This book published in 2012 highlights the early history of Scottish gardening including the Stewart era.
The emblematic flowers of the thistle and the rose were used as early as 1503 when James IV married Elizabeth Tudor.
Our walled garden in Granton could date from a time when most gardens have been swept away. Miraculously Granton Castle’s Walled Garden seems to have survived.
What might it have looked like in the time of Sir Thomas Hope? He bought Granton Castle and its garden in 1619, and his employers were James VI and Charles I.
Stunning drawings below on display at the National Map Collection date from the mid 1600’s. Quite formal knot gardens seemed to be in fashion at the time, but also orchards, kitchen gardens and medicinal herbs. The first Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh began life as a ‘physic’ garden in 1670.
