TAMING THE WILDERNESS
Chainsaws, determination and religious intervention were all needed to get this East Lothian garden under control
The once impenetrable gardens at Humbie Dean in East Lothian
Seven years ago when Frank Kirwan moved to Humbie Dean he knew the triangular garden, enclosed on two sides by a small burn, measured two acres. ‘I had no idea what I had bought,’ he says. ‘The garden was impenetrable. There was a 30ft leylandii hedge just west of the house and dwarf conifers pressed right up against the windows.’
The banks that led down to the burn were impassable and the only way to reach the foot of the north-facing bank was by lowering yourself on a rope suspended from a tree. Equally overgrown were the borders that surrounded the East Lothian house with its pantile roof,
‘ I had no idea what I had bought. The garden was impenetrable’
shutting out the surrounding countryside and the southerly views of the Lammermuir hills.
Frank, though, was instantly captivated by the possibilities of the site. He taught himself to use a chainsaw from a video on YouTube and set to work. There was, he soon learned, a reason for the trees. ‘We are at 600ft – I discovered that the trees were there to stop the wind,’ he recalls. Improved light levels made up for the increase in wind, and the following year was spent clearing the garden. Nothing was wasted. ‘I used the stumps, trunks and shredded leylandii bark to mark a rough network of paths and steps.’
At this point events took an unexpected turn. Frank was approached by Channel 4 in late 2009 with a request to feature the garden in the second series of the programme Landscape Man. ‘Matthew Wilson, the presenter, was very challenging,’ Frank recalls. ‘I dismissed most of his suggestions out of hand – only to adopt them later!’
Although Channel 4 eventually cancelled the series, Frank made good use of the experience he had gained. ‘There was no masterplan, just a few basic principles,’ he says. ‘The aim was to create a garden with interest all year round but that would not need constant attention.’ Plants and shrubs were chosen for their foliage, shape, interest of bark, colour and flowering period.
Matthew Wilson’s principles were simple and clear: choose a limited range of plants, plant for minimum maintenance (dense planting with lots of ground cover), select plants with more than one season of interest, be prepared to use ‘thugs’ and cut your losses quickly if something does not work out. ‘He stressed the importance of following the grain of the landscape when laying out paths and steps.’
These principles were adapted into the plans for the herbaceous border, where the naturalising, airy planting was inspired by Dutch-born Piet Oudolf ’s book Planting the Natural Garden. ‘No staking was required,’ says a thankful Frank. A late-summer scheme
with plenty of reds and yellows combined with grasses – and advice from Stella Rankin from nearby Kevock Garden – was selected and adapted for the plot with help from Gavin at Macplants of Pencaitland. It was densely planted in well-prepared ground – excess plants would be removed later and used elsewhere.
Scarlet monarda and tall, deep-pink eupatorium proved ‘delightful thugs’; other favourites for late summer are rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’, blue agapanthus, deep-red astilbe ‘Purpurkenze’ and white A. ‘Deutschland’. Drifts of pink and white Japanese anemones stand out, as do the jewellike reds, yellows and oranges of helenium. Rosy-tinted bergenia ‘Morgenrote’ is used throughout the garden. Height comes from the eupatorium. Only a few lighter grasses failed to cope with the wet and the snow.
Leading the way through the beech hedge ‘funnel’ and into the woodland garden, Frank elaborates on the work. It’s a story of endurance, learning, lack of access, tenacious root systems,
‘There was no masterplan, just a few basic principles’
pickaxes, flooding and delivery lorries sinking in the mud. The challenge was made bearable by the generosity of neighbours and a farmer who supplies dung. In particular, Frank highlights the friendship, advice and on-going watering skills of two special neighbours, Sister Domenica and Sister Veronica, now retired from Liberton Convent.
A wander around the paths and over a bridge (‘Building it nearly killed me!’) reveals parts of the original structure combined with drifts of woodland planting and lush green ostrich ferns. Purple-leaved elder ( Sambuscus nigra) and claret-tinged deciduous azaleas are among the shrubs. Spotted pulmonaria foliage flourishes all year long and there is always a creamy hellebore in flower. Bright colour comes from a succession of sky-blue mecanopsis, pink and yellow candelabra primulas and massed geranium. Early in the year, before the leaf canopy establishes itself, yellow Erythronium dens-canis tumble down the north-facing bank towards the point where the two burns merge. ‘Everything is underplanted with bulbs: for
‘The challenge was made bearable by the generosity of neighbours and a farmer’
summer it’s the Turk’s Cap lilies, Lilium martagon – these are easily raised from seed.’
In spring daffodils and bluebells carpet the ground in an oval meadow. In this area latesummer colour comes from clusters of the pink-berried rowan Sorbus vilmorinii. ‘I was lucky to inherit specimens that look good in silhouette, such as red-flushed cryptomeria and eucalyptus.’ In spring the long grass is planted with blue and white camassia, while daffodils and bluebells fill the meadows. Frank remarks that he has yet to find a way of ‘growing wild- flowers among the bluebell roots’. A step further on, the nursery area is packed with plants, while the tour ends at the vegetable garden with its geometric layout of raised beds.
‘The garden has everything I ever dreamed of – except for the deer and rabbits – and it amazes me that it seems to be working out. It is immense fun. I have learnt that if I can’t do it myself it doesn’t get done.’ When overwhelmed or discouraged, he harks back to the advice given by Sister Domenica. ‘She says: “Don’t look at what you have to do, look at what you have done”.’