On the centenary of the birth of Ian Hamilton Finlay — poet, iconoclast, social revolutionary and maritime obsessive — his Scottish garden is being celebrated as his greatest work of art
But the Finlays, showing a determination that became part of Little Sparta’s mythology, created a windbreak, and began to build up the greenery with “garden thugs” such as cranesbill, periwinkle, astrantia, sweet Cicely and rosebay willow herb, a tough fireweed that Finlay called his “obstreperous companion”. The somewhat iconoclastic plantings in the garden — including trees close together — reflected his more general contempt for received wisdom. “He took a stance over all sorts of authority, and had strongly held principles,” says Gilliland.
For most of the year, Gillilland works here alone. “The garden is meant to be solitary, the paths are narrow and twist to a point of no return — that’s part of discovery,” he says. In the “English parkland” section at the back of the house, there is even a parallel track of beech hedge for a “huff lane” where a bad mood could be secluded and hopefully cured with a contemplative sit on one of the benches.
True to his exacting vision, the garden is only open in the summer months, when Finlay thought it had most to offer. As a whole, Little Sparta is “like a cryptic crossword puzzle”, says Gilliland. “It’s a place that allows you to think.”