January & February 2026

The Viaduct Gardening Club met at Down-a-Gate Community Centre in January 2026, to celebrate the Festive Season  and welcome in the New Year…. With prettily decorated tables, the members enjoyed a buffet provided by Essen, a local company. Entertainment was led by our Chair, Mrs Isabel Ferguson, who had organised a plant-themed quiz together with a generous free raffle.

The February meeting welcomed Mrs Jeanie Jones, who gave an illustrated presentation all about her one-and-half acre garden of Kilnpotlees, Kettleholm near Lockerbie in the Borders.

She showed slides depicting a large range of plants which are in bloom from January to December in the garden she has designed and developed over the last fifty years.

A large variety of unusual specimens are grown by Jeanie from seed and she has travelled the world, meeting other specialist growers: swopping information and resources, all driven by a passion for propagation and a love of flowers and trees.

 

 

year begins, in her Borders location, by looking out for the first harbingers of spring ….winter aconites, of which she grows several unusual varieties, snowdrops and the beauty of silhouetted garden trees clothed in ivy.

February starts with Jeanie caring for her many varieties of meconopsis (which need to be fed and tended) and watching for emerging bluebells, iris, crocus and cyclamen, to name but a few.

By March, hellebores should have had their leaves removed in order to admire their floral beauty. Daffodils, primulas (in a vast array of form and colour), rhododendrons, azaleas, dog-tooth violets and other erythroniums, primroses all emerge into bloom. Around Jeanie’s large pond, marsh marigolds and an ancient variegated specimen of skunk cabbage, pulmonaria, and beautifully scented daphne are also in bloom, whilst being protected from the winds blowing across the Solway Estuary, by a large stand of ornamental bamboo .

April brings considerable work in Jeanie’s large propagation beds where precious seedlings, cuttings and grafts are nurtured.

Scattered around, self-seeded plants appear, (a sign that they are happy), to be enjoyed or transplanted.

In the woodland area of the garden there are trilliums, rhododendrons, Himalayan wild rhubarb among a carpet of bluebells.

Naturalised orchids, hostas, alliums and iris all herald in June. Clematis flourishes and ornamental trees such as elderflower add their own beauty.

Jeanie nurtures several varieties of Buddleia shrubs, loved by butterflies throughout July.

Nearby Threve Castle (NTS) has invited Jeanie to collect and propagate specimens of rare trees and shrubs on their property. An activity which she feels privileged to undertake.

The Summer season calls for greenhouse work, including a large productive grape vine which requires protection from invading wasps! Vegetables are rotated in the many kitchen beds to feed family and friends.

The garden blooms in August and September with outdoor grown eucomis and crabapples and rowan trees.

 

             As autumn approaches, mahonias and a Smoke Tree add interest and colour.

     Jeanie enjoys providing a home to several mallard families which have become residents on her beautiful pond. She also has evidence of visiting otters!

Overall, the presentation was an amazing annual overview of a garden nurtured and enjoyed by a knowledgeable and dedicated gardener…..a fifty-year long labour of love .

The Chair thanked Jeanie for her very interesting talk.

Mr Ian Forrest won the Lotto.

Next month’s meeting will be the AGM held on 12th March….The speaker will be Mr Alan Gerrard discussing Herbaceous Borders.

Visitors are always welcome for a small fee of £3.

Written by Jude Jansen