You're bound to dig city's secret garden

IT has been described as one of Edinburgh's best kept secrets - right in the heart of the city.

A hidden garden which links Register House with New Register House is being opened to the public this weekend as part of the Scotland's Garden Scheme.

Despite being officially opened last year, the Archivists' Garden - described as an oasis of tranquillity 30 seconds from Princes Street - has remained virtually unknown.

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It was originally planted in 2008 to celebrate the completion of work on the Scotland's People Family History Centre and is home to 57 plants which were specifically selected by experts from the Royal Botanic Garden for their connection to Scotland's history and culture. World-famous landscape architects Gross Max placed the plants to form an abstract design reflecting the patterns of the human brain.

Keeper of the Records of Scotland, George MacKenzie, said: "I don't think many people know what goes on in Register House and few people know there is a garden as its almost completely enclosed by buildings, so it's really good to open the doors or, in this case, the garden gates."

The family history centre, which borders the garden, allows anyone wanting to research Scottish family history access to birth, marriage and death records as well as wills, census records and coats of arms reaching back almost 500 years.

The idea of the garden was to contrast the structured way the centre organises information with the random way the human mind stores memories.

Each plant is connected in some way to Scotland. Burns is remembered in the garden by Cowslip (Primula veris) which featured in his song The Lass of Cessnock Banks. The Bell Heather plant (Erica cinerea) also in the garden, has a direct link to tartan through its purple dye and is also the plant badge of the Clan MacDougall from Argyll which dates back to 1164.

Scotland's Garden Scheme is a charity founded in 1931 which raises money for other charities by opening gardens, usually inaccessible to the public. Visitors to the Archivist's Garden this weekend will be charged a small entry fee, the proceeds of which will be donated to Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres and the Scotland's Garden Scheme's charities.

The garden will be open from 2pm to 5pm on both days. To mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of the philosopher David Hume. Lord Sutherland of Houndwood will plant a hawthorn tree at 3pm on Saturday. Visitors will also have the chance to view the interior of General Register House.

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