Scotland Tourist Attractions
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Royal Botanic Garden
Edinburgh
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is considered to be Scotland's premier garden
and has become one of Edinburgh's most popular tourist attractions. Established
in 1670 as a medical garden near Holyrood House, during the twentieth century it
acquired three regional gardens - Dawyck, Logan and Benmore.
The Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh is the main garden and is home to over 70
acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, capturing the imagination of visitors and
providing a tranquil haven just one mile from the city centre.
With a reputation as a garden where the unusual and beautiful can be found, here
you will discover nearly 17,000 different species of plants from all over the world.
This is about 7% of all known plant species, which when you put it into perspective
is a huge amount. This stunning collection can be found in the Rock Garden (home
to over 5,000 alpine plants), the Chinese Hillside and the Glasshouse Experience,
the Woodland Gardens & Arboretum and the Winter Garden, and attracts people
from all over the world to see and learn about them.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is also home to the largest collection of wild-origin
Chinese plants outside of China, whilst the Scottish Heath Garden recreates the
closer-to-home landscape of the Scottish highlands. The centre piece of the garden
is the famous Victorian Temperate Palm House - the tallest of its kind in Britain
- a glasshouse experience like no other. Visitors can explore ten climatic zones
which are home to around one percent of all known flowering plants, cycads and ferns,
ranging from banana and rubber plants to household favourites and the world's largest
collection of tender vireya rhododendron, originating from the mountains of New
Guinea and Borneo.
The other three gardens offer equally as glorious surroundings: Benmore in the Eachaig
Valley, just north of Dunoon, in a magnificent mountainside covers a vast 120 acres
where you can see the spectacular avenue of Giant Redwoods (some as high as 40 metres),
and over 300 species of rhododendrons including one from the Himalayas.
Logan Botanic Garden can be found at the south-western tip of Scotland, close to
Stanraer, and has a reputation as Scotland’s most exotic garden. Featuring a collection
of the beautiful and bizarre, the southern hemisphere plants flourish and the gardens
are a constant blaze of colour.
The Dawyck Botanic Garden near Peebles displays an abundance of exotic and native
plants and stunning collection of trees, such as conifers and beeches thanks to
a 300-year-old tree planting tradition. Stroll along the walking trails to discover
some of the special collections and no matter what season you visit Dawyck provides
a breathtaking backdrop of colour throughout the year.
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