Sunday Herald Magazine June 2006
Perfect Pitch
Big gardens are the ideal canvas for big ideas, but they are also a rich source of tips for the humble plots of ‘ordinary’ gardeners. By Jennie MacFie
I’ve rarely visited a more impressive garden than the one at Cambo, in Fife. First opened to the public 16 years ago, it covers two and a half acres. It’s sited on a south-facing slope, enclosed in stone walls and bisected by the Cambo burn, which means it’s pretty well perfectly positioned to grow anything.
In Victorian times, the garden supplied Cambo House in the traditional manner, with flowers, fruit and vegetables; thanks in part to its extensive greenhouses, it was so prolific it also supplied local shops and hotels with produce – and even Christmas trees.
Nowadays, under head gardener Elliott Forsyth, the garden is more decorative and slightly less functional. Gone are the rows of dahlias for cutting, lines of bedding plants and vast beds of fruit and vegetables. Instead, there is a modern, European sensibility in evidence in the design. Vegetables are used ornamentally, planted in decorative parterres. There is a large, luscious damp garden, with stands of lovely Iris siberica, the enormous leaves of Gunnera, and the most perfect untouched hostas I’ve ever seen – and no, Elliott doesn’t use pesticides. (I asked.)
Huge herbaceous borders are planted, not in the usual Gertrude Jekyll style, but using perennials mixed with a range of interesting plants, herbs and lots of bulbs. Year-round structure and texture is provided by many different grasses and some shrubs. The key words are naturalistic and dynamic; the effect is amazing.
My favourite section (it was hard to choose) is currently under construction and features a parterre of rectangular beds intersected by sand and shell paths. However, instead of using a symmetrical placing, Elliott has placed them in a pattern which evokes Mondrian’s paintings. When planted in blocks of intense colour, the effect should be superb and I suspect this parterre could be a future star of the horticultural world.
Like the gardens at Alnwick, Cambo is home to sculptures, in this case by Alan Biggs, featuring exuberant figures capering on walls and unexpectedly cartwheeling across borders. Like Alnwick, Cambo is a garden of spirit and excitement which has developed from its Victorian origins into a style which places it firmly in the 21st century.
By contrast, up in Angus, Glamis Castle bears the weight of more than six centuries of history, yet is still a family home, albeit on the grand side. The approach is a classic, mile-long avenue, lined with daffodils, through equally classic parkland. Near the castle, the gardens are formal with an Italianate walled garden and paths edged with tall, neatly trimmed hedges; it would not have been so very surprising to see Peter Greenaway’s Draughtsman appear around a corner in a feathered hat. Beyond, walks have been created through the woodlands, including a lovely pinetum where Camassias make clouds of blue under the trees, and red squirrels are encouraged with feeders.
With this much history to deal with, it is a brave gardener who tries to make changes, and yet gardens cannot stay still; as with all else in nature, they are continually evolving.
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