Malleny Garden NTS

Malleny Garden NTS Renowned for its peaceful atmosphere, a place to come for quiet contemplation.

September is a lovely time in the garden, and it might be one of my favourite months – there is a sense of calm as plant...
04/10/2026

September is a lovely time in the garden, and it might be one of my favourite months – there is a sense of calm as plants slow down and set seed or fruit. It has still been quite dry and sunny, although we have had some rainy days too.

Though the roses and summer herbaceous have now mostly finished, there is still plenty to enjoy in the garden this month. Apples and rowan berries are ripening, and in our glasshouse, we have grapes and some unusual heritage tomatoes and chillis on display. Our potentilla shrubs are still flowering, which they've being doing since May, and late-summer flowers such as autumn crocus, Japanese anemone, phlox, asters and Actaea simplex (baneberry) are brightening up our beds. The Actaea are looking particularly good now with the lower sun angle shining on their white flower spikes and purple leaves. We also have more hidden gems to spot such as ivy-leaved cyclamens with their distinctive leaf patterns and bright pink or white flowers hiding beneath shrubs. Being autumn, there are a few interesting fungi in the garden too, including giant puffballs, various waxcaps and black bulgar – a black jelly-like fungus that grows on recently felled oaks, hornbeams and ash. It looks a little sinister in my view but is harmless, though inedible. It goes to show how rewarding it can be to take time and look a little closer.

This month we have been carrying out typical late summer/ autumn tasks, from planting out herbaceous plants we've grown from seed around the garden and estate, cutting back mushy herbaceous plants, and trimming our lavender and yew hedges. We have also been scarifying and aerating the lawns. Both are important September tasks to keep our lawns healthy. Scarifying removes thatch and moss, which can create waterlogging issues in winter, and allows space for the grass to grow back stronger. Aerating the lawn allows moisture and air to pe*****te the grass roots - particularly important after having a dry summer like we had this year.

NTS Great Pumpkin Weigh-off 2026 update: we are taking part in a challenge across several NTS gardens to grow the heaviest pumpkin. Our champion is continuing to grow apace and is looking rather splendid. Only a month to go now before the big weigh-off!

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

Eoghann Campbell, Gardener, Malleny Garden

It’s been a very dry summer for us at Malleny Garden. While there have been a few showers of rain, it has only really b...
03/09/2026

It’s been a very dry summer for us at Malleny Garden. While there have been a few showers of rain, it has only really been enough to turn the grass green and perk up the herbaceous. It hasn’t been enough to pe*****te deeper into the ground. We’ve had to target some irrigation to key plants, notably our rose collection. More on our rose work in a moment.

In mid-August we welcomed Pentland Open Studios Art Trail 2026 to the garden. Botanical artist and illustrator, Marianne Hazlewood, exhibited her work in our display greenhouse over the weekend of 15th and 16th August. The botanical paintings and illustrations set in amongst our own living plant collection in the Victorian Greenhouse works in harmony. Around 400 people visited the garden over the weekend. Thank you to everyone who made it to the top of the Art Trail

Our work during August was dominated by rose pruning. Shrub and rambler roses, which is most of our collection, are generally best pruned after they finish flowering. We only have around 200 to do! Removing dead wood, old stems and trimming back new growth by up to 1/3 and leaving a tall slender plant is a general rule of thumb for the shrub roses. For the ramblers, we aim to remove 1/3 of the stems right down to the ground, starting with the oldest stem. Given some of the ramblers are very large, take a long time to prune the tangled stems, are covered in thorns and often painful to prune (they are quite jaggy!), we only do 3 or 4 ramblers each year. This all contrasts with the traditional pruning of roses which would be cut to around 18 inches in winter/early March. This is reserved for the traditional bush roses, like Hybrid Teas (HT) and Floribunda roses. We only have one HT rose, Rosa ‘Blue Moon’, which, for ease, we treat it as if it were a shrub rose. We have one or two roses still flowering, but most are done until next year.

We also welcomed a couple of one day volunteer groups. One from Edinburgh University and one from Aegon. Their time allowed us to tackle a few tasks which we usually struggle to get to. Clearing unwanted brambles from an area of our wider designed landscape and weeding our gravel path edges. Tasks which benefit from the additional help they provided. Thank you for their time and effort.

NTS Great Pumpkin Weigh-off 2026 update; Growth of our champion pumpkins is now quite rapid. Doubling in size in the space of a week to bigger than a football, soon to become beachball sized! We have now selected one or two fruits per plant to maximise growth. Two months of growing to go – how big will they get? Updates to follow next month.

