Garden Gossip

A new venture at the nursery - Cat is painting rocks with wee animals and birds, varnishing them up and putting them out for purchase. Proving popular with those who are flying and cant carry plants very easily. .

May 24 th 2008

Saturday a whole day in the garden…well in and out. I must have walked up the hill to the new beds in the old hen house area, about 8 times . That has to be good for me!

The day was sunny and dry, but with the wind in the East it kept the air cooler. It ahs been like this now for about 4 weeks and the ground is drying out quickly. However the days have been more grey than sunny and that and the cooler temperatures has meant that things have not become too stressed up until now. But today, as I walked along different routes to and fro I saw native primroses and Symphytum, native comfrey, wilting and showing strong signs of stress.

And I was placing plants in order to plant! I ended by talking with Donald about watering and in that resourceful way he has arranged to get water across from our stream and we can water plantings at night

I am nowadays reflective of our privileged position re water. We have our own water supply, from a nearby stream., which has a spring origin in the hills above us. We also have an energetic highland stream, the Alt Kilianan next to the garden, which has gouged a gorge out of the hillside over the year, It is ferocious in spate, and an awesome sight.

However from yesterday I have a gentle night time sprinkler set up and the run off is to Loch Ness below us. Not too much damage to the planet

As I weeded I was frequently distracted by the loudest of rustlings in the undergrowth. Each time I would stop, scan the are expecting some large mammal to emerge, and each time a small bird would eventually casually fly off the ground . The leaves are mostly oak and are now so dry that the slightest disturbance causes a great noise.

These new beds are off course much more fun to plant and weed that the more established. Older beds need thoughtful pruning, often removal of some plants and the almost always a good feed. A much more substantive task and one I can rarely attempt nowadays. However, I love giving the orders for action.

The bed on the site of the old henhouse is glorious . the candelabra primroses are doing very well and the Primula prolfera is showing as rich , butter yellow buds, that promise excitement The Primula sieboldii have also settled well and look very perky along one edge

The rich annual foliage cover was what we were looking for here and it works well. The contrasts of Rogersia and Ligularia with strong candelabras of colour and ferns for elegant fill and frill. The only disappointment is the Zanthedecia, which I thoughts would do well here, but maybe the dry second half of spring has kept them back.

Spring 2008 ~ Just back from the Southern Hemisphere and our head is full of bush plants and sunshine.

This year we are holding 2 RHS open days at Abriach Gardens one on Auriculas - "Auricula Addiction" - April 23rd 2pm to 4pm

and "Wildlife Gardening" on June 11th Book tickets through RHS ticket line 08456 121 253

www,rhs.org.uk/rhseventfinder

Summer 2007

I walked past Edinburgh Castle today. A more forbidding setting is hard to imagine - the grey, grim order ofthe castle rising from large irregular dark grey slabs of rock. Early morning was wet today and the slabs still glistened as the moisture ran down from the ledges above, therby enhancing their inassailable facade.

This fortress must have been here for a thousand years built on this bedrock and over that time a number of tenacious plants have grown amongst this giants jumble of rock.

Today there were many flowering sprays of red valerian (Centranthus Ruber), flourishing with no visible means of support. There were foxgloves purple and white, though many of them were of a stubnted growth. there was no sign of stunting from feverfew whch tumbled generously down the cliffs. In there was Hawksbit and the odd surprising Anthirinum all in early summer show. the tired dust of summer was not yet on them. Here and there was a flourishing small hazel or Ash and that told me that trees are not allowed to mature here, rather given two or three summers of youth and then gone.

Were they all living on fresh air. Well they cant, I suspect that if I could have climbed over the fence and over the lowest boulders in order to 'pull' one of these plants, I would have found long questing strong roots. The seeds will arrive - most likely windborne or carried by birds - they will thrive where they can find a tiny pockets of humus, formed from decaying leaves, and rills of water running between the rocks. Where the cool root run is , therre the shallow ledges support the more stunted growth.

It is tempting to conjecture where some of these colonists come from - did the Valarian arrive on the weary feet of soldiers and get swept over theedge, or have they arrived with birds or small mammals.

Spring 2007 ~ A walk with the birds

This week I see space and time in my life and it makes me restive, I must go out and walk and listen and smell and think. This evening it snowed aroud 6pm, heavy wet snow, sleet slanting to the ground from an oppressive grey blanket. An hour later it was gone, still grey, but the cloud base had lifted. I put on my boots and set off uphill.

Through the garden everywhere was the trickle and rush of water. Underfoot was sticky and I slithered on the slopes. Above me the trees were full of birdsound - the insistent dedee dede of wrens, the trill of tits - a sizzle of sisken noise. In New Zealand I waited for the liquid notes of bell birds, In Australia I marvelled at colour and exotic novelties of their birds. the whipcrack , the kookabura, I loved them & rather than feel things dull when I returned home, my eyes and ears have registered. Our birds are wonderful, colourful, plentiful and they sound amazing.

