SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF SCOTCH 
GARDENS 
|° write on Scottish gardens and their peculiarities is a task Diversity of 
that one assumes with diffidence. For,if it be true that the Climate 
characteristics and habits of nations are due largely to the 
influences of climate, it is no less a fact that climate is the 
governing force of the gardening world. In the North, it 
causes us to use every possible means to secure shelter, and to 
husband every ray of sunshine. At the same time, it must be 
understood that Scotland abounds in diversities of temperature. 
On the west coast of Argyllshire, in Ross-shire, and in Skye, 
delicate plants and rare shrubs, which in England live outside 
only in Devonshire or Cornwall, thrive in an amazing way. In 
the counties adjoining the Moray Firth, the Solway, the Firth 
of Forth, in East Lothian, the Carse of Gowrie, and various 
other parts, equally good results are obtained with vegetation 
of a tender nature. Last year, while staying near Fortrose, 
on the east coast of Ross-shire, I was able to pick Sweet Peas 
and Tea Roses as late as the beginning of December; and at 
Cromarty, a few miles off, Apricots and Peaches ripen on sunny 
walls. 
On the whole, however, the climate of Scotland is of a less 
generous nature, and on that account a high-walled kitchen 
garden becomes the place where carefully tended and often 
delightfully effective flower borders are found. For these a 
beautiful screen may be formed by Pear and Apple trees trained 
on espaliers, the blossoms of which provide a welcome addition 
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