Benmore Botanic Garden: The Giant Redwood Avenue, a Hillside of Rhododendrons & a Victorian Fernery

The avenue of giant redwoods at the entrance to Benmore Botanic Garden, Argyll. — The Giant Redwood Avenue at Benmore — 49 towering sequoias planted in 1863, and one of the great tree spectacles in Britain.

Overview — the honest take

Benmore Botanic Garden is one of the finest gardens in Scotland, tucked into a dramatic mountain valley in Cowal, just north of Dunoon. It’s a Regional Garden of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, spread over 120 acres of hillside, and it opens with a jaw-dropping flourish: an avenue of giant redwoods so tall you have to lean back to see the tops. Add a world-class rhododendron collection, a restored Victorian fernery, plant collections gathered from the mountain forests of the world, and paths climbing to a viewpoint over the glen — and it’s an easy garden to fall for, whatever the weather. And right across the road is the Puck’s Glen fairy-gorge, so you can happily make a full day of it.

Where it is

Benmore sits in the Eachaig valley about 7 miles north of Dunoon, in the Argyll Forest Park on the Cowal peninsula. It’s reached by the ferry from Gourock to Dunoon and a short drive up the A815, or round the long way by Loch Lomond and Loch Long. The entrance and car park are right on the main road, with Puck’s Glen just opposite.

The Giant Redwood Avenue

The huge fibrous red trunk of a giant sequoia at Benmore. — Up close — the soft, fibrous red bark of a giant sequoia.

You walk into Benmore between the giant redwoods, and it’s a moment you don’t forget. The avenue of 49 Sierra redwoods (Sequoiadendron giganteum) was planted in 1863, and the trees now soar to around 50 metres — among the tallest and most impressive of their kind in Britain. Their trunks are enormous and their bark is warm, soft and rust-red; stand at the bottom and look up and the whole avenue closes over you like a cathedral nave. It’s worth doing slowly, both ways.

A tall conifer with twisting trunk in the woodland at Benmore. — Champion conifers from around the world grow all through the garden.

The rhododendrons & the world’s mountain plants

A large flowering rhododendron at Benmore Botanic Garden. — Benmore holds one of the great rhododendron collections in the country.

Benmore’s cool, wet Argyll climate suits plants from the world’s mountain forests, and the garden is famous for its rhododendrons — more than 300 species, blazing across the hillside in spring and early summer. The plantings are arranged by region, so a walk here takes you from a Chilean rainforest glade to Bhutanese and Himalayan hillsides and stands of Japanese and Tasmanian trees, all in one garden.

A carpet of fallen red rhododendron petals on the ground at Benmore. — Even the fallen blossom is a show — a carpet of colour underfoot.

The unfurling crozier of a tree fern at Benmore. — A tree fern unfurling — the garden loves the mild, damp air.

The fernery & the formal garden

Lush foliage and hills in the garden valley at Benmore. — The garden fills the whole valley, backed by the Argyll hills.

Tucked into the hillside is Benmore’s restored Victorian Fernery — a rare survivor, painstakingly brought back to life, dripping with ferns in a grotto of rock and glass. Lower down, formal borders, ponds and lawns give the garden its gentler, cultivated heart, with Japanese maples flaring red and gold and big-leaved gunnera by the water.

Japanese maples and pond in the formal part of Benmore garden. — Acers and water in the formal garden.

A flower border below tall trees at Benmore. — Colour in the borders below the great trees.

The history — and the Golden Gates

A tall stone pyramid memorial among the trees at Benmore. — A stone memorial stands among the trees — a monument to the garden’s makers.

Benmore owes its grandeur to Victorian ambition. The redwood avenue and much of the planting were the work of James Duncan, a sugar magnate who owned the estate from 1870 and planted millions of trees across these hills. In 1925 the estate was gifted to the nation by Harry Younger, of the Edinburgh brewing family, and it became part of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Look out for the ornamental Golden Gates — wrought-iron gates said to have come from a great Victorian exhibition — and the stone memorials that dot the grounds.

The hilltop viewpoint

Mossy woodland paths climbing the hill at Benmore. — Paths climb through mossy woodland to a viewpoint over the glen.

For those with the legs, paths climb from the garden up through the trees to a viewpoint looking back down over the whole valley, the river and the surrounding Argyll mountains. It’s a proper little walk with a real reward at the top, and it turns a garden visit into a half-day out.

Visiting

Benmore is run by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, with paid entry, a café and a shop, and is generally open March to October (check current times and prices with RBGE before you travel, as the garden closes for winter). Allow at least a couple of hours — more if you climb to the viewpoint or cross the road to Puck’s Glen.

Nearby

Puck’s Glen — the breathtaking fairy-gorge walk directly across the road; do the two together.
Dunoon & Cowal — the seaside town and peninsula just to the south, a ferry-hop from Glasgow.
Tighnabruaich & the Kyles of Bute — Cowal’s stunning western shore.

Sources

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh — Benmore (the redwood avenue, rhododendrons, fernery, opening season).
Wikishire on the estate’s history, James Duncan and the 1925 gift.
Everything first-hand is from our own visit to Benmore.