Irvine Morrison, who has 680 yards of edges to look after, has a petrol-driven machine for the job. The rest of the lawns are trimmed with a ride-on mower. He is also responsible for hard landscaping and trellis building. It’s Lindsay who actually makes the flowers bloom. She is out in January pruning the roses, and on duty at dead of night, patrolling the island beds with her air rifle, looking for rabbit invaders.
“Gardening is a craft,” she says. “It’s like baking, cooking or knitting – you learn it as you do it. I got keen, I got more books, we went round other gardens picking up ideas. We’ve done it all together, and we have been completely hands-on.”
IN BRIEF
Inwood is a private garden, with B&B, in Carberry, East Lothian. When Lindsay and Irvine Morrison first decided to develop the half-acre site in the 1980s, it was a donkey’s paddock. As the garden grew, their ambitions expanded. In 1992 they bought another half-acre from the neighbouring landowner, the Buccleuch Estate.
The Morrisons have never had any professional help with their garden, and have learned by their mistakes as they have gone along. Irvine does the landscaping and Lindsay looks after the plants.
This is just a taster, you can browse the full article with more stunning photography on pages 228-231, issue 89.
DETAILS
Words Anna Burnside
Inwood Garden opens on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 2-5pm, until 12 September
