I recently stumbled across another reference to a “Scottish gardener.” It seemed to me that a lot of English country houses in literature, including Agatha Christie novels,  had a Scotsman overseeing their gardens. Was there a reason?

MacDonald, the head gardener at Chimneys in The Seven Dials Mystery, sprang to mind immediately, although there is also Old Briggs, the gardener in Cat Among the Pigeons. If you recall, Lord Caterham rented his country manor out to Sir Oswald and Lady Coote, complete with all of the personnel needed to run Chimneys. Sir Oswald is nouveau riche, and as Lady Coote is not entirely comfortable in her role, MacDonald bullies her.

"Lady Coote stood for a few moments tragically on the terrace and then nerved herself to speak to MacDonald the head gardener, who was surveying the domain over which he ruled with an autocratic eye. MacDonald was a very chief and prince among head gardeners. He knew his place – which was to rule. And he ruled – despotically."

A little online investigation found many books, magazine articles, and research papers on Scotland’s gardens, although not necessarily on Scotland’s gardeners. However, I did find a very erudite piece published in 2013 by The International Journal of Botanic Garden Horticulture called “The Northern Lads: The Migration of Scottish Gardeners with Especial Reference to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew” by Ron McEwen.

With a name like McEwen, Ron is likely to know a bit about Scotland, and he’s also a tour guide at Kew. In the first line of his abstract he says “It is well known that a disproportionate number of plant collectors for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the late 18th and 19th centuries were Scottish gardeners,” and later he points out that “This Scottish phenomenon was not unique to Kew.” Apparently, my suspicions were correct!

So how did this tradition come to be? One theory McEwen proposes has to do with Scotsman Philip Miller who from 1722 until 1770 was in charge of the Chelsea Physic Garden, then the foremost center for botanical research in England. Miller preferred hiring his countrymen and many Scottish people worked for him over those 48 years, often going on to new positions elsewhere. No doubt, being Chelsea-trained was a big plus on one’s resume, and the landed gentry would enjoy boasting that they had a Chelsea gardener on their staff.

Another possible reason, according to McEwen, is that Scotland’s literacy rate in 1750 was 75%, quite a bit higher than England’s 53% literacy rate. Superior math and writing skills gave Scottish gardeners a distinct advantage in managing nurseries, laying out landscape plans, and pursuing rare plant collection. But opportunities were fewer in Scotland, so many gardening professionals relocated to England.

McEwen continues his argument on the dominance of Scottish gardeners with a quote from a letter written in the late 1700s:

[James Lee] is a Scot like almost all seedsmen and gardeners in and around London. The Scots have established almost a monopoly in this occupation to the virtual exclusion of the English, and the businesses are handed from one Scot to another.

More evidence that Scottish gardeners were preferred can be found in a blog post from 2020 on The Gardens Trust website. The author shares a letter published by another gardening periodical, The Gardener’s Magazine, in their 1825 issue. The letter writer’s main message was to “never give up any place whatsoever for the condition of a jobbing gardener, for that is greater slavery than being a common labourer.” However, he did admit that “I had a great deal of employment at first partly from the circumstance of being a Scotchman, being called by the people who employed jobbers, a professed gardener.”

While I was pleased to find corroboration of my suspicions about Scottish gardeners, I was even more pleased to find a bit of Scottish information about Agatha Christie that I had completely forgotten.

On September 11, 1930, Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller Christie married Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan in St. Cuthbert’s Church, Edinburgh, Scotland. To keep a low profile, Agatha traveled to Edinburgh with just her daughter and a couple of friends. They spent almost a month in Edinburgh so that the marriage banns could be read the required three times, but with less fanfare than in England.

Max was living in London at the time and popped in long enough for the ceremony to take place. No reporters caught on, and Agatha was able to have the private wedding she wanted. About a week later, Christie returned to London and packed for their honeymoon, part of which included a jaunt on the Orient Express.

If I visit Edinburgh this fall, which I am hoping to do, I will definitely stop at St. Cuthbert’s. It seems they keep a copy of the marriage certificate there for Christie pilgrims like me. I plan to visit a lot of gardens, too, so I can see this superior Scottish gardening for myself!