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

A busy, hot and very dry July!! 450,000 seed!!? Though I must admit, we didn’t count every single one! The wildflower ...
03/08/2026

A busy, hot and very dry July!!

450,000 seed!!? Though I must admit, we didn’t count every single one! The wildflower meadow in front on Malleny House has looked fantastic this year. A mixture of common spotted orchids, buttercup, yarrow, oxeye daisy and so much more growing away happily. An important plant in this mix is yellow rattle. Hemiparasitic on many plants, mostly grasses, it reduces grass growth allowing wildflowers to thrive. It grows so well that we can harvest the seed for use elsewhere and still leave enough for next year’s meadow. Our volunteers collected 1.6kg of seed this year, which roughly equates to the above number.

July has been a busy month in the garden, with the very dry hot weather being the biggest challenge. Many plants are wilting with the lack of water. To responsibly conserve water, our general policy in the garden is to only target key plants with irrigation. We don’t water the grass or herbaceous plants; both will bounce back after a bit of rain. Deeper rooted shrubs are generally ok, but a few have needed a bit of irrigation. We do target the rose collection for a single annual soak to 50cm deep with a plant feed. Plants surrounding the roses don’t get watered, they need to fend for themselves. Hotter, drier summers will make irrigation a bigger challenge in coming years. We hope for some rain in August.

Elsewhere in the estate, our new composting facility has been completed, with the addition of more covered bays and a 5000-litre rainwater tank. The increased capacity will allow us to process our green waste into compost much more efficiently, producing good quality compost to feed the garden and aid water retention in the soil. The rainwater tank will aid irrigation of the veg garden and the immediate area.



We also welcomed two volunteer groups form JP Morgan who helped control and clear some Salmonberry and brambles from our woodland garden. Salmonberry is a bit like a giant raspberry, but a bit of a thug and smothers more desirable plants. As a non-native plant, it’s best to have it removed. Difficult for us to do this without their help, so a huge thank you for everyone’s time.



NTS Great Pumpkin Weigh-off 2026 update; Our champion pumpkin plants are continuing grow rapidly. Small pumpkins are beginning to develop. In a few weeks’ time we will select a single pumpkin on each plant to focus all its energy into one giant pumpkin. More updates to follow!!



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].

The time for roses is now! Everything is growing so fast, it’s difficult to keep up with a two-acre walled garden. We h...
03/07/2026

The time for roses is now!

Everything is growing so fast, it’s difficult to keep up with a two-acre walled garden. We have many plates to spin. Maintaining the presentation of the garden and preparing our plant sale plants for the Plant Fayre is a significant undertaking. Thankfully our volunteers meet the challenge.

Saturday 20th June saw us host our Malleny Garden Plant Fayre in the garden. Over 450 people visited the garden and were met with an array of nurseries and local community groups. Thank you to (deep breath!); Currie Horticultural Society, Binny Nursery, Pips Cactus, Tay Heathers, Three Pools Nursery, Natural Little Bee, Pentlands Men’s Shed, National Vegetable Society, Friends of the Pentlands and The Slice Girls, for all coming along on the day to share their wares with our visitors. Along with our own ‘From the Garden’ plant sales, we displayed around 70 of our flowering roses, it was a very well received day. All set with a backdrop of a rose garden coming into full flower. Thank you to everyone who came along. Feedback is welcome, please get in touch.

Our National Collection of 19th century shrub roses at Malleny is in full flower from now until mid-July, with some of the rambler roses flowering until late July. Our old shrub roses have a relatively short flowering window starting from mid-June. However, what they lack in flowering time, they make up in fragrance. On a calm day, the walled garden is filled with scent. Over 180 different cultivars are grown in the garden and wider estate. A gold star to anyone who can find them all! One of the last to flower is Rosa ‘Kiftsgate’. Growing some 20 meters up a tree at our entrance gate, when in flower it looks like a cascading waterfall and it literally buzzes with bees visiting the flowers. The time to see the roses is now.

Occasionally we welcome one off volunteer groups to the garden. In mid-June a group from Aegon gave their time to assist in the garden. They tackled a couple of jobs that by having many hands are made much easier. They are welcome to return.

Elsewhere, work is set to start on improving our compost facility. This involves the creation of additional covered bays, more than doubling our capacity to process green waste compost for the garden. This is vital for the work we do. Our own compost is the most useful ingredient for putting nutrients and organic material back into the garden and feeding the very hungry rose collection.

