Malleny Garden NTS

07/05/2026

Another busy month in the garden at Malleny. We saw all the different weathers over our Easter Egg Trails weekend at the beginning of April. Easter Sunday saw; rain, sleet, sun, sleet, hail, SNOW, bright sunshine, hail, snow and finally sunshine, in that order! Despite the weather (and just about enough snow to make an Easter snow rabbit!), 240 Easter Egg Trails were completed. Thank you to everyone who braved the mixed weather to come along, complete the trail and claim your chocolate egg prize. A fantastic weekend. If you missed it this year, you will be welcome to come along next year.



Meanwhile in the garden, the 600 tulips we planted back in November are starting to flower. We planted them in a mixture of garlic and chilli powder to discourage squirrels. Some have fared very well, while some have been a tasty treat for grey squirrels. Perhaps around ¼ of the tulip bulbs have gone. While this is disappointing, it is not unexpected. The first year in the ground is the most likely time for losses when the new growth is obvious. We’ll enjoy the remaining flowers and subsequent years flowering will be less appealing to squirrels. Once established, the Tulips will be a colourful addition to the spring garden.



A bulb squirrels unfortunately don’t eat is Allium paradoxum – Few-flowered leek. You’ll be familiar with it as it’s widespread around Balerno and Currie in April. Tiny white flowers with multiple green bulbils held up on the flower stem and smells of garlic. As a non-native invasive plant, we take steps to control its growth within the Malleny grounds, using a variety of methods including hand weeding in the walled garden. Left to its own devices, it will take over and hinder the growth of our much more important native bluebell.



Rounding up some of the other work in the garden this month; We have repaired a section of path near the cascade burn. This was damaged by the large Turkey Oak when it was blown down, and subsequent tree work a few months ago. Its now edged with logs, covered with woodchip and the edges will be planted later in the year. We’ve also potted up about 100 Dahlia tubers which will be planted out at the end of May. And, everything starts to grow, the annual scrummage between our volunteers and the weeds has begun. Currently our volunteers are winning. We will endeavour to stay ahead!



NTS Great Pumpkin Weigh-off 2026 update; The seed which will become the biggest pumpkin in an NTS garden was sown at the end of April. Are we doing the right thing by sowing late? Time will tell! Atlantic Giant is our pumpkin of choice.



Volunteers make an enormous difference to the National Trust for Scotland and there are many benefits to volunteering with the Trust. If you, or someone you know, would like to volunteer with us, please get in touch at [email protected].

https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/malleny-garden

James Bell, Head Gardener, Malleny Garden

06/05/2026

Our first roses are in bloom. The yellow one is Rosa primula, first introduced to the UK in 1911. It is also called the incense rose due to the scent from the leaves when it is damp.
The pink rose is Rosa willmottiae, named after Ellen Willmott, a Victorian collector and horticulturist. It was introduced to western cultivation in 1904. Both of them are wild species rose from China, and are much loved by our bumble bees!

16/04/2026

When most of us think of clematis, we think of it as a climbing plant, but some are herbaceous, in that they die back every year.
We have a few of the herbaceous types here at Malleny. One of these, a Clematis integrifolia, had become congested with a self-sown fern. Though it looked pretty, the fern was beginning to overwhelm the clematis. Like other herbaceous perennials, early spring is the time to lift and divide a herbaceous clematis, and we took the chance to do that yesterday.
While we had the opportunity, we also potted up small divisions of the root to propagate new plants. Here are the photos showing the process.

08/04/2026

Huge thanks to everyone who braved the classic Scottish weather and joined us for our Easter Trail! 🌧️🐣

From dodging showers to sliding through snow, you all brought the energy (and the wellies!) and made it such a brilliant day. We hope you had a fantastic time exploring, hunting for clues, and enjoying a bit of spring adventure along the way.

A special thank you goes to our incredible staff and volunteers who kept everything running smoothly, snow and all. Your hard work, good humour, and dedication made the event—whatever the weather threw at us!

