Soft petals and bright flowers are just a memory as winter gets underway, but the woodland surrounding some of Scotland’s best gardens offers a chance to get outdoors throughout the coldest months of the year.

At Greenbank Garden, near Clarkston on the southern edge of Glasgow, trails beneath the trees provide a sense of being in the middle of the countryside while at Dumfries House in East Ayrshire, strolls along the Lugar Water have been enhanced by work going on to extend planting in the Arboretum, with more shrubs and camassias to give a vivid spring display.

The parkland around the dramatic ruins of Armadale Castle on Skye are home to trees that have survived for more than a century and plantings of new conifers are being undertaken to help ensure the future of some of the world’s threatened species. This designed landscape on Skye’s Sleat Peninsula is an atmospheric place to explore during the winter months.

And so too is Scone Palace near Perth, which was the birthplace of plant hunter David Douglas, who introduced the Douglas Fir to Europe, the tree that would transform and the forestry industry.

The first Douglas Fir, grown from seed sent back by David Douglas himself, still grows at Scone today.