Introduction
Welcome to the Innes House Gardening blog for Spring 2026, I’m Simon, Head Gardener at Innes House.
When I was first asked to write this blog, I was pleased to have the opportunity to share the methods, challenges and seasonal changes involved with managing the Innes House gardens – as there’s always a lot happening across the estate at any one time!
The intention of this blog is to provide updates on the huge amount of work we are doing throughout the year, from basic seasonal tasks, to the longer-term projects.
I hope these updates will offer an insight into both the hard work and long-term care involved in maintaining the historic gardens of Innes House and its grounds.
Season at a glance
At Innes House, the changing climate has brought unusually longer and extended gardening seasons. Temperatures now often swing by around 10-15 degrees between day and night, with generally mild winters being disrupted by only short cold snaps before conditions quickly warm again.
This extended season now extends our gardening calendar into December, with work starting again in as early as March. Tasks such as grass cutting and pruning are most affected by this shift, meaning they are required to happen earlier and earlier each year.
In some areas of the garden, even roses have been seen continuing to flower over the entire winter due to the milder temperatures we’ve seen in Scotland. While these conditions do extend the growing season, they also bring new challenges. Due to the milder temperatures not only meaning continued growth for plants, but it unfortunately sees the increase in pests and diseases too, rather than them being reduced by prolonged frost and snow.
In Flower/In Bloom
At the time of writing this, the Magnolia tree in our walled garden is looking and smelling divine!
Some of our roses have continued flowering over the winter in parts of the gardens due to the milder temperatures, adding a surprising amount of colour and interest throughout the colder months when there is little flowering.
Behind the scenes/Garden Projects
Soil restoration has been a big part of what we’ve been working on most recently in the Innes House gardens, by using a system of varying mulches layered around the base of the trees to restart the soil microbiology. Over time this living blanket will soften the ground underneath allowing organisms to take nutrients down into the subsoil layers to feed the roots of the trees within our walled garden.
Without doing this conservation work now, as the weather becomes more extreme and unpredictable, the soil around the bases of these ancient trees would begin eroding away and therefore the trees would be more at risk of falling.
Alongside this, there has been a focus on the fungus around the garden, recognising the importance of both good and bad fungal activity across the garden.
Looking ahead
Moving forward, we will be continuing to focus on building on the soil health through the gardens, improving water management across the estate, and increasing resilience against the variable Scottish weather conditions!
Future work on the estate will continue to develop on our sustainable systems such as mulching, composting, and habitat creation for the various different bugs, insects and wildlife living on the estate.
The kitchen garden is also being prepared for another productive season, with tomatoes (among other produce) being grown once again after proving to be a firm favourite among staff last year. As part of the estate’s focus on sustainable gardening, the kitchen garden will again this year continue to provide fresh and seasonal produce straight from the garden for use at events within the house.