NTS Great Pumpkin Weigh-off 2026 update; The pumpkins we planted in May, including our ‘Champion’, are picking up speed, growing more and bigger leaves. No flowers or pumpkins yet, but they will come. More updates to follow!!

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

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Malleny Plant Fayre on Saturday, and making it such a success.It was lovely ...
25/06/2026

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Malleny Plant Fayre on Saturday, and making it such a success.
It was lovely to see so many of you enjoying the gardens and browsing among the stalls in the sunshine.
We especially liked the chats we had with visitors about our roses and about their own gardens too!

We are looking forward to welcoming you all tomorrow to our plant fayre 🌹.We will have a selection of local horticultura...
19/06/2026

We are looking forward to welcoming you all tomorrow to our plant fayre 🌹.
We will have a selection of local horticultural and community groups, our own plant sales plus nurseries such as Binny Nursery, Three Pools Nursery and Pips Cactus.
Our garden is in full bloom, including our roses - come along and appreciate their beautiful flowers and scents!

During Volunteers Week (Monday 1st to Sunday 7th June), we recognise the support we receive from people generously givin...
05/06/2026

During Volunteers Week (Monday 1st to Sunday 7th June), we recognise the support we receive from people generously giving their time.
The support from Volunteers helps make a hugely positive difference to Malleny Garden. In giving their time and skills, it allows the garden to improve and achieve so much more. It makes the garden a wonderful place to be. Our upcoming Malleny Garden Plant Fayre on 20th June is a prime example of where their support makes that difference. Recently everyone was busy preparing all our plants for the upcoming plant sale. Repotting and organising over 300 plants. Their support leading up to, and on the day, of the Event also allows us to host occasions like these. Thank you to everyone who gives their time to care for Malleny Garden. The difference you make is noticed and appreciated by everyone. Thank you.

Heading into June, our rose collection starts to flower. Rosa primula, the incense rose, is our first to flower in earl...
04/06/2026

Heading into June, our rose collection starts to flower. Rosa primula, the incense rose, is our first to flower in early May, it has yellow flowers with foliage which exudes fragrance of incense. It’s followed by around 200 roses flowering over the coming months, peaking from mid-June to mid-July. Our Malleny Garden Plant Fayre on Saturday 20th June, will be backdropped by a National Collection of 19th century shrub roses in flower. We hope to see you here.

It’s been a busy month in the garden, starting with a visit from SRUC Oatridge college students. The focus of discussion was around managing a nationally important rose collection, the importance of doing so, while balancing the other work the garden demands. It’ll help give them some insight into managing plant collections. Mid-month we hosted pupils from Balerno High School at Malleny House. The purpose was to demonstrate the complexities of managing the conservation of an old building. The group spoke with the design team of surveyors, architects and structural engineers about the process of preserving this old house. Practical activities included; how to survey the building, the architects process of designing the layout to work with modern living in an old building and structural principles of how to keep a building upright, using spaghetti and marshmallows as a building material! A digestive biscuit exercise demonstrating the pros and cons of harling for water protection was quite successful.

In the garden, everything is growing and our volunteers are keeping ahead of the weeds. The Tulips planted last year have flowered very well, adding valued colour to the green borders. Of 24 cultivars, just 3 or 4 have been lost to hungry squirrels. The remaining bulbs will recoup energy in the next couple of years before flowering again. The other flowering highlight is our Rhododendrons. They surround the fountain pond providing a striking display set against the green backdrop. Soon Alliums and Peonies will flower giving colour before the roses take centre stage. We have planted this year’s sweet peas with new metal wavy obelisks. These obelisks, made by local Musselburgh based blacksmith Raymond Douglas, will support the fragrant sweet peas through the rest of the year. In the green house, rose headed plant supports, also made by Raymond, will support tomatoes through to fruiting. ‘Blue Bayou’ and ‘Artisan Purple Bumble Bee’ are our selection and a tasty reward for volunteers later this year.

NTS Great Pumpkin Weigh-off 2026 update; Our pumpkin seed germinated and our ‘Champion’ Pumpkin has been planted out. It, and its siblings, are destined for great things (i.e. to be massive!!). Further update next month!!

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

Another busy month in the garden at Malleny. We saw all the different weathers over our Easter Egg Trails weekend at th...
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

Our first roses are in bloom. The yellow one is Rosa primula, first introduced to the UK in 1911. It is also called the ...
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!

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Malleny
Edinburgh
EH147AF

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