A lot has happened in the months since the last SeeHow blog. We moved north … from the heart of England to the beautiful, quiet, Banffshire coast in Scotland – far from the maddening crowd. Wild cliff-edge walks; secluded rocky inlets; turquoise water washing over the white sand; near-empty beaches that run for miles – and all within a few minutes’ walk!

Despite this on our doorstep, there has been a migration away from the area over the past decade or so and there are now many houses for sale at bargain prices, perfect for anyone looking for life more closely linked to the seasons. (So, if this is your dream, come and have a look!) But what about the countryside this far north … and what about the gardens, the plants and the flowers? What grows happily? The surprising answer – almost anything you want!

I understand this may seem a bit of an exaggeration, but it is true. This part of Scotland’s coastline sits in a microclimate that extends from Inverness around to Fraserborough and beyond. It is mainly fertile rolling arable land that oozes health. Small farms dot the landscape. Just now, many crops are coming to life – brown fields are being transformed by almost every shade of green imaginable and there are great splashes of yellow from the fields of oilseed rape – a colour that perfectly complements the wide bright-blue skies.

When we first arrived in late March, there were daffodils growing almost everywhere! They were planted along roadside verges and grassy embankments as well as in many gardens. Although most have now passed, there are still some varieties in flower. In our own new small courtyard-garden, large numbers of tulips were already appearing amongst the pruned rose bushes, an unexpected gift from the previous owner. Sadly, the large pink-red flower blooms were short-lived, all appearing at once and they have come-and-gone since our recent arrival. I miss their elegance and colour outside our window.

But gardens don’t stand still, as SeeHow plantsticks show. Many garden plants, familiar to all, grow very happily here. In fact, if anything, I would say most prefer the slightly cooler climate. They are rarely stressed by the short intense periods of heat and drought that I remember from the south. Aquilegia, alliums, lilac, geraniums, Welsh poppies, Muscari, peonies, roses, climbers like wisteria and clematis and numerous others - all are thriving right now, enjoying the Scottish weather! Microclimate is the most important consideration here – particularly providing shelter from the regular winds. But in terms of plant selections, setting hot exotic plants aside, there is little difference between gardeners’ choices here in the north and popular choices made down south.

Peonies, Aquilegia, Welsh poppies and more …

Out in the surrounding countryside there are many steep-sided valleys cut by burns and rivers into the top-soil and the bedrock too. They are often so steep that they are impossible to use for any kind of farming. These slopes, more-often-than-not, are left to grow slightly wild and tend to be filled with the plant Gorse. This plant is covered by very sharp thorns, so is not a plant most gardeners would choose to grow. Broom, also growing wild here, has slightly paler yellow flowers, green stems and is without the thorns, so more garden-friendly and available from most garden centres. Just now, both are in full flower – great areas of yellow that seem to glow in the sunshine. They can be seen everywhere - along field boundaries too, substituting for hawthorn and beech hedging.

Biodiversity thrives in these locations and we, in turn, benefit from this in our new garden, with a wide range of birds visiting, as well as the occasional seagull dropping in, to rest on our back-garden grass! How lucky we are in the UK to have our mild maritime climate encircling the land like a cosy blanket – generally not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter – a ‘Goldilocks’ zone! This allows the same plants to flourish up and down the land. Although SeeHow has moved a long way north, to a quieter part of the world, in many ways the natural world outside is surprisingly familiar!

The above Text and all Photographs are copyright of Wincenty (Wicek) Sosna. Please contact SeeHow for permission to reproduce in any way, in part or as the complete text.

Far From the Maddening Crowd

Yellow

From Monochrome to Polychrome