Garden Ornaments in Edinburgh

Gardens in Edinburgh have their own rules, and the ornaments that last here reflect that. Edinburgh gets wind off the Forth and cold clear nights, a combination that tests anything lightweight. Spend a wet afternoon at the Royal Botanic Garden and you get a fair idea of which materials are still standing after a few seasons.

What lasts in Edinburgh gardens

• Watch where the cold air settles. Frost pools at the lowest point of a garden and against north-facing walls. If you have a hollow that stays white until midday, put the resin and stone pieces there and keep ceramic elsewhere.
• Salt does more damage than frost here. Salt-laden wind pits bare metal far faster than cold ever will. Stone-effect resin, powder-coated steel and glazed finishes hold up best within a mile or two of the water; rinse exposed pieces with fresh water a couple of times over winter.

We only stock pieces we would leave out ourselves through a Scotland winter: stone-effect resin, cast stone, coated metal, treated timber and solar that keeps working when the days are short.