Where darling buds hold sway

Every year 350 gardens of different shapes and sizes are open on one or more days under Scotland's Garden Scheme. In addition, there are private gardens such as the garden at Logie that are open from dawn to dusk because their owners enjoy sharing their work with a wider audience. Most of the money raised goes to charity but some owners are grateful that proceeds can be put towards the maintenance of their gardens.

The old tradition of opening your garden to the public and keeping them open from April to October with just an honesty box to collect a modest entrance fee appears to be unique to the Highlands. It stems, Panny Laing suggests, from ''the tradition of Highland hospitality''.

''People like people to go to see their gardens,'' says Robin St Clair-Ford of Scotland's Garden Scheme. Attendance is up this year, probably because the weather has been so good. I have noticed a drop in the age group of people attending. I think this is something to do with the popularity of the gardening programmes on the television.'' Although he is referring to ''young people in their twenties'', Mr St Clair-Ford is not alone in noticing that a younger group of people are visiting gardens. Jane Greig, of the National Trust, says that since the trust has offered a special deal whereby three young people can get in for free when accompanied by an adult, ''numbers of young visitors are up''.

Many garden visitors are attracted by the chance to see behind the scenes of a different life. ''Our garden is as you find it,'' says Panny, ''weeds and all. You can tell it belongs to somebody. We chat to the visitors and many of them have interesting stories to tell. Some of them have relations who worked on the estate or who worked for United Biscuits.'' (Alasdair Laing's grandfather was the son of a railwayman in Forres who left home to make his fortune in Edinburgh. He joined McVities as a delivery boy, invented the digestive biscuit, and eventually rose to become chairman of United Biscuits.)

But what is it like having people walk around your garden at unpredictable moments during the day? ''It is not an intrusion,'' she says. ''The garden is a bit away from the house and we all enjoy sharing it, we don't sit out with a cup of coffee and a newspaper, anyway. If people just come and read a book I feel flattered that they feel they can do that. Occasionally, when I'm weeding the other side of some shrubs, I hear people say 'there is not much to see here', but it only happens at the beginning of the season before the herbaceous plants get going.''

All across Scotland the gardens are bursting into bloom and the time is right to get out to see some of our wonderful gardens. Yet, despite their magnificence and their variety, many of our gardens remain largely unknown. Are they perhaps our best-kept secret? While most of the population congregate in shopping malls or theme parks, it is unusual, especially at this time of the year, to arrive at a semi-private garden and find more than one other car in the makeshift car park.

This spring our gardens are bright with a profusion of flowering shrubs. On the West Coast the azaleas and rhododendrons are out; their colours magnificent against carpets of bluebells after a wet winter followed by six weeks of constant sunshine. Best of all it is still too early for more than the occasional midge. West Coast gardens take advantage of the Gulf Stream to produce exotic plants such as tree ferns and cabbage palms (Logan Botanic Garden). They tend to be informal, designed to fit in with the lie of the land, with plantings done in the protection of mature trees (Achnacloich, Connel). Often these gardens are created out of little more than barren coast (Sea View Garden, Dunconnell) and steep mountains.

Usually they are designed to take into account such natural features as burns or ponds (Attadale Gardens, Wester Ross). In some gardens plants must be coaxed out of patches of fertile land and along the side of a loch (Ardchattan Priory, on the north side of Loch Etive). Even more of a challenge is presented to gardeners who wrestle with the rugged coastline, the ''bare red sandstone rock'' and the winds that blow in furiously from the sea (Inverewe, Wester Ross).

In the East the weather was very different. The dry winter followed by an unusually wet March and constant winds battered the early spring daffodils, but now the wide-open sweeps of gardens on the banks of rivers such as the Teviot are bursting with the promise of summer (Monteviot, Jedburgh). Further north, in the relatively mild climate of Angus, the impossibly romantic gardens at the House of Pitmuies are open daily with an honesty box. When I visited two days ago the newly edged beds of the walled garden provided a chance to observe the design of the garden. Although it is too early for the delphiniums for which Pitmuies is famous, there was

plenty of colour. Mrs Farquhar Ogilvie explains: ''There are violas, aquilegias, meconopsis, azaleas, rhododendrons, and peonies. There are fresh green leaves everywhere, it looks ravishing.''

If it is a woodland walk you want, near Edinburgh, in scenery that makes you feel like you are in the Highlands the gardens at Pennicuik House, which take the visitor round gentle ornamental lakes, have their annual opening on Sunday.

But if you wish to see a garden that is more structured, reminiscent of an earlier age when the formal lines of big houses were extended into the garden, you could try visiting the garden at Drummond Castle in Perthshire. Even if you have read that Drummond Castle boasts ''the grandest surviving formal garden in Scotland'', nothing prepares you for the sight of the symmetrical parterres that stretch away from the front of the house into the Perthshire farmland beyond. The creation of these gardens was the vision of John Drummond, 2nd Earl of Perth, who laid them out in 1630. Two hundred years later, the parterre was altered to reflect the more formal Italian in vogue at that time, since then the gardens have been extended to become the largest gardens in Scotland.

