James Truscott states in the introduction to Private Gardens of Scotland his hope to transport the reader to “…a temporary withdrawal from humdrum everyday life into a cloistered world of scents and colours, where half-forgotten feelings of wonderment and awe can be rediscovered.” An ambitious goal, but he succeeds by having one of the best pens for garden description I’ve ever read. The photographs of Hugh Palmer compliment the writing, but they are not the stars. This book is meant to be read — even if you never visit the gardens, Truscott’s nuance of detail and narrative style of “touring” will teach you much, especially about design, as is befitting for an author who is also a landscape architect. He’s full of fun facts, too: Did you know that Mary Queen of Scots, the Crown Prince of Imperial Japan, and Margaret Thatcher have all planted trees at Scone Palace near Perth?
Excerpted from the Winter 2008 Arboretum Bulletin.