We loved having you here and hope to see you again soon (preferably with a little more sunshine !). 🌼

30/03/2026

Now into Spring. Soo many plants flowering, with the promise of much more to come. The challenging wet Winter meant altering the timing of tasks, but the garden is largely where we would hope to be. This is due to the hard work of our volunteers. We will of course have the garden looking its best for our Malleny Easter Egg Trail on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th April. Details can be found on the National Trust for Scotland website.

We started March with work on the four Evangelists – our 400-year-old yew trees. We employed Mondo Verde to carry out soil aeration works around the root area of these old garden stalwarts. This involved drilling holes into the ground, injecting high pressure air and fracturing the soil. This alleviates soil compaction – something which can be very damaging to tree health. Enriched biochar and zeolite are then injected into the cracks. This introduces nutrients, oxygen, beneficial bacteria and fungus, while allowing better drainage and water/nutrient retention. It’s part of our ongoing work to restore these yews to the neatly clipped overseers of the garden. Restoration work started 10 years ago and may take that again to complete!

Elsewhere in the garden, along with the usual weeding and tidying, we planted some new rambler roses to grow through our large Philadelphus shrubs. They’ll take a few years to establish but will add flower after the shrubs finish flowering. We also potted up some new roses and will plant them out next year as we continue to add to the rose collection. Before our grass grows, we top dressed the Cedar lawn with a thin layer of our own compost. Adding nutrients and organic material back into the lawn will help the grass grow. A granular fertiliser is the usual option, but it fails to add the missing organic material important for good growth.

Greenhouse and propagation work continues. We have been busy moving and potting our greenhouse plant collections from their winter home in the small greenhouse to the larger Display Greenhouse. Mostly Pelargoniums (Geraniums) and Salvias, these provide a colourful display through the year. Propagation continues with the sweet peas doing well. We’ll also grow some giant Pumpkins as part of the NTS ‘Great Pumpkin Weigh-off 2026’. A ‘friendly’ competition against some of the big Trust estate gardens around Scotland to see who can grow the biggest pumpkin. With the help of Balerno Village Trust Gardeners in our veg garden, I think we are ‘almost’ certain to win (at time of writing we haven’t even sown the seed yet! But….we have a plan!). We will keep you posted.

Volunteers make an enormous difference to the National Trust for Scotland and there are many benefits to volunteering with the Trust. If you, or someone you know, would like to volunteer with us, please get in touch at [email protected].

19/03/2026

It was lovely to see some spring sunshine today, and appreciate some of the gorgeous plants around the garden. Highlights at the moment are Hellebores, Scilla siberica, daffodils, a white flowering currant and finally, an Oemleria cerasiformis, which comes from North America and has a wonderful scent. The sunshine also picks up the coppery bark on the Prunus serrula!

02/03/2026

Has it stopped raining yet?!
January and February have been very wet at Malleny. It’s a slight exaggeration to say it has rained every day this year, but it’s not much of an overstatement! After the dry weather of last year, it’s great for the ground to replenish that lost water. Hopefully it will aid our plants to grow well this coming year. Our woodland Snowdrops don’t seem to care; they’ve flowered quite happily!

The rain presents challenges in our garden work. We started mulching our borders with compost in early January and didn’t get back to it until the end of February. The ground too wet to work without make a right mess! Instead, we brought forward a lot of greenhouse potting work, earlier than intended, but it keeps our volunteers out the rain. We’ve repotted our Primula auricula collection, cleaned and tidied our nursery area and potted over 500 Cardiocrinum giganteum (giant Himalayan lily) bulbs. The latter destined to be planted around our woodland. We have managed to get some new roses planted out. Climbing and rambling roses planted with the intention of growing up through some of the larger shrubs.

The lack of sunlight has been noticeable in the greenhouse. Many of our plants are showing weak growth due to low light. Not unexpected in winter but more pronounced this year. They’ll soon bounce back once light levels increase in spring. Seasonal sunlight plays an important role in the garden. At this time of year, with the sun low in the sky, shining through the trees, the fountain pond sparkles as it is back lit by the morning sun. Perhaps intentional design when it was constructed in the mid-19th century, perhaps pure chance. Magical, nevertheless.

