The PLANTS project: Leith Hall’s Rock Garden

A rock garden can be a striking addition to any garden. Requiring plenty of sunlight and excellent drainage, it recreates a miniature mountainous landscape suitable for alpines and small shrubs. The Rock Garden at Leith Hall is one of the garden’s most significant features, its charm deepened by a rich history of initial splendour, subsequent decline, and eventual restoration.

Situated in the western section of the walled garden, the rock garden was originally designed and built in the early 20th century by Charles Edward Norman Leith Hay, with assistance from his wife, Henrietta O’Neill. This period marked a burgeoning interest in rock gardening across Scotland, as exemplified by Branklyn Garden. In its early years, the Leith Hall Rock Garden was renowned for its dramatic design, which was inspired by the landscape of Argyll and Bute, which contrasted Henrietta’s more delicate plantings throughout the broader garden. In 1938, Country Life described it as ’An excellent piece of pictorial gardening’, while The Scotsman in 1954 praised its ’charming originality’. A stream, broken into several miniature cascades and small pools, flowed through bold rocky outcrops, ultimately finding its way into a large pool named St Luke’s Lake. Access was easily gained by a strategic network of paths, each named after a saint. The result was a picturesque piece of gardening, where rocks, water and vegetation blended harmoniously against a rich background of trees.

Unfortunately, in the 1970s, its significance began to be overlooked, leading to a period of decline and simplification. A large number of rock outcrops were removed and relocated to another part of the garden. In 2018, Sarah Ramsay, Head Gardener at Leith Hall, embraced a reconstruction project under the guidance of Landscape Designer Douglas Coltart. The project was generously supported by the Mutch Bequest with additional funding from the President’s Ball. Thanks to the hard work of staff, volunteers and participants of Thistle Camp working holidays, the restoration was completed in 2020 (read more about this restoration). Informed by historical photographs and periodical articles, the team could return the displaced rocks to their original locations and create a pond west of the rock garden, replicating the original St Luke’s Lake.

The restoration project divided the garden into four main sections, three of which are primarily dedicated to herbaceous alpines and one to small shrubs and dwarf trees. With nearly 400 plants thriving, the garden bursts into a riot of colour from spring to autumn, showcasing vibrant displays across its rocky slopes and crevices.

The PLANTS Team audited Leith Hall’s rich and diverse plant collection in summer 2023 and spring 2024. Three notable species to look out for during the summer bloom are Campanula cochleariifolia, Cerastium tomentosum and Chiliotrichum diffusum.

Fairy’s thimbles (Campanula cochleariifolia)

Campanula cochleariifolia, also known as fairy’s thimbles, is a small, creeping herbaceous plant belonging to the Campanulaceae family. It is native to the mountainous regions of Central Europe, where it thrives in fissures and outcrops of calcareous rock. In the summer, slender, upright stems emerge from a mat of tiny basal leaves; these stems are adorned with nodding, bell-shaped blue flowers that resemble thimbles, hence the evocative common name. The genus name Campanula is derived from Latin, meaning ’little bell’, a nod to the flower’s shape, while the specific epithet cochleariifolia stems from the Latin cochlear (spoon) and folia (leaves), describing the shape of the inwardly curved basal leaves. Despite its delicate appearance, C. cochleariifolia is remarkably hardy, making it a prized addition to the rock garden at Leith Hall.