that fill our borders and the annual cycle of the trees.
The year ending, as I have shown in this A-Z of the garden in 2024, has been rather mixed. A curate’s egg, good in parts, but also with losses and disappointing results. Yes, the roses, the potatoes, the bog plants and the younger trees all did well. But the bursts of colour in the big border didn’t materialise as in previous years and the weeds got unruly. The garlic crop was meagre compared to last year. The spring bulbs were patchy. A number of transplanted viburnums didn’t make the transition. At best, we could describe it as a contradictory year in the garden.
Yet if we set these minor vicissitudes against the greater problems in the world, any horticultural misgivings seem a crass indulgence. Whatever the merits and demerits of the gardening year, we are always left in credit. The garden is something I live with constantly and day by day. When I’m away, I garner new ideas for it. The garden has a unique place in my life: the perfect backdrop to my quotidian world and the people I love most dearly.
So as this year nears its end, I feel thankful, and look forward to 2025 along with everything it may bring – and not only in the garden.
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/
Quotidian 