A two-week trip to Scotland and England in October 2004 provided much appreciated pre-election relief. For those who don’t believe that everything is political, they will be interested to know that one of the other tour participants (very educated, thoughtful & compassionate) had called up the tour operator to see whether or not we were voting for Bush the younger. (This person imagined that most Americans were supporting the Republican platform and really didn’t want to travel intimately with those who did.) To save you the suspense, we had a happy tour with inspiring traveling companions whose ages ranged from 60 to 90 except for me, temporarily the pup.

My mom, Irene Siegel, and I began in Edinburgh, met up with the exceptional Trossachs Garden Tours for “Loch Lomond in Autumn,” explored Salisbury Plain with our friend and design hero, Robin Templar Williams and ended up in London where we couldn’t even identify all the languages we didn’t understand being spoken on the lively streets. Overall, my experience of gardens was that the plants were fantastic, but really striking design was as rare as it is in the States. Yep, I am a tough cookie. A few places knocked our socks off and people were extraordinarily generous & knowledgeable. Of course, how can I say anything bad about countries where people make time for tea and biscuits? More detailed itinerary, plant nerd facts & design impressions below.

Edinburgh is worth a trip simply to visit their renowned Botanic Gardens Instead of plant Disney, you find a glorious site that has integrated its history (as a teaching garden for one of the earliest medical schools in the British Isles) into the present. Our tour guide educated and amused us.

Before a rhododendron blooming abnormally in autumn, he defined its behavior as an explicit example of global warming. My eagerness to find the two sculptures by Andy Goldsworthy was amply rewarded.

Their Chinese garden contains some plants that are in danger of becoming extinct in China, one of several good reasons why nations would do well to attempt to co-exist peaceably.

Our Scottish tour trekked around Argyll where the annual rainfall measures about 120 inches. Situated just north and east of Glasgow, it is known for its lovely scenery as well as its gigantic rhododendrons. Given my rants, bloom is not my priority, however, the bark and fallen leaves on these magnificent specimens made me want to curl up under them and nap.

Everywhere Irene and I went, we took endless shots of Gunnera, so I guess I certainly haven’t evolved since my last trip to Chelsea five years ago.

However, I did learn about and experience the sensual pleasure of one of my favorite trees: the Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum). It smells like burnt sugar.

Memorable gardens included Crarae Glen Garden, now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland and easier on your lungs than visiting the Himalayas. Drummond Castle Garden exemplifies how a formal garden can transcend its Ps & Qs.

My favorite and the most personable destination was Dun Ard at Fintry. Niall Manning and Alastair Morton’s hillside garden manifests the care and effort they harnessed when creating this fantastic space.

Aside from calming “borrowed views”, their sky garden most affected me. They transformed a rather limited section into a whimsical place where other vistas are blocked so as to make star viewing otherworldly.

The autumn textures and palette of their stilt-hedge garden especially tickled me.

Ardkinglas Woodland Garden stewards some great champion trees. Our visit here was instrumental in having Irene take back home a new appreciation of these towering guardians of our landscapes. As well, the garden practices some ecologically conscious maintenance like letting fallen trees turn to compost naturally.

Finally, to say that Glenarn Garden is lovingly cared for by the Thornley family does not do justice to their restoration efforts and stellar environmental practices. To top it off, they served the best handmade tea we had in Scotland!

For those interested in new plant introductions: the one that elicited a “Wow” from me was Hydrangea macrophylla “Lady in Red”.

For the Chicago area, too bad it wants zone 6. Wayside Gardens lists it as zone 5 but since macrophyllas generally bloom on old wood, I’d guess you wouldn’t get much bloom around here in zone 5. Of course, those red stems and lack of floppiness are tempting.

At our last brief stop, we were only able to view the exterior of Charles Rennie Mackintosh‘s Hill House His work compels me and this streetlamp particularly drew my eye. His attention to design detail is apparent in Mackintosh’s idiosyncratic fence element …Yea asymmetry!

Gardens were not our primary reason for visiting England: friends, museums and more “natural” landscapes were higher on our list. Remarkable Neolithic barrows and stones give rhythm to the landscape on Salisbury Plain.

I was astonished to learn that it is also an active training site for the British Army as well as being a conservation area. Is that an oxymoron? If you haven’t walked the ancient site at Avesbury, sort of a giant Stonehenge encircling a present day town, you have a fascinating and humbling experience in store. Having been here with my mother thirty years ago when I was a college brat gave me pause. In a good way.

Dinner with the vibrant host pictured here with Irene highlighted our London excursion. Known for gardens straight out of the Jetsons, he delighted us. Guess his identity and we’ll send you his book out of the same dimension.

Email your thoughts: julie@jsiegeldesigns.com