The tradition of beautiful and varied gardens is as strong at Drum as any other National Trust for Scotland Property. Over the 25 years since Drum passed into the care of the Trust we have spent many thousands of pounds - and devoted many thousands of hours care and labour to make Drum amongst the best in Scotland. Please follow the links to visit the Garden of Historic Roses, the Pond Garden and the Arboretum to get a flavour of what is on offer and to learn how the gardens developed to what can be seen today. The Garden of Historic Roses The Trust opened the Garden of Historic Roses in 1991 to mark its Diamond Jubilee. Since then the garden has developed into a major attraction for the North-east of Scotland - and that development continues today. Based in the Walled Garden, built around 1780, the Garden of Historic Roses is divided into four quadrants, each containing a design from one of the last four centuries together with roses from that period. Follow us through the different quadrants to find out a little more about roses from that period. The hybrid tea and floribunda roses seen today are the products of years of hybridising. The Garden of Historic Roses contains many species from which modern roses originated. The design of each garden is based on authentic layouts for the period it represents. Seven groups of roses are featured, from the historic Gallica group to the extensive range of 20th Century hybrid shrub roses. Some gardens may include roses from an earlier period which have retained their popularity. Associated with the roses are herbaceous plants of each period – ranging from the simple 17th Century herbs to today’s exotic flowers. At the bottom of the garden is a restored gardener's bothy and an interpretation room with further information about the gardens. The Roses There are 400 different varieties of roses at Drum, representing most of the main groups. To complement the roses there is a good collection of hardy herbaceous plants and there is also an extensive collection of climbers, covering the 4 metre high walls. Shrubs, small trees and topiary add to the interest and give height to the garden. Gallicias. These are some of the oldest roses in cultivation and much early breeding work was done using them. They are hardy, disease resistant compact, bushes, often thornless and scented with a range of flower colour from maroon to pale pink. There are around 20 different gallicias at Drum, including the Apothecary's Rose and the famous striped rose, Rosa Mundi. Albas. A lovely disease resistant group of roses with soft blue foliage an good scent. They can form large sturdy bushes with graceful branches. 'Celestial' is particularly beautiful, a soft pink with perfect buds opening out slowly and over a long period and with a scent worth burying your nose in. Centifolia or Cabbage Roses. The rose of one hundred petals, often painted by Renaissance artists. Exquisite shapes and perfumes though they do not like so much rain. 'Fantin Latour' performs especially well at Drum, but another ten other centrefolias can be found here. Damask and Moss Roses. These date back to the 16th Century and a lot of cross breeding was done using these as parents in the 19th Century - their scents and unusual buds were the attractions. They make healthy plants and some are repeat flowering. They were used extensively in the perfume industry. 'Ispahan' and Kazanlik' are particular favourites. The Scots Roses - Pimpinellifolias - very prickly, suckering habit makes these unsuitable for most borders but they make good hedges and flower in May/June. They are very hardy and disease resistant, but are unscented with small flowers. There are 120 varieties in the early 1900's but now only 30 are available commercially. Around 15 are present at Drum, many given to us unnamed by passionate collectors. Sweet Briars and Rugosas. These are also represented at Drum, although their suckering habit makes them awkward to maintain in with other plants. These are particularly important in modern breeding with its emphasis on health and scent and vigour. The 17th Century Garden The 17th Century Garden was adapted from one which appears in Medieval Gardens by Sir Frank Crisp, published by Bodley Head. The four beds are adaptations of Knot Gardens. 17th Century Roses were largely species – or wild roses – with few of the attractions of modern varieties. A notable exception is ‘Rosamundi’, Rosa gallica versicolor, which has been in cultivation since the 12th Century. The 18th Century Garden The pattern of this garden was taken from a 1702German illustration featured in Medieval Gardens by Sir Frank Crisp, published by Bodley Head. The internal structure of the original formal patterre has been replaced by roses and flowers of the period. The plant containers and pedestals appear in the original illustration. The 19th Century Garden This garden is based on a photo of a formal 19th Century rose garden in G C Taylor’s The Modern Garden published by Country Life in 1936. The seats are copied from the illustration, with yew surrounding them echoing the air of privacy and seclusion of the original design. The 20th Century Taken from Richard Sudell’s Landscape Gardening, published in 1948 by Ward Lock, this garden – as befits the fashion of the day – has been constructed on two levels. The sunken central area, originally grassed, has been paved for ease of maintenance. The Sundial The sundial – a modern version of a 17th Century design – is the Trust’s acknowledgement of many years support given by Scotland’s Gardens scheme. To get sun time from the dial, stand on the date line at the appropriate month position. With your back to the sun read the time where your shadow points