A Grand Tour of Gardens: Traveling in Beauty through Western Europe and the United States

July Gardens in Scotland

July Gardens in Scotland TRAVELERS ABROAD ARE HOPING FOR INSPIRATION. I am always looking for gardening tips that I can incorporate into my own garden, which sits on a hillside peninsula at Lake Summit, in Tuxedo, North Carolina. Whether it is an old-fashioned patterned garden, an Arts and Crafts walled garden, a landscape garden. or an outdoor decorator’s garden room, the inspiration stirred by seeing another style of garden ignites my imagination. Scotland in July is magic. Daylight begins at 4 a.m. and lasts until 11 p.m. Expansive light creates a spectrum from the soft glow of morning, to the stark clarity of midday, to evening shadows that merge into bold sunsets of gold, yellow, and purple. Proximity to the Gulf Stream, long summer days, and abundant rainfall provide perfect gardening conditions. The west coast of Scotland, whose rainfall can total more than 80 inches per year, benefits from the balmy effects of the Gulf Stream. Gardens such as those at Threave, Culzean Castle, and Torosay Castle abound in tender plants collected from the Himalayas, New Zealand, Chile, and South Africa. Plant collectors who ventured to the furthermost reaches of the British Empire brought home Himalayan rhododendrons with fragrant blooms, New Zealand cabbage palms, Chilean lobelias, tree ferns, and Australian eucalyptus. Plunging into these garden landscapes is a visit into the world of exotic and rare plants. Threave Castle and garden are located in Galloway near the small Atlantic town of Kirkcudbright. Threave is an example of the multitype garden, in that on this vast estate there are gardens of every type: walled, water, and formal. Threave is owned by the National Trust of Scotland. The sunny, bright day we visited Threave, we met Bob Browne, the chief gardener, who told us that he had worked in this garden for forty years. He gave us some of his secret tips: dig dahlias in September after the first killing frost and store them upside down for the winter so that the bulbs will not hold water; plant marigolds in rows between lettuce; separate currants and blackberries with dahlias; use loads of cow manure and till it in well. The water garden was filled with damp-loving aquatic plants including iris, primula, and waterlily. We spent the night nearby at the Selkirk Arms in Kirkcudbright. The bar in the inn was full of locals talking and drinking single-malt scotch or pale ale. Scotland is a country of islands. The island of Mull in the Inner Hebrides is one of its most beautiful. We purchased tickets on the Caledonia ferry from Oban to Mull. There we found Torosay Castle and Garden. The castle, dating from 1858 and July Gardens in Scotland 113 in the Scottish Baronial style, was designed by a leading Victorian architect, David Bryce. Robert Lorimer (1864–1929) created the design for the Torosay garden. This is a formal garden in the Italianate style, where terraces, balustrades, and ornaments provide a structured framework. Breathtaking vistas of green hills and blue waters link the garden to its surrounding countryside. Sir Winston Churchill was often a guest here, and the house maintains the record of his hunting prowess. When we returned to the Caledonian Hotel in Oban, we were treated to a bevy of beautiful Scottish lasses doing the traditional sword dance. It was difficult saying goodbye to the west coast of Scotland with its beautiful views over the ocean. However, Fife and central Scotland beckoned. The castle gardens of Fife are an excursion into the inventive and lively world of color. Such gardens as those at Drummond Castle, Kellie Castle, and Kinross House have brilliant herbaceous borders with dazzling mixtures of perennials, roses, and bulbs. Drummond Castle Gardens is near Crieff in Perthshire. This is a patterned garden designed for lavish display of bedding plants. The drive to the castle is through a narrow avenue of beech and lime trees, flanked by rural farmland. Visitors enter a courtyard behind the fifteenth-century castle. There is no sign of the garden, which is hidden behind a low wall. With delightful impact this nineteenth-century Victorian garden reveals itself suddenly, completely, and startlingly. There, all at once in the valley below, is a gigantic thirteen-acre parterre in the shape of a St. Andrews cross. The present garden was begun in 1838 and was completed in 1842 in time for a visit by Queen Victoria. On the day we visited, four full-time gardeners were busy clipping...