GARDEN VARIETY
Frostineb in Midlothian is a riot of colour all year, but really shines in autumn
‘The aim was to maintain the connection with the surrounding countryside’
When Caroline Gibson reels off the list of plants that survive at Frostineb, the Midlothian Georgian farmhouse she shares with her husband Henry, it is hard to believe her. First there is the name: Frostineb sounds chilly. And then there is the location: the garden sits at an altitude of 750ft and at the end of a mile long track. This idyllic approach creates a delightfully remote feel and it’s hard to believe that we are just 30 minutes south of Edinburgh.
But the list includes bright blue Agapanthus, fragrant snow white Eucryphia ‘ Nymansay’, leafy Gunnera and scarlet Lobelia Tulipa. It is not until the belt of cypress and other deciduous trees comes into sight that you begin to understand how this might be possible.
When Caroline and Henry took over the two acre garden 25 years ago she was a complete novice. A correspondence course in garden design gave her confidence, and enthusiasm was key, but genetics may have also played a part: her mother was a great niece four times removed of the famous nineteenth-century Scottish botanist and plant hunter Robert Fortune.
The plan was for a varied garden that would look good year round, although autumn is seen as a particularly important time. It now includes the House Garden, a pond area and an orchard.
While Caroline concentrated on design and planting Henry cheerfully took on the role of under gardener.
First came the House Garden where plans were made from the upstairs windows, with its southerly views over the plot. Here the aim was to maintain the connection with the surrounding countryside by opening up views while using sunny spots as sitting areas. The result is an informal layout of winding grass paths dividing beds packed with a succession of plants.
Structure comes from evergreen shrubs such as Juniper, rhododendrons and lancer hedging. ‘The herbaceous beds had no intentional colour co-ordination but were planned round the best conditions for a particular plant,’ Caroline explains.
A particularly dramatic combination includes the ribbon of blue nepeta that connects the conservatory to the maroon foliage of Cornus and Berberis ‘Rose Glow’, Potentilla ‘Red Ace’ and golden Cercydiphylum japonicum.
Further along, the rich, dark purple foliage of Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Black Knight’ and Acanthus mollis contrast with bright yellow Rudbeckia and Knifophia. Butterflies hover around purple Buddleia ‘Loch Inch’. Low plantings include maroon Sedum and variegated
Bergenia, ‘Jack Frost’ and the scheme is lightened with grasses such as Molina caerulea ‘Karl Foerster’.
A set of stone steps lead down to a sunny terrace laid out on the former vegetable patch where the south facing wall features a set of bee boles. These date from the early 19th century and are contemporary with the house.
An opening in the wall takes you to the former paddock where the poor drainage led to the creation of a stone-edged pond fed by rain water drained from the fields. The edge of the pond is softened with silver plumes of the Common reed, Phragmites communis ‘variegatus’ an echo of the Pampas grass beyond. All plants are cut back in January and the gunner is covered with its huge leaves to protect it from the worst of the winter weather.
In autumn, colour comes from the snow white berries of Sorbus cashmiriana and the scarlet foliage of spindle Euonymous alatus with a young red oak Quercus rubra in the background.
Listening to music and Radio 4 on a solar operated radio helps pass the time in the newly built greenhouse where the fragrance of tomatoes reminds Caroline of her childhood and ‘walking into my father’s greenhouse and eating ripe tomatoes straight off the plant’. The greenhouse is the ideal place to sow sweet pea seeds in late autumn and get a head start with vegetable and annual seeds in early spring.
Walking past a grove of birch, Betula utilis, planted as saplings 15 years ago, you reach the orchard gates. In 2011 it was planted with plums, apples and pears. Reliable performers include: Scottish Heritage varieties, Bloody Ploughman, Scotch Bridget, Dogs Snout and Howgate Wonder. ‘The French apple, Court Pendu Plat, is called the “wise apple” as its late blossom arrives after the frosts,’ says Caroline.
‘It’s important to see what other people are doing and to get ideas for forward planning’
Pears include Beurre Hardy and Bonne Crietien. ‘These are planted for their blossom rather than the hope of any pears,’ Caroline says. ‘Victoria plum and Plum Czar have also proved reliable.’
A tour ends at the conservatory where the couple inherited a Black Hamburg vine and a white one, tentatively identified as Duchess of Buccleuch, and a vibrant Bourgainvillea ‘Purple Robe’. Here too are varieties of pink and white pelargonium and geranium, ‘chosen for their ability to cope with a certain amount of neglect and extremes of temperature’.
With no garden help, planning is key and the work is done ‘by catching the odd hour in the garden’. Planting schemes are always being adjusted, often with previously acquired plants nurtured until the right space is found. ‘ In autumn I walk round the garden with a note book planning pruning, moving and shaping,’ says Caroline.
Garden visiting is key. ‘It’s important to see what other people are doing and to get ideas for forward planning,’ she says. ‘We often rethink, but that is the fun of gardening. Plants flourish one year and fail the next and sometimes plants self-seed in just the right place.’