A mixed work/pleasure trip to the Highlands of Scotland involved lots of corners – on the roads and in the gardens – and what a delight was around some of those garden corners…
Himalayan Blue Poppy
Meconopsis betonicifolia, the Himalayan Blue Poppy is one of those rarities in the plant world – a true blue flower. It needs acid soil, long daylight hours and a cool, preferably mountain climate (clean air) to perform to its best. Stunning even on dull wet days a mass of them in a bed are astounding to come across on a sunny day – unreal and surreal at the same time.
The Himalayan blue poppy is an herbaceous perennial, so once established in your garden it should grow and flower every year. It really is a gorgeous blue flower, with some varieties being almost a turquoise blue.
Well suited to the Scottish highland climate, the Himalayan blue poppy thrives in a cool garden with acid soil.
It can be grown in the southern realms of Britain; try to emulate their native conditions, especially if you’re growing from seed. Remember they do like an acid soil, so you may need to grow your Himalayan blue poppy in a pot if you have a more alkaline soil. If you have a south facing garden, it will probably be happier in a shady spot; in a warm dry spring it may need extra water too.
Lupins
Slugs and snails are the bane of so many gardeners’ lives, as they eat prized lupins and delphiniums. Move to the Highlands!
Around Inverness we heard lupins maligned as weeds as they grow and spread so enthusiastically, to the extent of being a frequent sight on roadsides. Wild lupins brightened up a dismal day, but hopefully not endangering any sheep or Brothags (Highland cattle) as their seeds contain a toxic alkaloid, lupinine.
Lupins are a traditional cottage garden plant; a summer flowering herbaceous perennial. Their tall flower spikes of white, pink, purple or red look well in the centre of a border. You could try planting lupins in front of a spring flowering camellia, so the glossy evergreen leaves give a firm backdrop to the lupins. It doesn’t matter what colour your camellia is as it will flower before the lupins there won’t be any clashes of colour. Interestingly, blue and yellow lupins enjoy a more acid soil, down to 4.5, than the pink flowered and white flowered varieties.
Slugs
Talking of slugs, we had a rather wet walk to explore native flora along part of the Caledonian Canal. The rain brought out black slugs in droves. It was most likely to be Arion ater and we would agree with Trees for Life that there is a preponderance of black coloured rather than brown coloured black slugs along the banks and environs of the Caledonian Canal (we lost count). I could cheerfully have wished some of our garden slugs would go and visit their Scottish cousins as I came home to discover they had chomped through my Dolichos lablab, a scented, purple flowered annual climber with decorative purple pods.
Aconitum, Aconite, Monkshood
As for poisonous plants we saw Aconite or aconitum, a native species of Northern Europe found particularly in damp, mountainous regions. Not known to be poisonous to slugs, this is a beautiful tall plant, with purple, hooded flowers. There are different varieties of aconite; one of which is native to the British Isles and can be found growing in the hedgerows of the Scottish highlands.
We saw our Monkshood nestling among Hazel (Corylus avellana) in a winning design combination of contrasting foliage. There would be a long season of interest, with spring catkins and autumn nuts from the hazel and summer flowers from the aconitum. Definitely one for the notebook.
Monkshood is one of the ‘common’ names, so–called for the flowers which resemble the hood or cowl of a monk’s habit. Monkshood, wolfsbane, henbane; the names give a clue as to the poisonous nature of this statuesque herbaceous perennial, so do be careful where you plant it in your garden.
The poison is aconitum but as the taste is quite bitter, accidental poisonings are not common. Indeed you’re far more likely to be poisoned by someone putting aconitum in your curry than by munching the plant yourself.
With some garden visits, garden design inspiration and reminders as to different growing conditions in different parts of Britain, it was a successful trip.
I came home with some new plants of course, including a new Geranium pratense with purple/black flushed foliage and purple/blue flowers, as seen on the Isle of Skye. As a woodland plant it thrives in semi shade, and will make a good contrast with the Geranium macrorrhizum which I’ll be planting it next to. Happiness is a gardener with plants to plant, whether they belong to a client or to the gardener!
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