Attention then shifted to developing borders in
the walled garden, where Jim and his wife Sarah
Cook, who was then head gardener at Sissinghurst in
Kent, worked together on the silver and blue border
that runs parallel to the Terrace Café. They were,
however, keen to retain the vast double herbaceous
borders that run the entire width of the walled
garden and are planted for spring colour in one half
and for high summer in the other. “The summer
borders were, to my mind, the best herbaceous
borders in Scotland and some of the best in Britain,”
explains Jim. “In the Scottish tradition they were not
planted according to a colour scheme – it was just a
case of go for it!”
This theme was enriched and is still maintained
today, resulting in a riot of colour that rises up to
meet swags of deep-pink Rosa ‘American Pillar’
and R. ‘Dorothy Perkins’ at the back of the borders.
Bold groups of pink Eupatorium maculatum
Atropurpureum Group, Phlox paniculata and
Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’, stand alongside
contrasting swathes of yellow solidago and
burnished orange Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’.
These vibrant colours are interspersed with the
cooler silvery-blues of Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’ and
echinops, and tall white Veronicastrum virginicum
‘Apollo’. The result is a clever patchwork, given
cohesion by the regular repetition of plants along the
borders, so that, in Andrew’s words: “they ‘jump’
from one side to the other”.
He uses the same technique to create balance in
the double Hot Border running along the garden’s
east wall, which is filled with the characteristic fiery
reds, oranges and yellows of late summer. This is
one of the Duchess’s favourite parts of the garden:
“I find the Hot Border rather wonderful because
it’s colours that I wouldn’t necessarily work with in
the house, but in the garden you can be brave and it
looks fantastic.”
By September, bright yellow daisies are weaving
their way through the packed planting, from low-
growing Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii up to tall
ranks of Helenium autumnale ‘Gartensonne’ and
Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Herbstsonne’. Feathery drifts
of fennel and the flat flowerheads of orange Achillea
‘Terracotta’ and cerise A. ‘Fanal’ add softness, while
orange spikes of Kniphofia uvaria ‘Nobilis’ rise
like rockets at the back of the border, their form
repeated down towards the path with the yellow of
K. ‘Wrexham Buttercup’ and salmon K. ‘Timothy’.
Andrew punctuates the planting with the rich
purple foliage of Lysimachia ciliata ‘Firecracker’,
Angelica gigas and Atriplex hortensis var. rubra to
accentuate the vivid blooms, as well as Amaranthus
‘Garnet Red’, with its cascading red flowerheads.
Crocosmias and fuchsias spill over onto the gravel
path, which leads the eye towards the rather grand
Head Gardener’s House.
Top Late-blooming
heleniums add a warm
glow to the hot borders.
Middle Head gardener
Andrew Simmons has
been working at Floors
Castle since 2006.
Bottom Agastache’s
blue flowers stand out
against a backdrop of
golden rod, solidago.