I made so many mistakes when I started making the garden at Craigdarroch that I thought it might be helpful to others if I explained what they were.

All gardening in Coll must start by recognising the severity of the exposure which prevails. Except in the very finest weather there is always a wind and it is nearly always carrying some salt with it. There is no point in trying to grow plants in Coll unless they will withstand this exposure factor or you can provide protection in some way which will establish a sheltered micro-climate where the plant is.

I made two cardinal mistakes over exposure. The Craidarroch garden just developed bit by bit, but I should have appreciated the crucial need for shelter and designed the garden round it. Secondly, instead of accepting thankfully the shelter offered by 'the native willows and brambles, I thought that I could provide a more decorative form of shelter by planting shrubs to form shelter belts. But, where I tried to do it, the exposure was too severe and although the shrubs were chosen for their tolerance of sea-winds, they did not thrive as the native willow scrub had done - which I had removed to make way for them.

Soil conditions must also be considered. Most of the soil is peaty and acid, except where the shell sand from the west coast has improved it. In consequence, plants which like limey soils seldom thrive. The depth of soil is important too; our rainfall is comparitvely light and our hours of sunshine high so that shallow soils dry very quickly. The parching effect of the wind increases this so that new plants have to struggle with dry soil and gross transpiration from the leaves. I also made the mistake of planting where the soil was too shallow so that my plants died of drought. Another notable thing - in Craigdorroch at least - is how few worms there are. I suspect that the soil is "dead" in the sense of having nothing like the amount of microfauna that mainland gardens have.

As far as design is concerned then, the cardinal points are to provide shelter and plant where the soil is deep. A solid barrier like a wall doesn't provide good shelter but instead induces turbulence on the lea side; some sort of permeable barrier through which the wind can force its way but at a much reduced speed is better. Such a barrier can be made of several layers of Netlon or small-mesh wire-netting.

Following is a list of shrubs and plants vvhich I have found to thrive; it is necessarily subjective and many are ignored because they don't happen to appeal to me.

Shrubs: i) Junipers. The wild juniper, juniperus communis horizontalis, is an excellent creeping shrub. There are endless varieties of juniper but I'll mention just a few: juniperus squamata meyeri a grey-green upright, but slow-growing, of artistically irregular shape; juniperus Blue Carpet. a flat growing blue-grey that grows fairly quickly and is excellent ground-cover; Juniper Blue Star is slow growing and roughly conical, again blue-grey. ii) Dwarf rhododendrons are very rewarding and do extremely well if the right site can be found. Recommended are: R. impeditum, blue; R. scintillans, light blue; R. russatum, dark blue; R. keleticum, purple; R. prostratum, purple; R. chickor, yellow. There are also many pink and red species. iii). Daisy bushes from New Zealand do extremely well on Coll. The botanical name of the genus is Olearia; there are no English names for the different species. Recommended are: 0 macrodonta with holly-like leaves and masses of white flowers; O. rani which has so many white flowers that the whole bush is hidden; O. oleioides (or oleifolia,-I'm not sure which is right) white flowers, blooms later in the year than the others and good for shelter. Very choice, but tender and needing shelter is O. semi-dentata with narrow dark leaves with silver undersides, and great blue Michaelmas daisy flowers. iv) Groundsels. The shrubby groundsel, senecio greyi is a charming bush with silver-grey leaves and yellow daisy-like flowers. It does well on Coll but should be cut back after flowering and sometimes gets very blasted by winds.

Plants: Bulbs such as daffodils and narcissus which disappear underground in winter and so avoid the worst storms do well on Coll. So do the bulbous irises like the Spanish and Dutch irises. Shorter lilies are less affected by the wind and some varieties that do well are the Yellow Turk's Cap (L. pyrenaicum), L. martagon (pink) and the two very small varieties, L. pumilum (orange) and L. concolor (orange or yellow.) Don't choose tall lilies - the wind will snap them off! And may I wish you much enjoyment from your garden.