KINTYRE'S SUBTROPICAL IMAGE
Hugh Ferguson.
First of all, it has to be said, there is nothing sub-tropical about Kintyre. This is obvious to all of us who hare experienced the cold and wet, and the lack of warm sunshine. However, the subtropical epithet has been applied to some at the renowned gardens here and elsewhere on the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland, and some of the exotic plants which grow in them. These are plants from warmer climes which survive the winter weather here. Many such species are common and grow luxuriant in Kintyre, occurring in small as well as large gardens, some even becoming garden escapes.
Kintyre has a maritime climate, with the Gulf Stream bringing an element of warmth from the south. This results in mild winters which are relatively frost free, and of course, wet. Winter temperatures, due to the Gulf Stream, are comparable with those of similar maritime regions some ten degrees nearer the Equator, but still far away from the tropics and sub-tropics. However, these conditions, particularly the mild winters, make it possible to grow exotic plants which cannot tolerate a hard and continuous frost. It is the occurrence of such plants in Kintyre (and elsewhere on the West Coast) which has given rise to the “sub-tropical” description. It is most commonly applied to the gardens, and very occasionally to the climate. It is interesting to note the origin of the plants concerned; they come mainly from Chile, New Zealand and Japan, and from the Himalayas where the altitude compensates for the lower latitude.
Without doubt, the plant which has contributed most to the subtropical image is the “Palm” tree which grows freely in Kintyre, and is to be seen in many gardens, large and small. This is the “Australian Cabbage Palm”, (Cordyline australis), which originates in Australia and New Zealand. It is not a true palm of the palm family, and, oddly, a member of the Lily family. With its palm-like growth and its striking appearance, it is easy to imagine it as part of a tropical scene. No close relations of the Cordyline grow in gardens here - the New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax) and the Yucca (Yucca filimentosa). Both have narrow, pointed leaves, like the Cabbage Palm, those of the New Zealand flax being up to ten feet long. At intervals of three or four years the Yucca produces a large and handsome spike of white flowers. These contribute to the exotic appearance of this group of plants. As its name indicates, the Phormium comes from the Far East, particularly Australia and New Zealand. It grows freely in St. Helena where it was introduced as a crop: Yucca originates in California and Mexico, and, although it can grow in a wide variety of conditions, it is probably as near to a tropical plant as any in this article.
One species of palm does grow in Kintyre, but does not flourish. This is Trachycarpus from Japan. It is as hardy, maybe more so, as the Cabbage Palm, but cannot stand up to the wind. It is interesting that at Kew, (The Royal Botanical Gardens - Kew - London), the Trachycarpus grows in the open and the Cordyline under glass.
The climate of Kintyre encourages evergreens, and they are a feature of many gardens. Some are frost hardy, but many surrive the winter only because of its mildness. These take away from the bleakness and deadness of the winter months, and make their contribution to the “sub-tropical” image.
The commonest evergreen is the 'Rhododendrum', and Rhodendron collections are the main feature of large gardens. The common Rhodendron (R. ponticum) originates in South Europe and Asia Minor. It has adapted to conditions here so well, that it has become a weed in planted forests, and elsewhere. The very large number of Rhodendron species which have been grown at Achamaore (in Gigha) and Crarae (near Inveraray) and elsewhere, are from the Himalayas, China, Burma and Tibet. In this region the high altitudes balance the proximity to the Equator, and the natural environment is a temperate one.
The following are less-hardy evergreens which are common in local gardens. They are listed under their countries of origin, and it will be seen that although these are nearer the Equator than Kintyre, they are well out of the tropics:
Origin Southern Europe and Near East:
Cherry and Portuguese Laurel, Holm Oak.
Origin New Zealand and Australasia:
Grisilina, Hebe, Pittosporum, and the Daisy Trees (Olearia and Senecio) and
Eucalyptus.
Origin Chile:
Escallonia and Fuschsia.
Origin Japan and Far East:
Aucuba, Skimmia, Euonymus, Mahonia, Fatsia.
Of all those mentioned above, Fatsia Japonica is probably the most suggestive of the tropics. It is called (wrongly) the Castor Oil Plant, and has large, glossy leaves, giving it its exotic appearance.
All the plants listed above are common in Kintyre gardens. There are many more tender evergreens, particularly from Chile. A good selection has been planted in the great gardens, such as Achamore. Some are handsome and striking.
Bamboos, of different species, grow well in Kintyre, and are to be seen in a few gardens. Generally speaking, they come from hilly regions in the Far East; they certainly have the luxurious appearance of tropical plants.
Gunnera manicata is an oddity planted in a few Kintyre gardens in marshy spots, which it prefers. It has huge rhubarb-like leaves, some measuring more than six feet across. The size of true plant restricts it to large gardens -it grows freely at Achamore. Apart from its exotic appearance its origin (South Brazil) contributes to its “tropical” status.
