Fire In The Hills

The molten colours of the tree-lined slopes that rise above the River Tay near Aberfeldy are a spectacular sight in autumn and they form a dramatic backdrop to a garden that flourishes at a height of 500 ft in a south-facing position overlooking the river.

Sally Chrystal and her husband Donald live in a converted dairy at Little Tombuie, which is part of a farmhouse that has been in their family since the 1950s. At this time of year the landscape around them smoulders like a bonfire and despite the lateness of the season climbing roses still flower in the courtyard that forms the entrance to their home.

When they originally arrived here the garden beyond the dairy was a steep slope, so they brought in a bulldozer to level it and this allowed them to create a productive vegetable garden, which is protected by a cage from the pheasants that would otherwise feast on their crops.

From this part of the garden there are spectacular views across the Tay valley to the hills beyond, and Sally loves to watch the progress of autumn as it transforms the scene. Her favourite trees for autumn colour are the limes and elms.

“They both go , a beautiful yellow, and it looks magnificent,” she says.

“The limes turn first, then the elms.”

Left: An acer spills its leaves upon the path. Right: A glimpse of the Tay.

Beneath the house lie broad terraces that are filled with plants that relish their place in the sun, including swathes of persicaria, which carry their bright pink flowers well into autumn.

“My mother-in-law created the terraces, but by the time we moved here they had begun to crumble, so I took a course in dry stone walling and have mended them all myself and I’ve also created curves to break up their straight lines,” says Sally.

The most arresting feature on the terraces is an Acer sieboldii that flames into scarlet, spilling its leaves into a rich carpet of colour.

“Most acers have a tendency to be nipped by frost, but this one gives us many weeks of brilliant colour.”

The garden is also home to are tulip trees, medlars and quince trees, and there is even a a mulberry that is untroubled by temperatures that dip well below freezing during the winter months.

Sally did not take up gardening until she retired but she has since become an expert propagator and she adores trees. She has discovered that raising trees from seed is the secret to growing a wide variety of species in an exposed location.

“Some species were struggling to survive here when planted as whips, but grown from seed the same trees have flourished.”

She is kept busy in her propagating house with seed sent back from foreign destinations by her son Fergus, a botanist. Recently she and Donald have planted an arboretum of some of the best selections, following in the footsteps of the plant hunters whose introductions have made Perthshire one of Scotland’s most beautiful counties.And as well as trees, Little Tombuie is also filled with a wide variety of interesting shrubs  including the winged spindle tree, Euonymus alatus, several types of dogwood and the paperbush tree, Edgeworthia chrysantha, which carries small sprays of scented flowers in late winter.

“It gets its name because in Japan where it was used for making parchment,” says Sally.

Left: Hollyhocks blooming late in the season. Middle: A silver birch at the edge of the garden. Right: An antique cheese press makes a handsome garden ornament.

Altitude and temperature have an influence on what will grow here, but often the smallest change in position is enough to make an ailing plant thrive.

“The lavender closest to the house was really struggling. One gardener who came to visit pointed out that 500ft was its cut-off point and that if I simply moved it down one terrace it would be fine. So I did, and it was.”

Nepeta is not so fussy and grows abundantly wherever it is planted.

“In mid August, I cut it right back and it gives me more flowers later in the year,” says Sally.

The soil at Little Tombuie is a light clay, neutral in some areas and elsewhere more acidic.

“In parts of the garden rhododendrons struggle, yet just 200 yards away they are absolutely fine,” she says.

“They also don’t like sitting in damp areas, but Little Tombuie is very dry, a legacy of drains that were laid by Napoleonic prisoners of war, so that isn’t something that we have to worry about.”

The garden is also home to a large collection of stone troughs, which Sally fills with alpines, replanting every three years in order to keep them growing strongly. Another sculptural feature in the garden is a horse gin - a wooden device that would once have been attached to a drive shaft used to grind oats into flour.

 “It would have been worked by a three horse gauge and it is one of only two left in the country.”

This part of Scotland is rich in wildlife. Badgers make their home here and red squirrel and pine marten steal peanuts from the bird feeders. Goshawks, buzzards, sea eagles and peregrine falcons wheel around the sky.

“Young eagles come down in search of food, and the buzzards have seen off the rabbits,” says Sally.

But that winter spectacle is still to come and for the moment it is the brilliance of the trees in the garden, set against the unrivalled backdrop, that make Little Tombuie a thrilling place to enjoy autumn’s blazing finale.