A little support

Providing support is always a tricky business.  Too little, and things fall flat and full potential isn't reached, too much (or too late), and things will look constrained and strictured.  I have a bad tendency not to stake things sufficiently early in the season, so I've been looking through my photo albums to get some inspiration.  Hopefully this will spur me into action in good time this year, and my garden will benefit from getting just the support it needs!

The best type of support is when there is no intervention at all, such as here at Crathes Castle, where a yew hedge provides the back drop for a splash of vibrant red,  from a perennial tropaeolum.

Or here, where a self clinging Boston Ivy was decorating the ancient stone walls of the idyllic house we rented in Provence a couple of years ago.

Of course, the more walls you have, the more options you have as supports.  For example, the imposing red sandstone walls of Glamis Castle are the perfect spot for a streak for burgundy foliage

And here, again at Glamis, on a more intimate scale, trellises of roses soften the stonework

At Duff House, a lovely Georgian mansion near Montrose, there are wonderful examples of espalier adorning the protective walls of the flower gardens

I was less keen on these arching supports at Duff House....a bit 1970s looking to my eye

But I think this example, of golden hops covering a series of arches, in order to highlight the lovely stone font at the end, works perfectly.  When we visited the gardens at Crathes Castle in late July, the yellow/gold/chartreuse coloured section of the garden looked spectacular.

Ropes can be used to good effect.  Here at Threave Castle Gardens, in Dumfries and Galloway, even naked, they look really good (more than can be said for the poor box hedges, which must have been damaged by a series of bad winters 

Here, at Cruickshank Botanical Gardens, in Old Aberdeen, ropes support lovely climbing roses.  When in bloom, they must form wonderful cascades of flowers.

Even when not in full bloom, the ropes add interest.

Herbaceous borders need careful planning, first to place plants appropriately according to height, and then to engineer an appropriate staking system.  Looks perfect here, at Threave.

And another perfect example at Crathes.

And here are the mechanics behind it....I know I've blogged about this before, but I think it's such a great system!

I crafted twig supports like these last year for my peonies, and they worked really well.

These sturdy examples are from Threave - mine were much less robust, but did the job.

In my own garden, I covered up the garage with a cheap trellis from Ikea, which supports a lovely white clematis, which flowers in late spring...... 

....and then is smothered in glorious New Dawn roses in late June.

Dunrobin Castle Gardens

Dunrobin Castle

I had never been to Dunrobin Castle before my trip home to Scotland last year, but since it's a pleasant driving distance from my brother's house, on a picturesque route, I put that to rights.  It is a magnificent property, looking very much like a Fairytale Castle or French Chateau.   The gardens are magnificent, and the views from the Castle, across formal beds and topiary, and out to the sea, are quite beautiful.  When I was a kid, I always misheard the name, and thought it was "Done Roamin' Castle", and if I had the where-with-all to own this little pile, I would certainly be done roaming for good.  I would become a hermit and never leave the place....although on second thoughts, if I had the kind of fortune required to own this place, I would surely need the odd trip to Monaco, or Capri, or Biarritz, just to make sure I didn't start to take things for granted at home!

The elevation of the house above the gardens allows for great views of the formal beds

You half expect Rapunzel to let her hair down from these turrets

The damp weather in these sheltered, northerly climes clearly suits Gunnera - the leaves are immense!

A charming path down to the beach

The potager is highly productive and decorative.  Love the terracotta forcing pots for the rhubarb.

Potted trees are a feature of the gardens

Another feature are these rose pyramids.  We had missed their bloom peak, but these structures still made a good impact 

Low profile apple and pear espaliers formed low hedges.  Their bark was fuzzy with lichen.

Every crack in the ancient stone staircase was bursting with self-sown plants - all looking perfectly happy in their cramped quarters.

What perfectly crisp hedge lines!

Pitmedden Gardens

It's a murky grey day in Toronto today, so aside for doing some prep work on hors d'oeuvres for tomorrow's soiree, it's a good time to pull a chair up to the hearth and go back through photos from this year.  The travel highlight of the year was 3 weeks back in Scotland to visit my family in mid-summer.  They were having a particularly cool, wet summer, and so the gardens were not in absolutely peak condition, but coming from the furnace-like conditions of a Toronto summer, it was a wonder to me to see such lush, green abundance everywhere.  Nowhere was that more appreciated than on a trip to Pitmedden Gardens, on a particularly action packed castle-viewing day.  We had a nice, relaxed stroll through the beautiful parterres, and finished off with an absolutely delicious cup of tea on the terrace.  I was particularly  delighted by the French chateau-like towers at the corners of the huge protecting walls, the bee-skeps in little niches in the wall to protect the occupants from the elements, and an absolute abundance of espaliers.

The protecting walls around the parterres are covered in espaliers - apples and pears

The hedges looked beautiful, although the scars of a couple of harsh winters were evident

A system of large nylon nets provides near invisible, and highly effective, staking for all the herbaceous perennials

Bee skeps are housed in wall niches

magnificent parterres at Pitmedden