Celebrate
One of Natures Beauties with the

Scottish Rhododendron Society

Arduaine Garden

A precious place, under threat from closure

Picture courtesy of Ray Cox Photography, Specialist in garden & plant photography www.rcoxgardenphotos.co.uk

Pictures below of Arduaine Garden, by John Roy

 Arduaine garden, situated on the Atlantic seaboard of the west Highlands of Scotland, has been earmarked for closure by its owner, The National Trust for Scotland.

The Scottish Rhododendron Society cannot stand by, and allow this to happen. Arduaine contains a collection of species and hybrid rhododendrons invaluable to the world of botany. Under its present head gardener, Maurice Wilkins, it has diversified into a collection of important, and sometimes tender plants.

R auritum

Woodwardii orientalis

Myosotidium hortensia

This is what Kenneth Cox, leading rhododendron specialist and author, has to say in his forthcoming book:

Arduaine (pronounced 'Are- doo- knee'), one of the finest of the west coast's many woodland gardens, was established from 1903 onwards by tea planter James Campbell. Though the climate here is very mild, the wind-swept promontory required shelter which was established with a mixed planting of conifers, cordylines and the dreaded Rhododendron ponticum. The garden was very much in decline when nurserymen brothers Edmund and Harry Wright bought Arduaine in 1971. They redesigned the lower garden, adding ponds and herbaceous plantings and added considerably to the rhododendron collection. The Wrights donated the garden to the National Trust for Scotland in 1992.

Pond area

R. luteiflorum

Wind damage

Arduaine is one of the most varied of the west coast gardens. In the lower garden around the ponds the primulas are particularly good and there are fine clumps of Chatham Island forget-me-mot (Myosotidium hortensia). Summer sees the perennials borders reach their peak.

The woodland garden lies higher up with a series of meandering paths which are lined by magnolias and giant tree rhododendrons such as R. griffithianum with large white flowers, the very tender R. protistum and the UK's largest specimen of the rare R. arboreum ssp. zeylanicum, the only species found in Sri Lanka. Arduaine has a national collection of Maddenia hybrid rhododendrons and there is a huge range of scented tender rhododendrons to delight your nose in spring.

Don’t miss the viewpoint with perhaps the most outstanding panorama of any Scottish garden, of numerous islands including Mull, Shuna, Luing and Jura. Head gardener Maurice Wilkins is building up collections of ferns, Chilean and New Zealand plants and many rare trees and shrubs. Examples include Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. aspleniifolius from California, Trochodendron aralioides, Rehderodendron macrocarpum, Carrieria calycina, and Glyptostrobus pensilis from Asia and the garden also has the UK champion Eucryphia glutinosa.

The Arduaine website, obviously run in-house, rather than from NTS central office, is informative and amusing. Arduaine has good paths, many suitable for wheelchairs, and has the best such accessibility of any west coast woodland garden.

Edited from Scotland for Gardeners by Kenneth Cox, published by Birlinn in late May 2009.

Help us to prevent the loss of an important Scottish west coast garden.

Follow the link:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/arduainegarden

to make your own statement.

You can also download the petition, get as many signatures as possible, and either scan it and send to:

Rick.Potter@maxwellbruce.com

Or send it to:

Rick Potter

The Old Cottage

Arduaine

PA34 4QX

Scotland

R veitchii

Please help us in whatever way you can.

For MEMBERSHIP enquiries e-mail us at membership@scottishrhodos.co.uk

For GENERAL enquiries e-mail us at enquiries@scottishrhodos.co.uk