Fiddlers Green in June

Few gardeners are more likely than Sue Palmer to make sure to grow the right plant in the right place. ‘Being just a stone’s throw from the sea, our front garden is regularly battered by salty gales, so I’ve learned the plants that survive, and those that just aren’t worth the effort,’ says Sue from an 1830s terraced cottage overlooking a bay in the Orkney Isles. It was a decade ago that Sue and her husband moved to South Ronaldsay. The cottage separates two distinct gardens that measure less than ten metres in any direction — the northeast-facing front is a tapestry of colour in summer, whilst the sheltered rear garden is a parterre filled with fruit and vegetables.