Visions of a Scottish Roadside

On a recent trip to Scotland, Garden Collage founder Daisy Helman and I found ourselves driving in a rental car along the pastoral roads of East Lothian, surrounded by fields of flowering yellow Rapeseed (Brassica napus). We had gone to Scotland to explore historic walled gardens at Greywalls, Broadwoodside, and Abbotsford House, but as expected the drive through the rural environs in between proved to be the most enchanting. Here, we’ve stopped the car to gaze out across the landscape abutting a private garden near Cairnie Strawberry Farm. This is what we saw.

Edinburgh can initially appear dreary when it’s overcast, but the Northern U.K.’s lush and wet conditions make it a haven for spontaneous plant growth. Here, an old ruin on a hill is shrouded in greenery overlooking East Market Street, where we got two organic, cold-pressed green juices from Juice Warrior (a new juice bar located in a cool, secluded spot under a bridge next to Waverley Station).

The Scottish coast is particularly beautiful in spring and summer– especially when the sun sets at 11 PM.

Scottish Heather is a world-famous botanical symbol for Scotland, and today this unassuming flower grows across five million acres of Scottish moorland, glens, and hills. (Fun fact: The name ‘Heather’ may come from the old Scottish word ‘haeddre’.) White heather is considered good luck for brides. (All the more reason to get married in Scotland!)

A droptop coup parked outside of Abbotsford House, the home of Sir Walter Scott whose beautiful garden is nestled in the town of Galashiels, near Melrose, on the south bank of the River Tweed. (More pictures on that garden forthcoming– stay tuned!)

Cows roam the hillside outside of Haddington on a day reminiscent of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. Highland cattle (Bò Ghàidhealach in Scottish gaelic), live on rough forage and (unlike us) they love cold, wet climates.