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The Shawl
In the early 18th Century this garden area was called the South Parterre and was originally planned to link to the areas above and below (the Low Sand Garden) by walls with interconnecting staircases. It was in fact laid out with borders of flowers and evergreens and a basin of water in the middle. By c.1743 it had been grassed over and remained that way until the heather garden was created in the early 19th Century.
The Shawl - also known as the High White Sand Garden - gets its name from an intricate planting of finely trimmed heather to commemorate the marriage in 1829 of the 5th Duke of Buccleuch and 7th of Queensberry, to Charlotte-Anne Thynne, daughter of the 2nd Marquis of Bath. The Shawl was remarkable in both design and concept and exceptional in using the native heath rather than the newly introduced Cape heaths from South Africa.
At one time 30 gardeners worked in Drumlanrig gardens but following the Second World War, the Shawl was much simplified to meet the reduction in garden staff and low maintenance requirements, although the formal layout of the beds has survived.
Today, the outline of the beds remains the same with sandstone edging. The corner beds have Alchemilla mollis in the form of the Prince of Wales feathers infilled with Heuchera 'Palace Purple'.
The intermediate beds display the family crest - the Douglas Heart - using the silver leaf of Stachys lanata infilled with Red Astilbe and surrounded by Sedum 'Autumn Joy'.
The inner beds are a contrast of red and grey gravel on the circular beds, planted with a central yew encircled with newly planted green and variegated box. Each year, the larger beds are planted to the 1848 design using different annuals including Begonia semperflorens (pink and red), Silver cineraria, Antirrhinum, Dahlias, Phlox, Abutilons, Cordylines, Aster and Cosmos.
By Eskdale Solutions