Perth Group go camping

[Susan Band]

The Perth group of the SRGC have just returned from a brilliant weekend visiting 6 gardens on the west coast of Scotland. Wonderful gardens, wild camping on the foreshore, dinner at a micro brewery all in hot and sunny weather, what more do you want. We visited Maggie Sharp's, Drumvuic, Arduine, Cnoc na Garrie, An Calla and Crarae. All are very different but have the unmistakable West Coast feel, very different from here on the east. I hope the photos give a flovour of the west coast in summer. Most of the gardens are open at sometime during the year all are well worth the efort to go and see them. Wonderful scenery as well.

[Susan Band]

more photos

[Paddy Tobin]

Susan,

Wonderful gardens and wonderful photographs! Isn't it amazing that there is such a difference between areas so close together, east and west Scotland?

I was struck by the fact the Scottish Gaelic still lives on, at least in place names. Although Irish Gaelic is somewhat different - I could follow a conversation in Scottish Gaelic but would be a bit shaky with the written word - some of the place names are easily understood. "Cnoc na Garrie", for example would be "The Garden Hill" or perhaps more  "The Hill Garden" might be more what is in mind.

Brónach an rud é ach tá an Gaeilge á chailliúnt in Éirinn agus in Albain agus anois is fior beag duine atá in ann an Gaeilge a labhairt fós.

Paddy

[David Nicholson]

I was just happy to see 'dinner and brewery' in the same sentence-most impressed Lovely pictures Susan.

[Susan Band]

Paddy,
Being an east coaster I don't speak any gaelic, mind you they are in the process of changing all the road signs on the way to Argyll into bilingual (the notice telling you that was written in English!)
David,
The promise of the micro brewery was needed to pacify my partner when 6 gardens were mentioned!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Lovely pictures and scenery Susan !
Great tips for whenever I have the opportunity to visit the area again !
Thanks a lot !

[Lesley Cox]

My thanks too Susan. You must have had a super time in that lovely selection of gardens, and I do like the Armerias.

Paddy, re that last comment you made above, I absolutely agree! Well, I PROBABLY do .

You mentioned the difference in climate between east and west of Scotland. That applies here too with the east coast of the whole country being hot and dry most of the year with less rain than we need, and frosty winters while the west is VERY wet (measured in metres rather than millimetres) and subtropical in parts. Yet the distance (as the kea flies) is very short. It's the Southern Alps that make the difference, the country's backbone in the South Island and other mountains in the North.

[Susan Band]

Yes Lesley, the west is very different from the east. We get about 20-25in rain where the west can get up to 90in. It is also very mild on the west, if there is frost it is only for 1 or 2 nights at a time and it never penitrates the ground, as a result they can grow such things as Cordyline and loads of Rhododendrons. One of the major problems with this climate are the midges, tiny but very vicious mosquitos. In the first garden they were unbearable, I don't know how anyone can work when they are out.

[Maggi Young]

Funny how one fixes on certain ideas, isn't it? I think of Susan and her Gang as being "inlanders" while she considers herself to be, like me, an "east coaster"......perhaps the east coast extends as far as the eastern boundary of the midgies and the torrential rainfall?!!! East Coasters rule and all that! We'll have Tom on now, telling me off and  chiding me about the quality of those fabulous west coast gardeners and their gardens! You have to hand it to those folk, as Susan says, how they can work while being eaten alive by those flying piranhas is a mystery to me!

[David Lyttle]

Great pictures Susan.

I noticed the Cordyline - it looks completely at home in Western Scotland unlike some of the specimens that you see planted in pots (in British TV shows)

[Anthony Darby]

Maggie, to a Weegee, Edinburgh is the Far East. You, on the otherhand, live in the Far North. Me, I live in the West, if it's raining in the West, unless of course it's raining in the East, and then, guess what? I'm living in the East. Curiously, Bristol, in "The West Country" is further east than Edinburgh.

[Paddy Tobin]

Lesley,

I'm so glad you agree with my last comment above or even just probably agree.

David,

Cordaline simply thrive here in Ireland. The climate seems to suit them perfectly. My wife is not a great fan of cordalines and so, two which had kept in large pots for several years so as to be able to move them around when she tired of them, were ordered to the compost bin some years back. Dutifully I obeyed and planted one at each side to the entrance to the compost area and they have gone from strength to strength, flower profusely each year and seem in perfect health.

Paddy

[TC]

Trying to define the "West coast" is fraught with danger.  My definition is the old Argyll county boundary from Kintyre to Mallaig in Inverness shire. It is more of a cultural boundary than physical   Although I live on the geographical West of Scotland, I class it as the Clyde Coast.  South of Ballantrae is the Galloway Coast.  From there North up to the mouth of the Clyde, across to the Holy Loch, Lochs Long, Striven and Riddon, down by Bute and Arran is the Clyde coast, albeit on the West Coast.  Both banks of Loch Fyne are on the "West coast" although they are not on the Atlantic Coast.  North of Mallaig is the Northwest Highlands.  Another way of defining it is to read "the Vital Spark", by Neil Munro
The East coast I would place from Buckie to Dunfermline.  The Edinburgh side of the Forth I would call the Lothians.
However anyones definition would be equally valid.
The midges are alive and well at Benmore.  Cindy and I came back with numerous bites after the plant sale there last Sunday. Although tempted, I did not buy any Rhododendrons.
I even managed to fox the staff, including Peter Baxter, the curator, with a picture I took at the top of the hill.
After emailing the photo, it was identified as Rhododendron neriiflorum ssp. phaedropum Kingdom Ward accession no. 1929  1009 - I was mightily impressed !
As to the Perth Group camping, I would not attempt it between now and September, unless I had a force 8 gale blowing and a mosquito net wrapped round me.
While photographing Skuas on the Island of Handa - N.W. Sutherland in July 2004, I ended up with a total of 320 midge bites on my legs and waist.  My legs looked like red meat.

[tonyg]

I was wondering what to read next .... Thanks TC I really must revisit Para Handy and The Vital Spark!

[Casalima]

Cordylines grow beautifully here too. They are grown mainly for their leaves to be used as "agricultural" string.

Wonderful pictures!!!

I share these SRCG posts with various gardening friends in Portugal and Spain - they are starting to ask "When are we going to Scotland". I have somewhere a photo with Gunnera taken at Inverewe many years ago during my only visit to Scotland. Good memories (except for the food ...).

Chloë