Elsewhere in the estate, we have removed an old Horse Chestnut tree (approx. 170yrs old). An original 19th century planting which unfortunately succumbed to honey fungus. We have lost a few Horse Chestnuts for the same reason – they are all reaching maturity at the same time and have the same issues. The big Turkey Oak (approx. 180yrs old) which Strom Amy brought down last year has been cleared. The surrounding area still needs tided once the ground is drier. We hope to put the wood to use in garden projects while Pentland Men’s Shed will hopefully be able to use some for wood turning projects.

Finally, seed sowing is underway in the greenhouse. Always a joy to get new things growing for the year ahead, particularly the sweetpeas!

Volunteers make an enormous difference to the National Trust for Scotland and there are many benefits to volunteering with the Trust. If you, or someone you know, would like to volunteer with us, please get in touch at [email protected].
https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/malleny-garden
James Bell, Head Gardener, Malleny Garden

26/02/2026

🐇 We’re egg-cited to invite you to our Easter Egg Trails on Sat 4th & Sun 6th of April, from 10am–3pm 👌

Follow the trail around the garden,, collect the clues and solve the puzzle to claim your sweet treat – Smarties or Moo Free eggs await! 🍫

Usual entry prices apply and it's £5 per trail.

Hurry though – eggs are limited! Secure your tickets now ⬇️
eventbrite.co.uk/e/easter-egg-trail-at-malleny-garden-2026-tickets-1980865739751?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Malleny Garden, Malleny Park, Balerno, Edinburgh, EH14 7AF.

05/12/2025

As the chilly months of winter approach, you’d think a garden would slow down! Not so. It’s time for Tea parties, Tree surveys and Tulips. Add a few worms and it’s a busy time of year.

Early November saw our annual volunteers Tea Party. Held this year in Ps & Gs Church in central Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Cluster of NTS properties including Malleny, Newhailes House, Inveresk Lodge, Gladstones Land and Georgian House, welcomed around 120 volunteers to celebrate everyone’s achievements and awarding of long service awards. A few Malleny volunteers received 3- and 5-year service awards in recognition of their dedicated work caring for the garden and its plant collections. Thank you for your continued support.

Autumn sees us undertake tree surveys. Our trees are visually inspected throughout the year, with issues noted as needed, but a more formal inspection is undertaken through Autumn. According to the level of risk and traffic underneath, some of our trees are inspected annually, with many on 2-, 3- or 5-year cycles. It’s an important task in managing a designed landscape planted circa 19th Century. It’s been an expensive year for tree losses. The named storms of the year have left their mark with a few trees gone. Surveying helps address some faults before they become an issue.

November has also seen us plant 600 Tulip bulbs. In the 1880’s Malleny was described as having “Dutch gardens….”. An ambiguous description as Dutch garden doesn’t necessarily mean tulips but may more accurately mean “planted with flowers”. We do have ornate metalwork depicting tulips, so planting may have included tulips. The range of varieties have been chosen by our volunteers and planted in the top half of the garden. To combat grey squirrels, who quite like tulip bulbs as a tasty treat, we have coated each bulb in a mixture of garlic and chilli powder. So, if the garden smells of garlic on your next visit, that’s why. Will it work? No idea! Maybe, maybe not! We’ll find out in April/May when (if?) they flower.

We’ve also added a wormery to our greenhouse. With a view to speeding up some composting, the rich and biologically active worm cast compost produced will be used in our potting compost for our greenhouse plants, reducing our need for bought in compost. The little worms have only just started their new job but will be a great addition in our effort to recycle our garden waste. Will keep you posted on their progress!

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Volunteers make an enormous difference to the National Trust for Scotland and there are many benefits to volunteering with the Trust. If you, or someone you know, would like to volunteer with us, please get in touch at [email protected].
https://www.facebook.com/MallenyNTS/
James Bell, Head Gardener, Malleny Garden

19/11/2025

Off to the World Cup! Congratulations to Scotland for a big win – nothing like leaving it to the last minute!!
Yes we can boogie!!!!

12/11/2025