Click here to search commentonline

Short Break at Benmore

Returning slowly homewards through the remote and beautiful Cowal peninsula after a brief visit to Dunoon, we stopped at Benmore, one of the three outstations of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. Benmore comprises 120 acres of hilly country near Loch Eck in the centre of the Cowal Peninsula. The road beside the loch leads up to Strachur on the shores of Loch Fyne.

Having left a busy Dunoon, where we had watched ferries carrying passengers across the Clyde to make the half hour journey from Greenock to Glasgow, Benmore and its glorious setting seemed another world. The surrounding hills are craggy producing some fine ridges, and below they abound in trees both deciduous and coniferous. The entrance to the Botanic Garden immediately tempts one onwards through a spectacular avenue of Giant Redwoods planted in 1863, the tallest of which is now around 150 feet. 

With business booming on the Clyde in the early 19th century increasing numbers of the wealthy wanted a home across the water. American Piers Patrick bought the estate in 1862 and it was he who planted the Redwoods. In 1870 it was purchased by a Greenock sugar refiner, James Duncan. He considerably enlarged the house and developed the garden, planting six million trees on his estate. In 1889 he was forced to sell due to bankruptcy, and the next owner was Henry Younger, Edinburgh brewer. His interest in trees coincided with the period when more and more North American conifers came into the country;  they flourished in the Cowal’s mild and wet climate, where annual rainfall is 120 inches. Younger introduced the Western Red cedar, also from the Pacific coast of North America. Species like these are the backbone of Benmore. Younger took great interest in plants from the Orient, introducing rhododendrons and other exotic shrubs at Benmore. In 1924 he gave his estate to the nation and it was soon under the care of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.

Magnolias and rhododendrons abound here with over 300 species of the latter, their glorious range of colours set against the hills as background. Enkianthus, from Japan, was covered in tiny bell-shaped cream flowers blushed with pink when we visited.

A Japanese cedar impressed me by its size, while a most elegantly spreading specimen turned out to be a Korean mountain ash. Chile was represented by plants which love the climate including Chilean firebush, its flowers a brilliant orange/red. Araucarias, also from Chile, thrive here and there are examples of Nothofagus, the southern beech. A species near the entrance was Fitzroya, a conifer from Patagonia, named after Robert Fitzroy who commanded ‘The Beagle’ with Darwin as scientist.

The more formal garden also had many delights including banks of trilliums and the charming dodocatheons from North America. We would love to have seen the Bhutanese Glade where plants from the kingdom in the Himlayan foothills have been established. Sadly, time pressed and the challenge of the extended and uneven terrain proved  too much for us. Many treasures from China were brought in by George Forrest in the early 20th century, and taken from Edinburgh to Benmore. Forrest, one of the best-known plant hunters, returned six times to China despite suffering numerous hardships and dangers. Visiting such a garden one realises the great courage of those who sought new species to satisfy the European public.

A springtime visit to Benmore when one is blessed with sunshine is a very exciting experience. The beauty of the Scottish countryside seems to be enriched by species from around the world which benefit from the area’s heavy rainfall, mild climate and long hours of daylight in summer.

At this time of year I am always amazed by the variety of shades of green. This is especially noticeable in a garden like Benmore where the deep green of conifers is interspersed with the paler shades of deciduous trees. As well as shades there is also great variety in shapes. With such a small number of indigenous species in Britain, Benmore and most of our gardens would be denuded were the ‘foreigners’ removed! If you have never visited this Botanic Garden, put a springtime visit on your list for next year.