STAFF at Dawyck Botanic Garden, one of the Scottish Borders’ leading visitor attractions, launched the new season on Sunday and are hoping to beat last year’s bumper visitor numbers.

In 2014 the number of visitors to the garden at Stobo were up almost a fifth on the previous year. The figure of 34,465 compared with 28,917 the previous year – an increase of 19.2%.

Curator Graham Stewart said: “2014 was undoubtedly one of the most successful years ever for us in terms of visitors.

“Our visitor numbers were understandably up during the summer months when the weather was nice, but surprisingly April and September were the most notable months. There were 5,246 visitors in April 2014 compared to 3,607 visitors in April 2013 and in September there were 3,627 visitors compared to 2,745 in 2013.” Dawyck can boast two firsts. It was the first garden in Scotland to be awarded five stars in 2008 by VisitScotland and secondly it opened a hydro-electric scheme last year, making it the first carbon neutral botanic garden in the UK.

The scheme, which has benefited from a £30,000 grant from EDF Energy’s Green Fund, provides enough electricity to power both the garden’s visitor centre and surplus electricity is sold back to the national grid.

It has produced over 20,000 kWh since being connected to the Scrape Burn which runs through the garden and even during the dry summer last year it was still producing power, despite many similar schemes in other parts of the UK being shut down due to low flows.

Mr Stewart added: “The challenge is now on for the team at Dawyck to build on the success of last year. We have a varied programme of events and exhibitions planned for this year, so hopefully it will appeal to a wide audience.” The new season got underway with an exhibition of stunning paintings by Edward Bowen at The Studio. Many of the paintings on display have been inspired by the garden over the past year or so. The exhibition, which opens at 10am daily, will run until Sunday, May 3.

The garden is also taking part in the Scottish Snowdrop Festival 2015 which runs until March 15. Dawyck has a stunning collection of snowdrops, including thousands of plants which carpet the banks of Scrape Burn.

One of the garden’s main fundraising events this year will be the plant sale organised by Friends of Dawyck committee to be held on Sunday, May 17.

While the garden has been closed over winter, Mr Stewart and his team have undertaken numerous projects including renovating herbaceous borders, new plantings of wild-collected plants, particularly threatened conifers, and have recently overseen the renovation of the grand urn. Further path improvements are planned. The garden is also now connected to the rural broadband network so free wi-fi will be available for our visitors in the café.

Mr Stewart said: “Each year the garden is closed from November 30 to February 1 so we try to get as much disruptive work completed during that period so it doesn’t impact on the visitor experience.Once again we have successfully completed a number of projects and are all set to for the new season.” Forthcoming Events at the Garden - Guided Bird Walk: Saturday, April 11, Sunday, May 10, Saturday, June 6, 7am to 8.30am. Free with Garden admission (cash only). Book in advance. Join an early morning tour of the garden and be entertained by the sounds of bird call. See how many birds you can identify from their song.

Poppy Browne Craft Event: Sunday, April 12, 12.30pm to 4.30pm. Drop-in sessions. £2 per child plus garden admission. Artist Poppy Browne will be showing youngsters how to create items using materials collected from the Garden.

Plant Sale: Sunday, May 17, 10am to 3pm. Free. If you are looking for some new additions for your garden, then head along to the plant sale and see a range of interesting and unusual specimens from local gardens.

STAFF at Dawyck Botanic Garden, one of the Scottish Borders’ leading visitor attractions, launched the new season on Sunday and are hoping to beat last year’s bumper visitor numbers.

In 2014 the number of visitors to the garden at Stobo were up almost a fifth on the previous year. The figure of 34,465 compared with 28,917 the previous year – an increase of 19.2%.

Curator Graham Stewart said: “2014 was undoubtedly one of the most successful years ever for us in terms of visitors.

“Our visitor numbers were understandably up during the summer months when the weather was nice, but surprisingly April and September were the most notable months. There were 5,246 visitors in April 2014 compared to 3,607 visitors in April 2013 and in September there were 3,627 visitors compared to 2,745 in 2013.” Dawyck can boast two firsts. It was the first garden in Scotland to be awarded five stars in 2008 by VisitScotland and secondly it opened a hydro-electric scheme last year, making it the first carbon neutral botanic garden in the UK.

The scheme, which has benefited from a £30,000 grant from EDF Energy’s Green Fund, provides enough electricity to power both the garden’s visitor centre and surplus electricity is sold back to the national grid.

It has produced over 20,000 kWh since being connected to the Scrape Burn which runs through the garden and even during the dry summer last year it was still producing power, despite many similar schemes in other parts of the UK being shut down due to low flows.

Mr Stewart added: “The challenge is now on for the team at Dawyck to build on the success of last year. We have a varied programme of events and exhibitions planned for this year, so hopefully it will appeal to a wide audience.” The new season got underway with an exhibition of stunning paintings by Edward Bowen at The Studio. Many of the paintings on display have been inspired by the garden over the past year or so. The exhibition, which opens at 10am daily, will run until Sunday, May 3.

The garden is also taking part in the Scottish Snowdrop Festival 2015 which runs until March 15. Dawyck has a stunning collection of snowdrops, including thousands of plants which carpet the banks of Scrape Burn.

One of the garden’s main fundraising events this year will be the plant sale organised by Friends of Dawyck committee to be held on Sunday, May 17.

While the garden has been closed over winter, Mr Stewart and his team have undertaken numerous projects including renovating herbaceous borders, new plantings of wild-collected plants, particularly threatened conifers, and have recently overseen the renovation of the grand urn. Further path improvements are planned. The garden is also now connected to the rural broadband network so free wi-fi will be available for our visitors in the café.

Mr Stewart said: “Each year the garden is closed from November 30 to February 1 so we try to get as much disruptive work completed during that period so it doesn’t impact on the visitor experience.Once again we have successfully completed a number of projects and are all set to for the new season.” Forthcoming Events at the Garden - Guided Bird Walk: Saturday, April 11, Sunday, May 10, Saturday, June 6, 7am to 8.30am. Free with Garden admission (cash only). Book in advance. Join an early morning tour of the garden and be entertained by the sounds of bird call. See how many birds you can identify from their song.

Poppy Browne Craft Event: Sunday, April 12, 12.30pm to 4.30pm. Drop-in sessions. £2 per child plus garden admission. Artist Poppy Browne will be showing youngsters how to create items using materials collected from the Garden.

Plant Sale: Sunday, May 17, 10am to 3pm. Free. If you are looking for some new additions for your garden, then head along to the plant sale and see a range of interesting and unusual specimens from local gardens.