This article is not intended to be a catalogue of tender and half-hardy plants. Only the more hardy have been mentioned, but there is a large number in the famous West Coast gardens such as Achamore, Carradale, Brodick Castle, and Crarae, in our vicinity, and, the most famous of them all, Inverewe, in Wester Ross. Achamore, for example has some very spectacular trees and shrubs, originating in Chile and climatically similar areas. Descriptions of Achamore, Crarae, and Inverewe, have been published, and these publications include lists of their most interesting plants. Those whose main interest is in exotic plants should certainly visit one or other of these gardens, preferably at intervals thioughout the year.
This article suggests that the origins of many of the plants which flourish in Kintyre justify the designation “sub-tropical,” though nothing else does. Having accepted this, one is bound to wonder why the indigenous flora contains so few frost susceptible plants. The reasons for this are that the Kintyre flora has developed from the Ice Age, and the nearest sources of new plants is the cold, temperate continent of Europe - there are no half-hardy plants on the doorstep waiting to come in. Very hard and prolonged frosts do occur very rarely, and do kill off some of the tender exotics. The same frosts would eliminate half-hardy indigenous plants.
PSALM PRACTICE VERSES
Agnes Stewart
In the middle 1870’s, when my grandmother, Agnes Morrison Rowatt, was a teenager, her mother, Catherine Muir Stevenson, died, and her father, James Rowatt married again. As often happens, the young Agnes didn’t get on very well with her step-mother, and she left her home in Rawyards, near Airdrie, to stay for a while with relations in Saddell. There she met her kindsman, Daniel Morrison, and in December 1882, when Agnes was 20 years old, the couple. were married in Glasgow.
Agnes brought to her new home in Campbeltown a photograph of her parents in a brown wooden frame, a blue Wedgwood jug that had been her mother’s and her father’s gold buckle ring. She also remembered, and sang in due course to her children, some of the practice verses for the psalm tunes. James Rowatt had been a precenter in the free Presbyterian Church, and Agnes and her brothers were familiar with the psalms. These practice verses were used at weekly choir practice, so that the sacred words were not profaned with over use during the week - a daft notion if I ever heard one, but resulting in many comic and witty verses to the psalm tunes, like:
“The high high notes o’ Bangor’s’ tune
Are unco hard to raise,
And tryin’ for to raise them gars
The lassies burst their stays.”
I wonder if this is why we no longer seem to sing ‘Bangor’. It’s a pity the ministers don’t realise that lassies no longer wear stays!
Or sung to 'Ballerma', these words were surely written by some drouthy tenor:
I wish I were a brewer’s horse
Three quarters o’ the year,
I'd turn my heid where tail should be
And drink up all the beer.
Or how is this one to ‘Crimond’?:
The longer that the ploom tree grows
The greater grows the plooms,
The longer that the souter sews,
The blacker grows his thooms.
Most people, of course, have heard the story of the seceder cat, sung so often by the Glasgow Orpheus Choir to ‘Desert.’ I suspect, though, that at least some of the words of ‘Mice and Men,’ as it is known, were written by the late Sir Hugh Roberton.
But to get back to my grandmother, a particular favourite of hers was:
The weaver said unto his son
The day that he was born,
“My blessings on your curly pow,
Ye’ll ca’ my pirns the morn.”
These words, my mother passed on to her children, to the tune ‘Covenanters’ repeating the last two lines, as that tune requires. There was an interesting article about the practice verses in the Scots Magazine in July 1983 by a Mr. David Allan. Mr. Allan knew the words about the weaver to the ‘Mice and Men’ tune. ‘Desert,’ but I prefer them to ‘Covenanters.’
Then one cf the real classics is surely, this, sung to the slow version of ‘Martyrdom.’:
There was a man that had twa sons,
And these twa sons were brithers,
Jehosophat was the name o’ yin,
And Baltheus was the ither.
Noo Baltheus was a wicked man,
We’ll ne’er see him no more,
He stole his faither’s coffin lid
Tes mak’ a henhoose door.
I’ll hever forget the first time I heard that one, Dr. Hamish Henderson of the School of Scottish Studies in Edinburgh was visiting my father collecting material for an article about my father, which was later published in ‘Tocher.’ We talked, among other things, of ‘The Weaver’ which Hamish always liked to hear my mother sing, and of other practice verses, when he came out with ‘the man that had twa sons, singing the precenter’s lines himself, then joining in the harmony, as we all took up the various lines. It was hilarious. Hamish was so straight faced and serious, and the words are so ridiculous. I laugh yet at the remembrance of it.
The sad thing now is, that with the advent of the third edition of the Revised Church Hymn-book, some churches no longer use the psalter. And as many fine tunes dropped from the old psalter in 1929, are now forgotten, so we are in danger of losing many more good tunes, which are even now becoming rare.
Page 2: A Maker of Illicit Stills
Page 3: Campbeltown's Protestant Churches - A Brief History
Page 4: Some Descendants of Lachlan McNeill Buidhe
Page 6: The Blues of North Kintyre
Page 7: The Evolution of Gaelic Surnames in Kintyre
Page 8: By Hill and Shore - Meanders from Mr. Angus Martin
Page 9: One Interesting e-mail // Machrihanish to Southend: The Townships // Some Bits and Bobs
Page 10: The McShannons of Kintyre - Harpers to Tacksmen