Celebrating six decades of gardening excellence

Former students and staff of the Threave School of Heritage Gardening, Castle Douglas, are being sought to join in its anniversary celebrations next month.

- SHARON LIPTROTT

Managed by the National Trust for Scotland, the Threave School is one of only a few centres of horticultural education in the UK to offer a firm grounding in both the theory and practice of gardening.

And next month marks more than six decades of training horticultural experts who have gone on to shape many of the country's finest gardens.

It is hoped many alumni, former staff and supporters will reunite to join in the 65th anniversary celebration which is being held in the Stables Courtyard at Threave House from 1pm to 4pm on Saturday, July 26.

It was in 1960 that the School of Heritage Gardening accepted its first horticultural students - teenage boys aged between 16 and 19 years old.

At that time the land surrounding the house at Threave was mostly fields used by the Gordon family for shooting and now the varied horticultural landscape includes a rock garden, woodland garden, herbaceous borders, a secret garden and patio garden.

During the decades, the horticultural trainees have played an integral part in developing the beautiful gardens there now are, with an emphasis on creating learning rooms within the garden, and it stands as a great testament to the approximately 300 students who have trained at Threave over the years.

Threave's vast collection helps trainees to immerse themselves in studying plants and during the course of a year's study they learn to identify around 500.