Richard's Report

Gardeners of Eden Visit Threave

It was unseasonably cold towards the end of a dismal summer as the members assembled in Kirkby Stephen’s Market Square for the annual coach trip. Imagine then their delight on being greeted by warm sunshine on arrival at Threave Garden near Castle Douglas. After an introductory talk by Lucy from the Plant Centre, the party was led off to the Walled Garden by Brian, one of the gardeners. Amongst other good things, Brian showed the group the produce stall, where it was possible for a modest outlay to buy apples in variety, beetroot, radish, celery, cabbages, kohl-rabi, courgettes and even outdoor grown sweet corn, evidence of the mild climate enjoyed at Threave, just five miles from the Solway coast.

Although much of the walled garden is given over to the production of fruit and vegetables, the central feature is a formal gravel path that runs the length of the garden from the entrance gate to the glasshouse. The path is flanked by deep borders backed by evergreen hedges. At the time of the visit, great swathes of Phlox paniculata in a range of colours were punctuated by ligularias, towering echinops and eryngiums with their metallic blue flowers and crocosmias in flaming reds and oranges cooled by white anaphalis. The usual late summer “daisies”, heleniums, rudbeckias and echinaceas, were looking at their best. Blocks of the intriguing Cimicifuga simplex ‘Atropurpurea’, with almost black foliage and tall spikes of white flowers caused a great deal of interest. The glasshouse is a copy of a Victorian glasshouse which was damaged beyond repair by the heavy snowfall of 1995. The structure is in three temperature - controlled sections. A cool house contains tender rhododendrons from Burma, Tibet, China and Assam. A tropical house provides the ideal environment for orchids, while the third section contains a collection of xerophytes, that is, plants such as cacti that thrive in  arid conditions.

Moving out of the walled garden, one’s eye was drawn to the peat beds opposite the entrance. The many species of dwarf rhododendron, long past flowering, provided a deep green backdrop to Chinese treasures coveted by the serious gardener, such as Roscoea auriculata with pink orchid-like flowers, Incarvillea delavayi and the spidery Paris verticillata. A short walk brings one to the Secret Garden, so secret in fact, that Lucy had difficulty finding it! One of Threave’s most successful garden sculptures is to be found here. Three handsome urns of different sizes constructed entirely of pieces of slate, nestle in a bed of dwarf variegated bamboo, fronted by thickly planted hostas. Adjacent to the Rock Garden, a massive rock edifice devoid of plants was a work in progress. On the Rock Garden itself, late flowering drum head alliums acted as a magnet for honeybees and hoverflies. Careful use has been made of the outcropping rock in this naturally rocky area to create a haven for saxifrages, gentians and other alpine plants.

A stroll uphill past the Daffodil Bank, home to thousands of the rare cultivar ‘Southern Gem’, safely underground at this season, brings one to Threave House. The house was built in the 1870’s in Scottish Baronial style in the then fashionable red sandstone from Castledykes in Dumfries. On a terrace below the house the planting consisted almost entirely of that well-loved dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ with crimson flowers framed by red-tinted leaves. Most of the party eschewed an opportunity to tour the house and moved on to the Arboretum. Between Threave House and the Arboretum, extensive lawns were sparsely planted with a striking white-stemmed birch Betula utilis ‘Jaquemontii’, interspersed with the most beautiful of the deciduous southern beeches Nothofagus Antarctica. The Arboretum contains the tallest Alnus rubra (Red Alder) in the British Isles as well as two other record trees. A pair of Ravens atop a huge Douglas Fir enlivened the scene with their droll acrobatics and extensive vocabulary.

While the party missed seeing the daffodils, primulas and rhododendrons of spring and early summer for which Threave is well-known, late summer brings its own compensations. Most notably eucryphias, columnar trees covered in masses of white, single or double flowers. In one border the tree’s white flowers were given added luminosity by the almost black leaves of the shrub Physocarpus ‘Diablo’ planted in front of it.  There were also many buddlejas with flower spikes of pink, lavender or white depending on variety, providing a feast of nectar at the time of our visit for Red Admiral and Peacock butterflies. Almost all cultivated hydrangeas are late flowering and two varieties at Threave are particularly striking at this time of year. Hydrangea aspera achieves a height seldom matched in Cumbria. In one example, the purplish pink flowers clothed the tree to a height of twelve feet. Hydrangea paniculata was also on form, sporting tapering panicles of pink-tinged cream flowers.

As a garden of 65 acres, it comes as a surprise to learn that there are only two full-time gardeners. However, Threave is a teaching garden and with the aid of three instructors, offers a unique one year certificate in the practical skills of amenity gardening. The current intake of students, six in all, includes students from Spain, Canada and Lithuania. The Diploma in Horticulture is awarded by The National Trust for Scotland, which provided students with an opportunity to study at other gardens belonging to the Trust.