Inverewe House herbaceous border restoration

During Osgood Mackenzie’s life, there was no flower bed in front of Inverewe House. The front lawn was just that, with the occasional lines of a tennis court painted on it. There was a fringe of ivy against the wall, but that was the extent of the planting.

It wasn’t until Mairi Sawyer, Osgood’s daughter, took over the running of the garden that a flower border first appeared. At first, it was not that wide, containing common plants of the time such as verbascums and poppies, but it quickly grew into a much more diverse border, with leucanthemums and galtonias included.

At this point, stone steps led from the door of Inverewe House directly down to the lawn, but this changed after the Trust began caring for it in 1952. The steps were removed, and the border doubled in width. It became a strong focal point for the garden, and in the summer, the whole border became a riot of colour.

The beds slowly developed over time: a rough Caithness stone edge was created, and the planting was dominated by late summer flowering perennials. Unfortunately, time was taking its toll on the stone wall, and pernicious weeds, particularly bindweed and oxalis, were invading the border.

The decision was made to avoid using chemical control on the border, and other methods were then looked into. It was decided to lay a weed-suppressing fabric called Mypex; this remained down for three years. Woodchip was added to disguise it, and the border was left fallow to hopefully eradicate the weeds.

During the house restoration, the wall had been colonised by shrubby plants such as cotoneaster, Cape figwort and even ash trees. The decision was made to do a full-scale renovation that would involve extensive trampling on the border, so it was decided to delay any planting until after this work had been carried out.

2020 brought many significant challenges for Inverewe Garden, which hindered the progress of the reinstatement of the herbaceous border. There was a lack of skilled stonemasons in the UK due to Brexit, and a backlog of stonemasonry works due to the pandemic – causing frustrating delays for the team at Inverewe. Fortunately, Highland Building & Conservation Ltd, based in the Black Isle, came to the rescue. This Highland company had previously worked on Eilean Donan Castle, Crathes Castle and Brodie Castle, so they were perfectly suited to carry out the necessary work.

Once the wall was restored, the reinstatement of the Caithness stone edge commenced. The original stone border was rough with an informal edge, but to give substance to the whole border, the stones had to be perfectly straight. This meant that the slightly undulating lawn had to be completely lifted and levelled to marry the stone more carefully with the lawn edge. Any gaps along the edge were then sown with grass seed that would germinate and complete the lawn. All in all, it was an epic undertaking.

Under the guidance of Kevin Ball, Head Gardener at Inverewe, curved seating bays were included within the border, which allow visitors to feel like they are sitting within the planting. To fill these bays, carpenter Mark Talbot created four bespoke green oak benches, which offer an Arts and Crafts feel that complements other bespoke features found in the walled garden.

Part of the funding received for this project came about through emphasising the importance of the border in strengthening the honeybee population. The flowers were specifically chosen to attract bees, using colours such as pinks, purples, blues and yellows. The eventual design resulted from collaboration between several gardeners and the Head Gardener, who worked out what plants would suit each section and how they would work together.

The next challenge was procuring the plants in the required numbers – 30 plants of the same cultivar are a challenge, and it can be difficult to get these from one supplier. Nurseries across Scotland and England were contacted, and the needed numbers were slowly built up.

Visitors can now expect to see the pink thistle heads of Cirsium rivulare, the primrose yellow heads of Phlomis russeliana, the smoky purple pea-like flowers of Baptisia australis ‘Purple Smoke’, the white umbels of Selinum wallichianum, the dusky pink heads of Eupatorium maculatum and the bright yellow daisy flowers of Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’.

One of the most exciting parts of this project revolves around the black honeybee, Apis mellifera mellifera. Due to its remote location, Inverewe offers the chance to become a refuge for the native black bee. To help facilitate this, freedom hives will be implemented. These hives are made from a round cut tree trunk, which is hollowed out and put on stilts within the border. These hives will have minimal interference with the look of the border but will allow the resident bees to use the herbaceous border in late summer while also taking advantage of the many spring-flowering woodland species in the nearby woodland.