SCOTTISH GAEDENS 



In visiting Scottish gardens (and the same 

 remark applies to English ones also) I have been 

 struck by the almost universal mismanagement, 

 sometimes the total neglect, of flowering shrubs. 

 The majority of gardeners seem to act on the 

 principle that these plants must take care of them- 

 selves. A shrubbery is laid out, planted with a 

 variety of species, and left severely alone. What 

 is the consequence? The strong growers throttle 

 the more slender ones, which either disappear, or 

 lead a precarious existence, spindling away among 

 their rampant neighbours with little opportunity of 

 ripening wood to carry flowers. 



Again, many of the rarer shrubs, especially 

 rhododendrons, are grafted upon common vigorous 

 stocks. Constant vigilance is required, but is very 

 seldom bestowed, to prevent suckers springing from 

 the stock and supplanting the more delicate scion. 

 It is a treat to spend a morning in a shrubbery 

 like that at Poltalloch, in Argyllshire, where the 

 gardener, Mr. Melville, tends the shrubs as carefully 

 as the ordinary man does his roses and fruit trees, 

 giving each plant plenty of room to develop and 

 securing that by judicious pruning and timely 

 transplanting. The result is, to mention one species 

 only, that he can show you bushes of the rare 

 Eucryphia pinnatifolia twelve or fourteen feet high, 

 covered with charming white blossoms on their 

 entire height and circumference. Many people, no 

 doubt, have planted Eucryphia, allowed it to 



16 



