Benmore Gardens 2009

[TC]

The last batch.  These are really for Christina who is taking a Swedish group to the gardens on Monday 4 May. It will give her an idea of what will be in flower and a general view of the terrain

[Christina Fryle]

Thanks a lot, Tom! Now I look forward to our Scotland tour even more!! I really appreciate the views - and I know how hard it is to zoom out and take in the surroundings whe one is set loose with a camera among such a variety of plants. Thank heaven for the digital era with the easy sharing of photos!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Many thanks for another superb show Tom !
The combination of the Maple and the Rhodo is delightfull ... as are so many other pix.
You will have to go back though... I can see a lot more plants still in bud... 

[Paul T]

Wow Tom.  Such a show.  So many nice ones in there to comment on, but I'll just limit myself to the cinnabarinum which is striking by the look of it.  What a great colour combination?

[TC]

We paid a visit to the gardens mainly to see the new fernery which had been opened on 9 September.  I cannot say that I am a fan of ferns as they just look like green leaves to me, but they do have their own charm.  The climb up to the building is rather steep, with some sets of steps about 18" high and no hand rail.  Since an operation on my knee about three months ago, I am not so spry, so it was a bit of a struggle.  However, we made it and had a look round.  When the plants are more established and larger, it should be quite impressive.  We went out of the building to continue the climb up the hill and found that the path was closed for repair.  At this point, I remembered the adage from my mountaineering days " Do not climb up anything that you cannot get down"
I could not get down the path we had come up as my knee could not negotiate the steep steps so we had to go up the washed-out path.  It was quite "hairy" in bits but we made it to the top.  I resolved to be more careful in future.  Autumn was just creeping in to the gardens but it will be about 14 days or more before the colour will really start to show.  I inspected many of the rhododendrons and they seem to be well in bud for next year.  

For some reason a few pictures did not take and have been included in the next post

[TC]

some more pictures

[Giles]

Thankyou for the photographs, Tom.
I have a bit of a thing about ferneries, and knew that the RBGE was raising money for Benmore.
How about a trip to Bute for some photos of Ascog Fernery for all of us forumists? ( )

[David Nicholson]

Nice set of pics Tom, hope the knee continues to improve.

[Paul T]

Tom,

Excellent pics.  I love the fact that the steps and path look like a winding stream down the hillside.  Cool design!

Does anyone know what the tree fern is in Fernery 015?  I love the trunk of it and am wondering what type it is?

Thanks.

[Paddy Tobin]

Great show, Tom, lovely place, great to be able to see it.

Paddy

[TC]

Every one of the ferns has a name tag with a full botanical description but I did not bother to take any details as I did not think that anyone would have been sufficiently interested in ferns.  I just took the pictures because I thought the building was of general interest.  Next visit, I will collect the names !!
All I can say is that they are all temperate varieties and will have to survive the Scottish winter with heating only supplied in any prolonged frost
A couple of more pictures.  One of a different view of the large tree fern, one of the approach to the path and one of a genuine wild plant of Scottish Heather.

[TC]

Some Autumn colour taken last week

 2009 10 17 Benmore Enkianthus copy.jpg
 2009 10 17 Benmore and cotoneasters berries.jpg
 2009 10 17 Benmore and hostas 025 copy.jpg
 2009 10 17 Benmore and Japanese maple 018 copy.jpg
 2009 10 17 Benmore and large sorbus.jpg
 2009 10 17 Benmore and Rowan.jpg
 2009 10 17 Benmore and Sorbus cashmeriana.jpg
 2009 10 17 Benmore Maple leaves and pool.jpg
 River Eachaig.jpg

The fourth picture should read Japanese maple not mapleship As I had photographed some warships returning to the Clyde after a large naval exercise and named my folder Benmore and ships, the heading was transferred to all the pictures.  When I renamed them, I had not noticed the title had not been fully erased.

[TC]

A couple of late/early? flowering rhododendrons

 2009 10 17 Benmore Rh neriflorum
 2009 10 17 Benmore Rh. Yellowhammer

[Maggi Young]

Thanks , Tom, for the autumn "fix"...... how is the knee doing? Not keeping you in, at least!!?! 

[TC]

No, it does not keep me in but curtails my movements somewhat.  The real nuisance is my left eye.  A year ago, I woke up to find I was blind in my right eye.  It was diagnosed as a vein occlusion. The timing was handy as I had a proper excuse to give up the treasurer's post at the Ayr branch without feeling guilty !! After several visits to hospital I had an injection in my eyeball ( this usually gives folk the creeps) and it helped to some extent but cannot cure it.  Then I had my knee arthroscopy two weeks later, so this year has been a bit of a dead loss.  I have had to learn to use my camera with my left eye which takes a bit of doing, and computer work is tiring.  However, there are a lot of people in a worse state than me.
A plus side is that I have more time to play the guitar.