between the hour markers. Children can extend their shadow by holding hands above their head with fingers The Pond Garden Following the path from the Castle to the Garden of Historic Roses, a turn of a corner brings you to the Pond Garden, an unexpected delight, particularly for children and those who just want to sit a while and watch the world - and the ducks - go by. This feature developed from the 1920's into a garden. Previously it was probably used as a fish pond or water holding area for animals. The water comes from runoff from the castle and surrounding higher grounds and drains into a rill which leads to Robbie Ross's loch, a sometime substantial lake. The planting around the pond is informal and is designed around the main feature of New Zealand Flax which gives strong architectural form. Ornamental grasses such as 'Cowman's Bronze' and waterside plants such as 'Gunnera' and Rodgersia' make this a plant person's delight to walk through on the way to the walled garden. A delicate statue acts as a focal point on the return trip, with wonderful glimpses through the trees to the Castle's 13th Century Tower. The Arboretum Drum Castle stands in a fine countryside setting of mature trees and lawns. Magnificent specimens of horse chestnut, European Lime and Copper Beech have been given space to grow to their full stature. Sweet Chestnuts and oaks further add to the sense of antiquity. These ancient trees date back to the 1700's, a time of prosperity and peace within the estates of Drum. Following the fashions of the time, the productive garden was relocated within the sheltering walls at a distance from the house. Animals were allowed to graze right up to the walls of the main building, in a gentle rolling landscape of specimen trees, copses and grass. The mid 19th Century saw a further period of prosperity at Drum under the 18th Laird. As well as improvements to the building, this Laird was interested in planting trees. Many unusual conifer species were introduced, such as the Douglas Firs adjacent to the old Laundry, may have been raised from seeds from the original collection by Douglas in 1827. The interest in conifers continued into late Victorian and early Edwardian times. Brewer's Weeping Spruce, a native of Western America and Fitzroya, from Argentina, are two mature specimens from this period of acquisition. There is a lovely example of the Japanese Umbrella Pine and a Pocket Handkerchief Tree which is stunning in May. The nuts from the latter are collected, dried and sprayed gold for weaving into Christmas holly wreaths. The National Trust for Scotland has been adding to the tree collection through a tree sponsorship scheme and significant collections of Holly and Acer species are now established. Replacements for the fine specimens are also being planted in the hope that the unique peaceful pleasant atmosphere at Drum can be maintained for future generations The Lawns The main grassed area is the South Lawn. This area may once have accommodated a formal 17th Century garden but this was probably destroyed by the Covenanters who ransacked the property under the command of the Marquis of Argyle in 1644. During the 18th Century it was grassed over and turned by the Victorians into a croquet lawn. Its large rectangular and surprisingly flat surface is a perfect complement to the Renaissance face of the Jacobean Mansion. In spring colour is added to the edges by the flowering rhododendrons, golden laburnum and white cherry blossom. 17th Century Formal Garden? In 1988 The university of Bradford Department of Archaeological Sciences conducted a resistivity survey of the South Lawn, under which we believe are the remains of the 17th Century Formal Gardens destroyed by the Covenanters. This is an interpretation of the layout of those gardens drawn from the results of that survey. A Brief History of the Gardens A Brief History of the Gardens Follow the Garden Tour The earliest maps to show Drum Castle date from the 16th Century and show the castle surrounded by some kind of wall. In the 17th Century, the historian John Spalding, described Drum as having a pleasant garden planting.' The Covenanters are also believed to have destroyed a formal garden, under what is now the South Lawn. General William Roy's Military Survey of c1750 shows a layout of fields or parks that corresponds almost exactly to the present day layout of the principal fields for the Home Farm. So even at that time there was evidence of a parkland which, by the time of the late 18th Century had become a designed landscape. At the end of the 18th Century the Irvines built a walled garden - but this would not have been for flowers, rather a vegetable garden serving the needs of the household in a time before the corner shop and we know that produce was being sold from it in 1780. In the early 1900's the Irvines established an arboretum on the South and East Lawns and as in many gardens today the evidence can be seen in the form of the giant Wellingtonia towering above the other conifers. In 1910 what was probably a former cattle watering pool was turned into a garden with the path to the walled garden winding its way past the pond. This has been developed by the Trust in recent years to become the Pond Garden. In the 1930s the Irvines built a 5-hole golf course around the castle. A map of this hangs in the castle tearoom along with other memorabilia. It was said that the person most pleased with the golf course was the local glazier who did a roaring business repairing windows in the castle! In the late 1980's the Trust took the decision to develop the semi-derelict walled garden and turn into the Garden of Historic Roses which opened in 1991 commemorating the Trust's Diamond Jubilee.