Three favourite summer plants for the senses

As part of the PLANTS project team, I have been auditing a number of Trust gardens over the last year, checking that the records are up to date and verifying the identity of those that we find in flower. Gardens can offer remarkable sensory experiences. During the summer, they revive my senses and by doing so, they help to root me in the present moment.

Here are three of my favourite summer plants, and each one of them stimulates one of these senses: sight, touch and smell.

Sight: Eucryphia spp. (Leatherwood)

Eucryphia, or Leatherwood, is a small genus of shrubs or small trees native to the southern hemisphere and belongs in the Cunoniaceae family. With their slender and columnar silhouette, they are an elegant addition to the garden. In summer, eucryphias are truly a feast for the eyes as they feature abundant sweetly scented flowers which contrast with the dark green leathery leaves. The flowers have four petals, usually white, surrounding a dense cluster of stamens, and provide pollen and nectar for bees and other pollinating insects. When you look at a blooming eucryphia, its flower scent, together with the buzzing sound of the bees, enhances the visual experience by adding other sensory layers.

There are seven species of Eucryphia; these are all evergreen except for E. glutinosa (brush bush). You can find different beautiful specimens of E. glutinosa in the yew border at Crathes Castle, including one which is truly remarkable on account of its height of about eight metres. Other eucryphias you can find in Crathes include the imposing E. × nymansensis ‘Nymansay’ (cross between E. glutinosa and E. cordifolia) and the delicate E. × intermedia ‘Rostrevor’ (cross between E. glutinosa and E. lucida), which are also present at Inverewe.

Touch: Stachys byzantina (Lamb’s-ear)

Stachys byzantina (Lamb’s-ear) is a herbaceous perennial species in the mint family (Lamiaceae) and is native to Turkey, Armenia, and Iran. In summer, tiny deep pink two-lipped flowers appear, but the real show of this ground cover plant is its foliage which offers a fantastic tactile experience. The thick leaves are densely covered with silvery hairs, known as trichomes, providing a velvety soft and fuzzy leaf texture, hence the plant name ‘Lamb’s-ear’. The trichomes of S. byzantina are a valuable resource for female wool carder bees (Anthidium manicatum), which ‘card’ them to use as nesting material, while the male bees patrol the plants and attack any potential mate who ventures too close.

S. byzantina has long been grown at Crathes Castle, as shown in an 1899 painting by George Samuel Elgood portraying the blue and pink border. Today you can find it growing in the lower part of the trough garden.

Smell: Nepeta spp. (Catmint)

Nepeta, also known as catmint, is a genus of herbaceous plants of roughly 250 species native to Europe, North Africa, and temperate parts of Asia. Like Stachys, Nepeta belongs to the mint family (Lamiaceae). The leaves of Nepeta are green or grey-green and have serrated margins. The slightest brush against the foliage causes it to release a strong musky mint-like scent. As suggested by its common name, Nepeta (especially N. cataria) is also attractive to cats. When smelling N. cataria, cats pick up a particular chemical called nepetalactone that causes curious changes in their behaviour, such as rolling and rubbing.

An amazing place to admire Nepeta is Leith Hall Garden, where you can find a border over 100 metres long covered in Nepeta × faassenii. In July, the border does not only provide an amazing olfactory and visual experience but also an auditory one as it becomes covered with buzzing bees visiting the small mauve-purple flowers. A spectacle not to be missed!

Plant Listing at the National Trust for Scotland (PLANTS) is the biggest horticultural audit project undertaken by the Trust and aims to celebrate, protect and better understand the flora and vegetation across our gardens and designed landscapes.

Read more about the PLANTS project