Cruickshank Garden Notes - Summer 2015 As I sit here on the evening of the summer solstice, with two jumpers on and an electric fire to hand just in case, the phrase ‘flaming June’ pops into mind with gentle longing for balmy weather, sunny evenings and casual warmth. But I discover, thanks to goggle-displacement activity that is far too easy on a computer, that ‘Flaming June’ was originally nothing to do with early summer heat; rather, it was the title of an aesthetic late-Victorian painting by the artist Fredric Lord Leighton featuring a sleeping ‘languid, titian-haired, orange-clad’ young woman. Anyway June, with the exception of about three days, has been anything but flaming and May was equally cold with a succession of late frosts after a warm April which encouraged unwise precocious growth.
So to the Cruickshank on a grey cold evening - still a pleasant oasis despite the weather, passing by what looks suspiciously like giant hogweed among the ornamental grasses in the refurbished bed on the left as you enter by the Chanonry gate. The rhododendrons here which were savagely cut back in the renovation are now showing good re-growth and the elegant small Chinese rowan,
Sorbus forrestii, is in the process of turning its flowers into autumn clusters of small white berries.
In the square bed in front of Cruickshank building, just in front of the bed full of the winter flowering
Iris unguicularis - with a dangerously expanding self-sown pampas grass in it - two specimens of probably the hardiest cistus
C. laurifolius can be seen. This cistus can make a tall shrub and thrives even well inland in a sunny situation and a well-drained poorish soil, the same conditions enjoyed by its neighbour in this bed, the attractive grey-leaved (and not totally hardy) small shrub,
Convolvulus cneorum. In the nearby beds where logs have replaced the previous peat walls, a slightly unhappy looking ‘giant lily’,
Cardiocrinum giganteum can be seen while the New Zealander,
Bulbinella hookeri, with spikes of yellow flowers over bronzed foliage is thriving, and this whole bed as many other areas in the garden is enhanced by self-sown ‘volunteers’, Dame’s Violet -
Hesperis matronalis and a splendidly diverse swarm of columbines -
Aquilegia sp.
Nearby, on the other side of the path the fascinating graft-chimaera
+Laburnocytisus ‘Adamii’ ( see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graft-chimaerafor more information) is just coming into flower, clusters of purple broom, dangling racemes of laburnum and intermediate flowers of coppery pink. The newly extended deciduous azalea beds are a riot of fiery oranges and reds enhanced by the cinnamon coloured bark of the paper-bark maple,
Acer griseum, a fine hardy if slow-growing small tree and a reliable bet even inland with some wind shelter and tolerant of partial shade.
In the bed at above the sunken garden at its eastern end, blue and white meconopsis,
M. grandis and
M. betonicifolia, are complemented by purple and almost black forms of the lovely
Iris chrysographes, its falls decorated with golden veining whence its specific name. In the pool beyond the crocus labyrinth, the native yellow flag iris,
I. pseudacorus is in full flower while towards the boundary wall, mysterious holes in the lawn with baskets in them betoken some scientific enquiry- or a meeting of the local coven. Just past these the medlar,
Mespilus germanica, its understorey cleared and skirts raised, is showing off its large white flowers to be followed by allegedly edible brown fruits. In the long shrub and tree border which runs at right angles to St Machar drive, the Chilean fire bush,
Embothrium coccineum is thriving with a profusion of scarlet flowers near a rather sadder
Gingko biloba which dreams, I fear, of rather more southerly climes. I have, despite too many attempts, failed to get
Embothrium to establish with me, though annoyingly, it does very well in the colder, though sheltered conditions of Kildrummy gardens.
Roses were only just starting to flower when I visited with the species
R. moyesii with single red flowers and
R. xanthina ‘Canary Bird’ in yellow, standing out. The newly planted roses in the bed at the north end are too recent to make much of a show this year.
In the sunken garden a
Cardiocrinum giganteum is well on the way to flowering, its sturdy 2m stem about to bear large trumpet flowers after which the mother bulb will die leaving - as well as seed - a cluster of daughter bulbs, which I find have a better chance of thriving if dug up and replanted in fresh soil rather than left in situ. At the top North western end of this area, another bulb, the bright red
Tulipa sprengeri is thriving and self-sowing. This species, which enjoys cooler damper conditions than most tulips, spreads easily once established and doesn’t take long to reach flowering size from seed.
The herbaceous border is already well-staked and the early paeonies, pyrethrum, geraniums etc. give a foretaste of the colourful display to come. A group of white foxtail lilies
Eremurus sp. are particularly noteworthy. A variegated blue-flowered comfrey, probably
Symphytum x uplandicum is very striking, though too vigorous for a small border and an early fragrant yellow day-lily pleases as well. On the north side of this border you can find the unusual birthwort,
Aristolochia clematitis with strange pale yellow tubular flowers. Despite its former herbal use it is highly toxic and has been responsible for many cases of kidney failure.
Against the warm wall the wisteria has splendid 60cm long racemes of whitish purple tipped flowers, the currant
Ribes speciosum, is covered in red fuchsia-like flowers and
Abutilon x suntense has a fine display of large pale purpleblooms.
There is too much to see in the rock garden area to give a comprehensive survey but do wander along the paths at the top (as well as everywhere else!) and enjoy the variety of shrubs and the views over the rest of the garden enhanced by the removal of a large tree in the middle of the bottom border. Then wander home and hope for some balmy summer days!
David Atkinson
