Brodick’s blooming rhododendrons on full display
Brodick Castle garden and country park will join the many gardens and estates across the country observing the two-month long celebration of the beautiful and diverse world of the rhododendron.
The Scottish Rhododendron Festival, now in its fourth year, takes place from the start of April to the end of May and consists of more than 90 events nationwide. The rhododendron collection at Brodick Castle is known throughout the world and many examples have been internationally recognised, one hybrid in particular – known as Fortune and which has huge yellow flowers – has won the Best Hybrid in Show for the last two years at the Scottish Rhododendron Society’s annual show.
Owing to historic plant hunters, sponsored in part by the family at Brodick Castle, the gardens have a huge variety of rhododendrons, particularly at the Lower Rhododendron Walk which attracts visitors and aficionados from the world over.
The annual festival, which launched in 2015, is organised by national garden tourism group Discover Scottish Gardens, supported by VisitScotland, Glorious Gardens of Argyll & Bute and Scotland’s Gardens Scheme which has organised open days at private gardens across the country to raise money for a selection of nominated charities.
The festival aims to encourage local audiences and tourists to enjoy the wonders of Scotland’s gardens during the rhododendron flowering period and highlight the diversity and plethora of rhododendron collections that can be found in Scotland.
David Knott, curator at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, said: ‘Rhododendrons provide fantastic displays in many Scottish gardens. They range in height from large treelike plants, to dwarf alpine shrubs, and depending on the weather there will be rhododendrons in flower from February right through to August.’