With spring now well underway, many of us are looking at our outdoor spaces and thinking about giving them some TLC after another long winter.
According to the Scottish Environmental Horticulture Growth Strategy there are over one million people in Scotland who are regular gardeners.
From communal tenement gardens to expansive private grounds, we love our borders, rockeries, lawns and patios.
It’s hugely satisfying to see a plant you’ve cared for bloom into beautiful flowers, but you need to be careful what you choose and where you place it.
Many of us have gardens that have poor-quality sandy soil. It’s a particular issue in coastal areas - and Scotland has plenty of coast.
Luckily there are many plants with colourful flowers that can positively thrive in these conditions and will also cope with the notoriously unpredictable Scottish climate.
Here are 13 of our favourites.
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5. Blanket Flower
Named due to the carpet its foliage creates, covering the sandy soil it loves. the Blanket Flower will produce vivid red and yellow daisy-like flowers that will brighten your garden throughout the summer. It needs a fair bit of sun but can survive in poor quality soil. | Canva/Getty Images
6. Catmint
Catmint forms soft mounds of aromatic foliage covered with lavender-blue flowers for months. It thrives in dry sandy soil, resists drought and attracts bees, making it ideal for relaxed cottage-style borders. | Canva/Getty Images
7. Cotton Lavender
To bring a little of the Mediterranean to your sandy Scottish garden, consider planting some Cotton Lavender. It provides aromatic, silver-grey foliage all year, with intersting yellow button-like flowers appearing in the summer. This is a plant that will even thrive in exposed gardens as it will put up with windy conditions. | Canva/Getty Images
8. Rock Rose
Another prodigious bloomer, the Rock Rose comes in a range of colours, with pink and yellow perhaps the most popular with horticulturists. It will produce flowers in sandy beds from late spring all the way through to the end of summer. It's great for dry borders with poor soil where other plants may struggle to survive. | Canva/Getty Images