DESPITE years of neglect and long, snowy winters, hard work in the Findrack garden has paid off
Findrack sits at the head of an Aberdeenshire glen overlooking the Dee Valley with a view of Cairn o'Mount in the distance. The house, parts of which were built in the 1700s, is approached along a tree-lined avenue, which opens up into a circular dr
ive to the east side. Gardening this far north, at 700 feet, presents challenges: winters are long and there is usually plenty of snow, but the south-facing garden's position in the glen provides shelter.
Angelica Salvesen came to Findrack 26 years ago, four years after husband Andrew, to find a garden that was desolate and neglected. "There was just grass everywhere," she says. For the first 16 years she was busy bringing up the couple's two sons and a daughter, and only had time to do "a few things" in the sloping walled garden to the west of the house. But she was "planning and plotting, absorbing ideas of visiting friends and learning by osmosis".
Things changed ten years ago when a rabbit and deer-proof fence was installed to protect the garden and surrounding woods. Around that time, gardener Brian Sinclair, who formerly worked for the National Trust at the House of Duns, came to Findrack.
Since then there has been a "gradual progression". The first project was the building of two terraces, one on the west side of the house in front of the kitchen door, with a large open space for a table and chairs. In this plant-filled area where flowers emerge from the paving stones and spill out over the side of containers, the focal point is a raised octagonal pond, planted with iris and lilies. It was designed by landscape architect Michael Balston, who was also responsible for the classical blue-painted wooden arbour set in the beech hedge at the top of the steps which lead to the walled garden.
A terrace planted with two sets of low Prunus lusitanica with espaliered P. thibetica above extends from both sides, leaving enough space for a central path to the front of the house. Here the terrace is also laid with paving stones, but a clipped box and a strip of mown grass that runs in front of a border packed with magenta-coloured Geranium palmatum have softened the design.
A flight of stone steps lead down to a lawn, left open so the children could play ball games. "Michael suggested we build an amphitheatre at the foot of the slope," says Angelica. "I still think it is a good idea and we may do it at some point." Meanwhile, the recently laid-out stream garden, fed by a natural burn that runs into a wildlife pond at the foot of the hill, expands further into the lawn every year. The scheme of small, delicate plants such as Himalayan poppies, yellow and orange Primula florindae and trollius are offset by groupings of majestic Gunnera manicata planted to great effect in the lawn.
A path leads up the hill to an old rock garden planted with heathers by previous owners in the 1960s; grasses have now been added to some Meconopsis napaulensis. A short detour leads to a sunken fernery, the size of a well, reached along a path lined with stone.
A woodland garden, fenced off two years ago, is the latest project at Findrack. Here, an old Victorian pond had become choked with silt and weeds and crowded with Rhododendron ponticum. Now opened up, its crystal clear water reflects ferns and willows. Newly planted trees include native species, such as sorbus, ash, white flowering Prunus padus and birch. Autumn colour comes from Cornus florida and C. sanguinea "Winter Flame", Acer ginnale and Malus tschonoskii. Taller trees include oak and beech.
Brian, who likes to use seats for decorative purposes, has added to the woodland's interest by creating two natural-looking, grass-covered seats.
The atmosphere changes in the pine wood, carpeted in wood sorrel, where red squirrels are often seen. Here, the light filters through the trees in shafts and a carpet of pine needles quietens the sound of footsteps. The path leads past a pine bench, also made by Brian, before turning down the hill towards the colourful, three-quarter-acre, walled garden.
At one end of the top wall, a rounded doocot, dating from 1676, is home to a flock of doves, while at the other end, an ivy-covered building is used as a garden shed: both buildings combine with a tall, domed box to introduce structure and height. The garden is entered through a metal gate, which leads onto a raised walled terrace, useful for displaying container-grown plants, many of which are snapped up at Findrack's annual opening.
From this terrace there is a breathtaking view over the former vegetable garden, now transformed by a romantic design of five circular lawns. Four radiate from one central lawn backed with a pergola of wooden posts linked by ropes. The posts support deep pink fragrant Rosa "Albertine" emerging from beds of purple nepeta while a variety of rambling roses including Rosa "Paul's Scarlet" and "Rambling Rector" smother the ropes. An arbour in the middle of the garden, also covered with roses, completes the romantic look.
A gravel path runs down the centre of the garden, while the deep borders that flank the circles are crammed with large drifts of delphinium, peonies and phlox, set against hostas and grasses. Angelica says the different temperatures in the walled garden dictated the planting scheme: "I started out with spring flowers backing one circle but soon learnt to place plants where they did best." Plans for hot and cool borders were abandoned for the same reason, resulting in a scheme dominated by pinks and reds with touches of blue and white.
The vegetable garden was moved to a wedge-shaped space above the walled garden, where small beds enable crops to be easily rotated. Here a selection of hybrid tea roses, including "Golden Jubilee", line the central path and cover the metal arches. There are plenty of sweet peas, too, for picking.
The garden at Findrack combines elements of contemporary design with traditional planting, the whole in perfect harmony with the surrounding landscape. "We didn't really plan the garden, it just flowed naturally," Angelica says. "At every stage we do what seems best suited to the land."
• Findrack, near Torphins, Aberdeenshire, is open on Sunday 6 July, 2-5pm, under Scotland's Gardens Scheme. For more details visit
www.gardensofscotland.org• Directions: Leave Torphins on the A980 to Lumphanan. After half a mile take the Tornaveen turnoff. Findrack's stone gateway is one mile up on the left. Admission £3.50 (concessions £1). There will be a sale of plants grown in the garden.n For a host of exciting new plant products, visit
www.vanmeuwen.com/scotsman The full article contains 1158 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
