Gardens: Fabulous gardens across Scotland are waiting to be visited

The one thing you'll never be short of when visiting Scotland's gardens is inspiration. From grand estates to city gardens, from wildlife gardens to formal rose gardens, you don't have to look far to pick up ideas to take home.

The wildlife garden

Jupiter Urban Wildlife Centre

This small wildlife reserve demonstrates how wasteland can be transformed into an urban green space teeming with life. Managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, it features a wide range of habitats, including wildflower meadows, wetlands, ponds and woodlands, and the formal wildlife gardens provide ideas about what you can do to encourage wildlife on your own plot. Jupiter Wildflower Nursery, specialising in sales of native plants, is also on site.

Wood Street, Grangemouth, 01324 486 475, www.swt.org.uk/visit/reserves Open all year: Mon to Fri 10am-5pm

The productive garden

Culross Palace

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This terraced garden is filled with herbs, fruit and vegetables, all on sale in season. You'll find beds of asparagus, leeks and cabbages plus unusual heritage varieties, and fruit-lovers will enjoy seeing apples, pears and cherries trained up the terrace walls alongside jasmine and roses. There are flowering plants, including scented pinks, foxglove and hellebore, along with old cornfield weeds such as white campion

Culross, Fife, 0844 4932189, www.nts.org.uk/Property/22/ Open all year: Daily 10am-6pm

The artist's garden

Little Sparta

Against a backdrop of the Pentlands, Ian Hamilton Finlay's garden is a renowned work of art. Described as "a place for contemplation, intellectual receptiveness and enjoyment", Little Sparta has over 270 works in "specific landscapes" – areas of individual character. These include the Front Garden, with its avenue of red currant bushes, and the Temple Pool Garden, where the still water reflects the foliage and artworks surrounding it.

Near Dunsyre, www.littlesparta.co.uk Open 4 June to 29 September: Wed, Fri and Sun, 2:30pm-5pm

The fully accessible garden

The Hidden Gardens

The Hidden Gardens in the South Side of Glasgow are accessible for people with disabilities. The result of a two-year project to turn a derelict industrial site into Scotland's first permanent public garden for the 21st century, this place is dedicated to peace. The southern part has a mix of trees and shrubs common to a west of Scotland birch and oak wood. Elsewhere there are bamboos, rowans, magnolias, hazels, and winter flowering plum trees.

Tramway, 25 Albert Drive, Glasgow, 0141-433 2722, www.thehiddengardens.org.uk. Oct-Apr, open Tues-Sat 10am-4pm; Sun noon-4pm; closed Mon

The formal garden

Drummond Gardens

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Formal gardens don't get much more impressive than this 17th-century Scottish Renaissance garden. From the top terracing, visitors look out over the stunning parterre featuring a St Andrew's Cross with 17th-century sundial at its centre. A flight of steps leads down to the sundial, through a classical archway and kitchen garden, and then your eye is led through woodland and up to the top of the opposing hillside. If you want to learn about strong lines, this is the place to do it.

Muthill, Crieff, 01764 681433, www.drummondcastlegardens.co.uk Open Easter Weekend and 1 May to 31 Oct, daily 1pm-6pm

The contemporary garden

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation

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There can be few gardens that take science and mathematics as their inspiration, but this one does. Open to the public one day a year, it is known for its undulating landforms and terraces and its unusual sculpture including that of DNA and newly completed Comet Bridge. Created between 1987 and 2007, Charles Jencks's garden features 40 areas, gardens, bridges, landforms, sculptures, terraces, fences and architectural works.

Portrack House, Holywood, nr Dumfries, www.charlesjencks.com; www.gardensofscotland.org Open only on Sun 2 May, noon-5pm, as part of Scotland's Gardens Scheme

The small garden

Shepherd House Garden

At one time a children's playground, this garden is now recognised as one of the best small gardens in Scotland. Shepherd House has been Charles and Ann Fraser's home since 1957 and the one-acre site includes a herb parterre, symmetrical potagers, plus rose, clematis and wisteria pergolas and arches connecting two ponds. Ann Fraser is an acclaimed botanical artist and tulips, irises, hellebores, snowdrops and poppies are grown in profusion with paintings in mind.

Inveresk, 0131-665 2570, www.shepherdhouse-garden.co.uk Open April, May & June: Tues & Thu 2pm-4pm; Sun 25 April 2pm-5pm for Scotland's Gardens Scheme; Sun 6 June 2pm-5pm for Inveresk open gardens event

The rose garden

Drum Castle

Opened in 1991, Drum Castle's Garden of Historic Roses is divided into quadrants. Each contains a design from one of the past four centuries along with roses from that period. Associated with the roses are herbaceous plants of each period – ranging from the simple 17th-century herbs to today's exotic flowers. There are 400 varieties of roses at Drum, so if you are looking for a rose for your own garden, you are bound to find something that fits the bill.

Garden & Estate, Drumoak, by Banchory, 0844 493 2161, www.nts.org.uk/Property/24 Grounds open all year; Garden of Historic Roses open 2 Apr to 31 Oct: daily 10am-6pm

The secret garden

Dunbar's Close

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This is one of those gardens that you might have walked by countless times without ever knowing it was there. Tucked away on the Royal Mile just past Canongate Kirk, the entrance to Dunbar's Close gives away little about what lies beyond. But once you step through the gates you'll find yourself in a tranquil garden filled with neatly clipped hollies, yew hedges and cherry and apple trees and topiary. Its formal, symmetrical design includes stone benches where you can enjoy views of Calton Hill.

Canongate, Edinburgh

The woodland garden

Dawyck Botanic Garden

Recognised as being one of the world's finest arboreta, Dawyck is a place to wander under the shade of vast trees. Conifers steal the show with notable specimens in terms of size, history and rarity, but you'll also find rowan and birch collections and the maples with their colourful leaves add interest. There's plenty to see in spring with swathes of daffodils, then bluebells accompanied by cherry blossom from more than a dozen different species. The Beech Walk is a key landmark, particularly worth seeing in spring when the leaves turn a zingy green.

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Stobo, 01721 760254, www.rbge.org.uk/the-gardens/dawyck Open Apr to Sep: daily 10am-6pm (see website for winter opening hours)

• This article was first published in the Scotsman, Saturday April 10, 2010

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