Crathes Garden blog #3: the mysteries of time

The Evolution Garden

The first raised circular bed represents Earth at a time when the continents made up one landmass – Pangaea – surrounded by the oceans (the slates). This period ran from about 350 million years ago (mya) to 200mya, when the landmass began to break up – a process that continued through the Triassic and Jurassic periods. James has chosen horsetails (Equisetum) and cycads for this bed. Cycads, said to be the favourite food of dinosaurs, may look like palms, but they are more closely related to ginkgo trees and conifers like our native Scots pine. Cycads are not completely hardy and James will be taking a gamble when he leaves them out over the winter. On the other hand, moving them in and out each year sets them back – they are slow growers anyway.

The second circle represents the Cretaceous period (145–66mya) after the break-up of Pangaea. The dinosaurs were still evolving, and ferns and conifers were expanding. This bed is planted with a gymnosperm in the form of a monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), which will have to be moved on in a few years. It also includes a fern (Blechnum penna-marina) that should form a dense underlayer; and a palm, Chamaerops humilis. By the end of the Cretaceous, angiosperms were an important part of the flora. The little palm is a true palm and thus one of the flowering plants.

The third circle, nearest the seats, represents the world as it is today. Despite the lack of obvious flowers, grasses are actually more recently evolved angiosperms. James has planted this circle with grasses because globally they are the basis of our diets; wheat, oats, barley and rice dominate our agriculture.

Other plants, often new to Crathes, grow in the rest of the garden. I have listed a few below:

• The tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) have spent the winter inside. Because they are young, they don’t yet look like ‘trees’. However, these ferns will eventually grow tall if they thrive. This is another experiment for James because, like the cycads, the tree ferns will need to take their chance in the winter, although they will be given some protection. One of the baby tree ferns that Joanna has been nurturing in the glasshouse is now looking more like a young fern.
• Dryopteris affinis is the native golden-scaled male fern. The cultivar ‘Cristata’, with its much-branched pinnae, is the result of human interference in evolution – as are most of our plant cultivars. The Victorian craze for ferns resulted in many experiments to find unusual wild varieties and raise offspring from their spores. Hundreds of cultivars were raised during what was largely a British obsession.
• Lotus berthelotii, sometimes known as parrot’s beak, is a member of the pea family. Its flowers are orange or red. Although it is much cultivated by gardeners, it is thought to be extinct in its native Tenerife.
• Cautleya spicata is a hardy ginger. It arrived as a small piece of rhizome and is so far looking good.
• Pinus parviflora ‘Jim’s Mini Curls’ is a favourite of James. He has been taking special care of this slow-growing pine and it is beginning to sprout new needles.
• The Japanese wheel tree, Trochodendron aralioides, is sometimes called the loneliest tree in the world – it is the only species of its genus and the only genus of its family. The wood does not contain the xylem vessels that are so efficient for transporting water in most angiosperms; it is less sophisticated, similar to gymnosperms. This suggests that the wheel tree is a primitive angiosperm – as are the magnolias.

The Earth is 4.5 billion years old; we humans have been around for about 200,000 years – just a tiny fraction of that time. Geological time, however, isn’t just history. Many scientists believe we are now in a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene – created as a result of human impact on Earth. Whether it began with humans starting to farm the land thousands of years ago, nuclear developments in the 1950s or with the ubiquitous plastic that is now found across the planet, there is little doubt that our own actions have contributed to the present climate crisis and to what is now referred to as the sixth mass extinction. Many remember the abundance of salmon in our rivers, now depleted to an alarming extent. Will the Anthropocene end in our own destruction, or can we turn the tide?

Hope for the future

Amongst the gloom, there is hope ... and some of that relates to Deeside. I have just finished reading a book about the regeneration of Mar Lodge Estate – for me a real page turner. [1] It’s now been 25 years since the National Trust for Scotland bought the estate and it has not been an easy journey for the Trust.

Back in 1995 there were about 3,500 deer on the estate; muirburn and driven grouse moor shoots, with the accompanying destruction of ‘vermin’, were regular practice. The Trust’s plan was to reduce the deer numbers to 1,650. This was not an easy task, with much opposition from many sides. Today, sporting remains integral to the estate, generating important income to spend on conservation.

The sport, however, is of a different nature. The book states: ‘Maintaining a comparatively small herd of high quality deer offers a higher quality sporting experience in a healthier ecosystem, with no impact on financial income and with significant ecological benefits across the moors, bogs and woodland of Mar Lodge. Deer stalking is still done at Mar Lodge in the traditional Highland way – a skilled stalker takes a guest up onto the hills and bogs, a single rifle is used, and deer are killed with a single shot. The Mar Lodge tweeds are still proudly worn, local whisky is still toasted at the end of the day … Mar Lodge is fully booked a year in advance.’

