22 Summer 2008
"The Garden houses one of the most comprehensive and
up-to-date libraries on botany and horticulture in the UK,"
adds Pete. "Furthermore, the herbarium contains preserved
specimens that are sometimes even more valuable than living
ones, especially when the plants described are extinct. Some
of the herbarium sheets are also of tremendous historic value.
For instance I have come across the sheets brought in by
Captain Cook's men following their Pacific expedition."
Pete Brownless maintains that the three not-to-be-missed
highlights of The Botanics are, "The Glasshouses, the Rock
Garden and the vast tree collection spread all over the
grounds."
The Glasshouse experience represents a journey through
ten different climatic zones of the world, ranging from
steamy rainforest environments to arid deserts, and which
eventually culminates in the historic Palm Houses. The
glasshouse structure consists of an external metal framework
that maximizes light and internal space for plants to grow.
Specimens worth viewing include the Amazonian water lily,
whose enormous, tray-like floating leaves are the largest in
the world, the ferns which have a very `Jurassic' feel about
them although they evolved much earlier, the camphor tree
that at 16 metres is the tallest tree under glass at The Botanics,
and the cacti and succulents, that growing in Scotland, appear
very surreal.
The Rock Garden consists of a scree (weathered rock
fragments) slope surrounded by mounds and gullies, and
through which a winding mountain stream flows. Growing
within are around 5000 plants from mountainous, Arctic and
rocky Mediterranean habitats. Of special interest is the wide
range of alpine plants that often are found growing on the
scree, which recreates the sloping heaps of rock fragments
that accumulate on mountainsides. The centrepiece of the
Rock Garden is an imposing oriental temple juniper that
competes for prominence with the mountain stream whose
waters gurgle downhill between banks that are ornamented
with a vast assortment of shrubs.
One of the latest additions to The Botanics is the Queen
Mother's Memorial Garden. This secluded garden has
a labyrinthine centrepiece in the shape of an `E'. It has
been extensively planted with species of royal name and
association like Queen Elizabeth roses and Amber Queen
irises. At the edges, four smaller gardens represent the
world regions visited by the Queen Mother -- Asia, Europe,
The mountain stream in the rock garden, with the imposing oriental temple juniper tree just beyond.

Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12Page 13Page 14Page 15Page 16Page 17Page 18Page 19Page 20Page 21Page 22Page 23Page 24Page 25Page 26Page 27Page 28Page 29Page 30Page 31Page 32Page 33Page 34Page 35Page 36Page 37Page 38Page 39Page 40Page 41Page 42Page 43Page 44Page 45Page 46Page 47Page 48Page 49Page 50Page 51Page 52 Produced by PageSuite