With bitterly cold winters, short summers, and a notoriously damp climate, Scotland’s gardeners have their own particular set of challenges.
Emphasize the Views
For more, see Little Sparta: The Garden of Ian Hamilton Finlay.
Photograph by Andrew Lawson courtesy of Frances Lincoln.
Photograph by Christin Geall.
At the Cambo Estate’s walled garden, in late October the plantings benefit from a gentle slope, the moderating effect of the North Sea, and the added protection of enclosure.
Use Naturalistic Plantings
At the Cambo Estate this style of planting is at its best in the low light of autumn as grasses, glowing asters, eupatorium, and salvias all blend in a dazzling display.
Prickly thistles are the national emblem of Scotland and various cultivars – native and non-natives – are found in Scottish gardens, but none will stop you in your tracks as much as the rich blue spikes of the globe thistle, Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’. Plant them en masse for the greatest effect.
Add Spiky Thistles
Photograph by Jenni Douglas via Flickr.
Head gardener Elliot Forsyth developed the naturalistic plantings at Cambo, including sweeps of grasses. For more, see Flower Design: A Week at the Cambo Estate in Scotland.
Get Creative with Grasses
Photograph by Sir Peter Erskine.
Heather in bloom on the Isle of Mull. You’ll see vast swaths of this tough but beautiful flowering evergreen all across the wilds of Scotland, but it looks equally good as ground cover in garden settings too.
Photograph by Saskia Heijltjes via Flickr.
Rethink Heather
Design a Pinetum
For more, see Gardening 101: Pine Trees. The native Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) can reach a towering 36 meters (about 118 feet) if left to its own devices.
Photograph by Britt Willoughby Dyer for Gardenista.
Photograph by Britt Willoughby Dyer.
Create a Micro Climate
Towering yews; see more at Gardening 101: Yew Trees. Create micro-climates with towering hedges and topiary.
Photograph by Derek Brown.
Lay Stone Paths
Also at Wormistoune, and almost any grand Scottish garden, local stone is used for imposing paths and walkways – either laid in blocks or arranged with curved stones in between for a more textured effect.
Photograph by Stu Smith via Flickr.
Plant a Shelter Belt
Grounds at The Burn House.
Create Drama with Topiary
Photograph by Iain Cameron via Flickr.
Crathes Castle Gardens. At Parkhead in Argyll & Bute, clipped forms take centre stage with boxwood, yew, beech, hornbeam, holly, laurel are laid out in a strictly symmetrical garden of cones, cubes, columns, domes and pristine parterres.