There is something very Alice in Wonderland about the eccentric yew topiary of Crathes. It’s as if these “egg and cup” forms were meant to be precise geometrical shapes but, out of some will of their own, grew distorted. They are also one of the garden marvels of Scotland, dating back to 1702.
It should be no surprise therefore that when the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh decide to create a yew hedge, grown and propagated out of collected material from great yews across Scotland, the UK and Europe, it looked to Crathes.
This new hedge, which circles the periphery of the botanic gardens, is a yew library, grown out of 2000 trees collected from 16 countries where they are threatened, and one that comes with stories attached. Some of these are told in a new book, The Yew Hedge, by the project’s creator Martin Gardner. Many cultures have beliefs associated with the yew: the idea, for instance, that planting a yew tree or hedge along the boundary of your property would protect you from evil spirits.
Scotland is home to some significant yews, incorporated now into this hedge, not least the Fortingall yew, the oldest tree in the United Kingdom, estimated to be anything from over two thousand to nine thousand years old. According to a popular legend, Pontius Pilate was born under this tree. Also included in the RBGE hedge is the progeny of the John Knox yew in Renfrewshire under which it is claimed the religious reformer gave his first sermon in 1556.
The hedge’s creator, Martin Gardener, has said, “There is a need to conserve old-growth trees and remnant populations, and to safe-guard plant biodiversity in the face of global environmental change. Once the hedge is established, I look forward to being asked why the yew hedge is not uniform in growth, colour and texture. My response will simply be ‘Ah, but that is biodiversity for you’”.
At Crathes, the hedges, which had become oversized and at risk of collapse, have been recently restored. National Trust for Scotland gardener, Chris Crathes, described the result, “Above all, our ethos is not to re-create the formal straight edges of the Victorian era but to keep the romantic feel of the way we perceive the hedges today. So, they have a character and personality that is fundamentally all Crathes – a little wonky and misshapen, but that this is the consequence of hundreds of years of growth and ageing, just like the rest of the gardens and estate.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here