With the reduced deer population, the pines are beginning to regenerate and the Caledonian Forest is returning to something like its original condition; even montane willows are increasing – maybe a new montane scrub zone will be part of the future. Fences have been generally removed, partly to help with capercaillie recovery. With no driven grouse shoots and no muirburn, raptors such as the hen harrier are returning. Plenty of dead wood left to rot results in greater invertebrate biodiversity, which in turn will feed animals higher up the food chain. Special projects are nurturing rare plants and animals, such as the alpine sow-thistle (Cicerbita alpina), the pine hoverfly (Blera fallax) and the Kentish glory moth (Endromis versicolora). The endangered dotterel may disappear with global warming, but the young pines by the rivers might in time help to cool the spawning beds of the salmon, and the restoration of the peat will offset emissions generated elsewhere.

Inspired by the book, it was time to take a trip up Deeside. It had been some years since I had visited Mar Lodge Estate. The lodge itself is now used for offices and as a venue for weddings and corporate events. It is not open to the public.

Weekdays are a little quieter at the moment, so we set off with a picnic on Monday 28 June. The glorious resinous smell of pines on a hot day assailed us as we opened the car door. The walk in the lower reaches of Glen Lui was just ideal and we could see the young pines regenerating and stretching up into the hills. It was a perfect day.

Nearer home, there have been other important contributions to the health of the Dee. The Beltie Burn, which flows through Torphins and enters the Dee as the Canny at Invercanny, was straightened in the 19th century to accommodate the railway. In the autumn of 2020 a restoration project, managed by the Dee Catchment Partnership, turned the burn back into a meandering river with associated wetlands and appropriate tree planting. Much silt was removed from the burn to improve the habitat for spawning salmon. Biodiversity monitoring of the site continues and the Torphins Paths Group are involved in public accessibility. On a walk there this week we could see and hear the oystercatchers. Birdwatchers tell us that lapwing, redshank and common sandpiper have also nested this year.

At Crathes, the Coy Burn runs into the Dee at Milton of Crathes after passing through the mill pond. It is not an insignificant burn – it drains 40 square kilometres of land. In the estate the burn is largely ecologically healthy: it meanders, it soaks up and slows down large amounts of water and it supports biodiversity. But the state of the mill pond is not healthy. In June it dried up completely, other than the Coy Burn running through. This is due in part to the drought, but mainly because the old sluice has broken. It has been difficult to control for some years and the fish trap that was installed beside the dam has not been adequate; new solutions are required. The mill pond itself needs to be dredged of the massive amounts of silt that have built up over the years.

A meeting of interested parties and hydraulic engineers has just taken place. The initial focus is on fixing the two sluices (one is for the old lade), redesigning and installing a suitable fish trap, and installing a simple silt trap. In the longer term, the pond needs to be carefully dredged, with a more sophisticated silt trap installed.

Across Scotland there are exciting projects taking place with different bodies, such as the RSPB, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Trees for Life and the National Trust for Scotland, forming partnerships to save our landscapes and our oceans. The international UN meeting on climate change at COP26 in Glasgow in November could be a turning point. Humans are an intelligent species; it should be possible.

Whatever happens to the human race, the flora and fauna of the earth will go on evolving. Meantime (that’s an interesting word), I look forward to watching the development of our own Evolution Garden whilst pondering on the mysteries of time.

Updates to earlier blog posts

• Sadly the oystercatcher didn’t succeed and the nest was abandoned.
• The various adjustments needed to the pipes and drainage of the dipping pool have been made and a new stand pipe has been installed. The pool edge is now filled with the newly arrived plants.
• All of the tender shrubs that were so badly affected by the late frosts seem to be recovering. Some had to be cut right back, but they are re-sprouting from the base. Even the bananas that were left out through the winter, and thought to be dead, are pushing up new shoots.
• The battle with the weeds continues.
• Up at the viewpoint the new vines and some rowans have been planted. The meadow behind the viewpoint is full of ox-eyed daisies, a catsear (or related dandelion-type flower), tufted vetch and yellow rattle.
• The show houses are usually open.
• The Walled Garden is now much more accessible and you can walk up the various borders into the centre of the garden, but please remember it is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• Enjoy the roses and lilies if you visit.

[1] Painting, Andrew, Regeneration, Edinburgh, 2021. You can buy this book in the Crathes shop.