Tonight they were my companions for the first half of my walk - uphill, past the waterfall, across the bridge and then down. My reverie was broken by a heavy lumber as the undergrowth broke and moved away. A large Roebuck - I heard his bark as I went further down the slope and then noticed the bird noise had stopped. The light level drops and with it they fall quiet. There are always one or two late guys - they start their roost, disturb others, then its over.

Time to go in - out onto the road and up to the house, to disturb the others.

Un-related to the Garden - my son Hamish, who you may have met at Farmers Markets or perhaps on the nursery itself - has just had a fantastic holiday in Egypt and is still shaking the sand from his ears. He is now passing on mysteries from the tombs to wide eyed children, on forest walks and treasure trails - so if you see pyramids springing up amongst the trees you'll know the cause!!

In September 2006 we were featured in The Herald Magazine:

"If you are brave enough to build a garden on a slope as steep as this, there's little choice but to create terraces. At Abriachan, the structure of rising beds offers the Davidsons plenty of space to indulge their leafy passions, besides providing a series of viewing platforms for admiring the Loch."

........

John Paul Photographs

"The Gardens are unexpectedly cosy in their appeal and remarkably well merged with the surrounding hillside considering their eclectic mix of exotic plants. Given the dramatic, large-scale setting, you immediatly relate to the intimacy of the gardens. "

"Abriachan combines big views and fascinating plants in equal measure - a fine achievement for its owners and creators Don and Margaret Davidson. The couple have lived and worked in some far-flung places and you sense they have brought back a little bit of everywhere they've been. There are plants from South Africa, the Falkland islands, Chile, Australia, New Zealand and all over Europe. The combination are an inspiration for any gardener, from beginner to advanced, and easily replicated almost anywhere in Scotland."

Interviewer: Raoul Curtis-Machin

Summer Shrubs - July 14th Summer 2006

I always want to have flowering shrubs all year round, adding their substantial and impressive presence to the garden. Spring is good, and always the easiest. Then we are into the roses. They were breathtaking this year. It has inspired us to begin planting more shrub roses again.

Then it gets sticky and you have to start working at keep the show coming. The best summer show after the roses was with Hoheria…..those white flowered shrubs that I remember vividly from our times in New Zealand. There you see them lightening the dark evergreen bush and so when we had our own piece of “Scottish Bush”, we determined to plant them. It has taken a while for them to show their quality, about 5 years. Out of flower their elegant toothed leaves are of a dull mid green that forms backdrop rather than stage front. But this year they came into their own, The star was Hoheria lyalli. You looked up to catch the spectacle, your head turning up when you saw the carpet of bridal white petals under the shrub. It came and went too fast in the heat of July, but left a wonderful memory and the anticipation of next summer.

I have a Carpenteria californica. It is one of those shrubs that should not do well this far north, but came through last winters -15degrees C without a blink. I recall the first time I saw this shrub it was as Bodnant Garden, I Wales. It was a formative summer when I was around 20 and worked there during vacation from University. There it thrived against the warm walls of the elegant house, and since then I have always wanted to own one. We bought our plant by mail order from a Devon nursery and for a couple of summers we both molly- coddled and starved it in a large pot. When it became too big we planted it out and crossed our fingers. It has relished the freedom and is growing healthily away on the edge of the woodland in some retentive soil.

Spring 2006

While we toil with personal indecision, nature gets on with it and comes out trumps every time.

We are still “thinking about” diversifying into accommodation on our landholding. Our vision is energy efficient buildings, made with Highland timber and merging into the hillside. Great ideas.

Meanwhile our garden has kept growing. The past 2 years has seen a real maturity of shrubs and trees, which changes the whole feel as you walk around. You wind up and through sweeps of foliage and peer upwards along soaring trunks to take in the sky. The Nothofagus, planted in a nostalgic mood for southern latitudes is now 30 ft and growing.

The trick is to retain plantings and fertility below the maturing specimens, and we are constantly doing that as you will see if you visit. I am also a great advocate of the application of the chain saw. Removing a tree can transform and area, letting in light and air.

On the theme of constant change; I declare the Pine Marten the winner, he took out my last 4 hens before Christmas. However, true to form my husband Don, has extended the garden through the old hen run, sweeping walls, semi mature shrubs and a large damp area, maybe pond. Now that is exciting.

Cat our daughter was home last year, before returning to warmer climates. She has done some great interpretation, telling the story of the gardens and the history of our ancient Celtic corner.

Our bird population is fabulous. Listen for the woodpecker, spot the tree creepers and hope for the osprey over Loch Ness. Just sit and wait in the sunshine.

Do visit us for our Auricula display , the carpet of bluebells in April/May, the fresh woodland plantings in Spring and impact of summer and autumn colour.

Nearby we have a wonderful asset in our Community Forest. Loch Ness and Abriachan is a great place for

an outdoor holiday for all ages. www.visitlochness.com