If Scotland is famous for its gardens, it is also famous for its gardeners and for the schools that train them. One such school is the Threave School of Practical Gardening run by the National Trust for Scotland near Castle Douglas. Stuart Robbins, 22, who studied botany at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, was a graduate of Threave. Although he only came from as far away as Wolverhampton, he joined a group of students who included a boy from Illinois, a Japanese girl, another girl from California, and one from Northern Ireland.

''The training at Threave is very different,'' he says. ''It is very practical, it is well-respected and you acquire an in-depth knowledge of plants.'' Indeed the training is rigorous. According to Trevor Jones, Principal of Threave: ''Each week students must learn to identify 40 new plants.'' They must learn about the different types of soil, about manures and composts. There are sessions on the safe use of garden machines, propagation, garden design, and landscaping. It is a far cry from the world of instant results promised by television gardening. But the advantage of this training is that students who leave are almost certain to find a job, many abroad. ''All of our students end up in work,'' says Jones. ''Some end up abroad, in the States. One student went to work in the Botanic Gardens in Munich.'' The gardens are well worth a visit. An informal poll conducted recently by a columnist

in the Daily Telegraph suggested that Threave Gardens are some of the best-loved gardens in Britain.

The influence of Scottish gardening has also spread, albeit on a less formal basis, to Wales. Catriona Boyle's Garden School near Abergavenny in Monmouthshire attracts influential gardeners such as Robin Lane-Fox, Rosemary Verey, and Sarah Raven at her weekly lectures. Catriona is an import to Wales, having grown up at Lude in Perthshire; for the past 20

years she has been creating her garden at

Penpergwm from the remnants of an

Edwardian design of terraces and lawns.

But sometimes an honesty box is not enough to keep a garden going. Crarae Gardens,

situated on the north side of Loch Fyne and home to such endangered species as the Picea koyamae (a soft grey-green evergreen), belong to a charitable trust and are in danger of closing from lack of funding. Last October, Crarae approached the National Trust for help. Simon Walton from the NT explains: ''There is a rumour going around that Crarae is closed, but this is not the case. The National Trust has made the gardens an interim loan and we are about to broaden our fund-raising appeal to try to save these gardens.''

Most of these gardens are privately owned, part of their charm lies in is the fact that they have been altered over the decades to suit the tastes of their owners and the dictates of their times. As you wander around, the life of the garden goes on around you. Perhaps the lawn is being mowed, maybe children are running around, or a small bicycle has been forgotten behind a shrub. What has remained constant, however, is the need for gardeners to share the results of their work.

Panny Laing echoes the sentiments of those who rise to the challenge of having a garden open to the public. ''One good thing about having it open is that it makes us keep our standards up. When it was open once a year it was much harder to do that. Having the garden open all the time makes it much easier. But we don't worry about being immaculate.''

Gardens open this weekend include:

n Attadale Gardens and Woodland Walks, Strathcarron, Wester Ross, open daily 10am

to 5.30pm.

n Ardchattan Priory, North Connel, Argyll, Daily 9am - 6pm.

n Crarae Gardens, Minard, Inveraray, daily 9am - 6pm (accessible by wheelchair). If you like to help save Crarae telephone 0131 243 9308.

n Drummond Castle Gardens, Crieff, open daily 2pm - 6pm

n House of Pitmuies, Guthrie, by Forfar - daily 10am - 5pm

n Inverewe, Poolewe, Wester Ross. National Trust for Scotland, Daily 9:30 - 9pm.

n Logan Botanic Garden, by Stranraer, Wigtown, 10am - 6pm.

n Monteviot, Jedburgh, Daily 2pm - 5pm (partial disabled access).

n Penicuik House, Penicuik, Only tomorrow 2pm - 5:30pm

n Sea View Garden, Durnamuck, Dundonnell - May - September by appointment.

n Strachur House Gardens, Strachur, Argyll. 11am - 5pm.

n Entrance fees vary, but most gardens charge #2 per adult and 50p for children - there is an honesty box at most gates. The National Trust Gardens tend to charge more, but are free to members. This year admission for up to three young people under the age of 18 is free, when they are accompanied by an adult.

n Most gardens have a plant stand where their excess plants and seedlings are sold at very reasonable prices.

n Applications for the Horticultural Training Programme at Threave Castle, Castle Douglas, DG7 1RX close on Wednesday. For

further details telephone 01556 502575 or 01721 722 502.

n Catriona Boyle's Garden School, Penpergwm Lodge, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire NP7 9AS. For details Tel: 01873 840208. Excellent plants are for sale. B&B can be arranged.

n Gardens of Scotland 2000 is available from most booksellers #3.50 or from Scotland's Garden Scheme, 31 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2EL. Tel: 0131 229 1870.