Seeds of Revolution

Their achievements remain with us, lavishing our lawns, beautifying our borders and crowning our ponds. Their pleasures even blossom seasonally in our poetry. Why is it that Scots, more a nation of farmers and stockmen, came to shape horticultural advance so remarkably and change our flower beds forever?

Our ancestors introduced more plants into gardens of the west than all other European nations combined. One enterprising son of a Stirling farmer, John McLaren even managed to transform acres of American beach into a garden of beauty using the dung scraped off the sidewalks of San Francisco.

To reveal the scope of our influence we need look no further than our land itself. In the early stages the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) was solely a 'physic garden' for herbal shrubs as we had not yet plucked Fortune's Rose or planted Douglas fir. This would change.

Our education system and our knowledge of the land made Scots gardeners lionised. Expertly schooled in estate gardens where they dirtied their hands in all soils and subjects, our seeds-men were the creme de la creme. Such was our reputation, it was soon assumed a head gardener on an English estate in the 17th or early 18th Century would be Scottish.

Travelling Collectors

Not long after the first exodus south, the horticultural societies of London began seeking men to voyage afar in search of rarities. Previously, this had been carried out by ship's doctors who would collect 'medical' plants. But the interest in floral curiosities was soon to eclipse simple healing herbs.

Plant wonders were becoming as fashionable as oriental artworks. Wealthy individuals dispatched 'flower missionaries' to virgin territories. Employees of botanic gardens were packed off on ships with a paltry allowance to seek the perfect lupin or lily. Middle class ladies glimpsed strange willow flowers on Chinese pottery and craved them. More often than not, it was Scots who took to the crowded bunk-houses of these boats and sailed into unknown seas in search of them.

A Proud Record

Ann Lindsay, author of the book Seeds of Blood and Beauty which explores their legacy, suggested recently that 'at least 50 per cent' of non-native plants in our gardens had been found by Scottish collectors. So when we are enjoying these exotic plants, we should weigh up the tortures that these men suffered.

David Douglas a Scone stone-mason's boy, was one of the finest. Brave, energetic and adventurous, he was the first European to scale the Northern Rockies. He trekked 10,000 miles in pursuit of anything with leaves, pips or petals. He found penstemons and monkey flowers and collected the Douglas fir at Columbia River. In the course of re-writing botanical history, however, he watched a guide steal his possessions whilst he climbed a tree for mistletoe. He shooed off warriors armed with flint-knives whilst studying sugar pines and lost all his cuttings when his boat capsized in whirlpools. This was a man paid the same salary as the doorman at his London Horticultural Society. He died tragically, aged 34, when he tripped into a wild cattle pit in Hawaii and was gored to death.

It is hardly the sort of reward one would expect. These men were rewarded more in status than cents. Their far journeys enlarged the stocks in our rockeries and glass-houses. The debt modernity owes them is incalculable.

In Scotland, for example, few plants are endemic. Primula scotica or the Scottish Primrose thrives in our windswept machair and nowhere else. It is possible even the emblematic thistle originated elsewhere. Its 'erect and jaggy leafs, austerely cauld and dumb,' which Hugh MacDiarmid sketches in his 1926 poem, A Drunk Man Looks At The Thistle, may have been spied first on mainland Europe even though they have been associated with Scotland since the 15th Century. Reputedly a Viking raid on our coast was scratched when a Dane leapt from his long ship straight onto a thistle; his painful yelp alerting slumbering locals.

We pride ourselves, too, in our purple heather. The Picts concocted a paralysing ale from its spores and we wear it to bring luck to newly-weds.

Chinese plants and Scotland

The aforementioned rhododendron is, these days, a cornerstone of Scottish stately gardens. One hundred and fifty years ago it was unknown. At the RBGE today you can view the world's largest collection of Chinese plants outwith China itself. This is due to a Scot, George Forrest from Falkirk who worked in the herbarium there. His seven expeditions to China paved the way for the current twinning between RBGE and Kunming Botanic Garden.

Despite the horrors of being one of only two survivors on a mission to Yunnan province which saw others killed by warrior priests, Forrest introduced 50 species of primula, anemones, conifers, asters, clematis, jasmine and irises from Asia. He has a rhododendron, the Rhododendron forrestii, named in his honour. Currently, the RBGE is a regional adviser for Sikkim and Bhutan and its work is at the forefront of conservation and tropical diversity, as Director of Science, Professor Mary Gibby, explains:"We still do what George Forrest did. We still work in many parts of the world and collect plants. These days, however, we work more in partnerships. One of our main areas is using our knowledge to work with conservationists on protecting plants in the wild."

The Hardships of Beauty

The floral gifts of the Scottish collectors are too numerous to list just as the stories which accompany them seem almost too fantastical to believe. Perthshire's John Jeffrey was murdered in America in pursuit of the perfect bloom. The Pinus jeffreyi pine tree is named in his honour. The pine smells like fresh baked vanilla cookies. In 1851 he documented some of the conditions he endured while collecting plants in Canada: "I walked on snowshoes, the snow being on average two feet deep – a distance of some 1,200 miles. During the journey I slept with no other covering than that found under the friendly pine for the space of 47 nights – several occasions the temperature standing from 30°F to 40°F below zero."

Aberdonian Francis Masson was thrown into jail and lost everything in a hurricane but in 1775 brought back a special cycad. Encephalartos altensteinii is still alive today, 231 years after it arrived in Britain – the oldest known pot plant in the world. Interestingly, it has fruited only once. The name Encephalartos is derived from the Greek, and means ‘bread in the head’. This refers to the Hottentots’ practice of removing the pith from the cycad's stem and burying it in the ground for 2 months before kneading it into bread and baking it in embers. During the 2 month burial, toxins within the pith are destroyed. Initially planted at ground level, the cycad now measures 4m 23cm from the base of its stem to the growing point (an average growth rate of only 2.5 cm per year). Click here to see an image of the plant and further information.

Robert Fortune disguised himself as an Asian to evade capture and brought back pom pom chrysanthemums. He discovered one of his most celebrated varieties, the Japanese anemone, "in full bloom amongst the graves of the natives which are around the ramparts of Shanghai . . . ".

In 1796 John Fraser of Inverness found flowers for Catherine the Great. His boat was reduced to splinters in a storm off Cuba but he escaped with seeds of evening primrose and hydrangea. Archibald Menzies of Perthshire surreptitiously pocketed a nut at a Chilean banquet which was allegedly to become the first monkey puzzle tree in Britain. The tales go on and on.

Even today we have ongoing botanical research breaking new grounds. A forgotten wild Scottish plant could provide a breakthrough in the battle against obesity. Scientists believe the heath pea, which fuelled the Highlanders and the Roman Army, has the potential to aid those trying to shed the pounds. The pea was used for both performance enhancement and as a food supplement. Trials will begin shortly. Edinburgh’s Botanic Garden is still internationally recognised. On the 30th of June, The British Ambassador to Yemen plus two Ministers from the government of the Yemen Republic will be there at the opening of the Soqotra exhibition.

The more curious green-fingered historian amongst you, can inspect some of the species collected by Scots at the Scottish Plant Hunters' Garden in Pitlochry. Gardening Scotland, Scotland’s foremost gardening and outdoor living show, celebrates its 7th anniversary in June 2006, at the Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston, Edinburgh. On the website you can see a 360° tour of the show gardens and images of the event.

If you're not so keen to travel you don't have to look too far. Just glance out of the window or stop in the park on the way to the office; their presence is all around.