The Mountain Garden at CairnGorm in the Scottish Highlands

[Maggi Young]

Ruari, welcome to the Forum and thank  to YOU for all those great photos on the site!

 There will be a lot of folks reading this who think you have just got the PERFECT job!

[cohan]

fun to see who is behind gardens and images-welcome ruari!
now, after robin's comment, i have to go back to look for the stone wall images!
later though, off to work soon

[Jonny Porteous]

Hi Folks

Here are a few photos from the garden this morning. Autumn isn't getting a look in here.

JP

[mark smyth]

I saw on the news that Scotland would get some snow today. Is autumn over now in the mountains?

[Jonny Porteous]

Autumn colours are on show under the snow! the willows have lost most of their leaves and the birch trees have turned but still waiting for the alders to change.

[Maggi Young]

Snow arrived in Aberdeen today. too, within two miles of the sea.
Have a look at this week's bulb log, just loaded.


Wonder if this bodes well for the ski season, Jonny?

[Jonny Porteous]

Maybe Maggi I dont want to say anything incase I jinxs it but we have had some ski mountaineers up here today trying to find patches that are ski-able!

[Maggi Young]

Good  grief!

[cohan]

at least its not only us that's had snow  didn't last, yet...

[Philippe]

Thank you for the report!
I wonder if it were possible to make an alpine garden higher up in the Cairngorms? I think it peaks up to above 1000m isn't it?
Sure it would be perhaps difficult for somebody to live there, even though in summer, because of wind.
And what about snow in winter? I heard of some ski resort in the Cairngorms, I guess the snowcover lays perhaps longer and deeper than in the W-parts of Scotland, but would it be sufficient for real alpines near the summits ( androsace and so on)? Or is the winter there too irregular?

[Paul T]

Excellent pics, Jonny.  I love that dwarf Cornus.

[Jonny Porteous]

Hi there Folks

Well the snow has started to thaw and the garden has been some what flattened by the snow. We have had a fantastic winter with lots of snow, skiing, snowboarding and fun. At one point of the year we had the best snow in Europe for snowsports.
The garden sustained a bit of damage with the thaw and some of the paths got washed out but have been repaired and we are all set for lots of visitors this year. The resident frogs have been busy and the pond is full of frog spawn and frogs. Slowly but surely the flowers and plants are starting to appear and bud. I will keep you updated through out the season...

this is a video of the winter ....enjoy!
 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkmIWimoDGY&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

[David Shaw]

Jonny, what happened to the small alpine garden that was established in Coire na Ciste many, many years ago?

[Jonny Porteous]

It is still there and is run by RBGE. The fence around the garden had been damaged by an avalanche in the winter 08/09 and no one got round to repairing it last year. Luckily they didnt repair it as it would have been hit by an avalanche again this year! Lets hope that the reindeer and hares havent done too much damage to it.

[Jonny Porteous]

Cairngorm Wild Mountain Garden 2011 so far......

path damage from the winter, frog spawn in pond, bee on Woolly Willow- Salix Lanata, Primula Scotica, Marsh Marigold -Caltha Palustris and Cloudberry- Rubus Chamaemorus.