Garden of the week

BRANKLYN GARDEN, NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND, PERTH, PH2 7BB

Branklyn Garden was created by John and Dorothy Renton in the 1920s in the grounds of their home. Forty years later, in a labour of love, they had created what one expert described as “the finest two acres of private garden in the country”. More than 3,500 species from all over the world now flourish here, nearly half of them direct descendants of the Rentons’ own plants.

Today, Branklyn is owned and maintained by the National Trust for Scotland, having been passed on in 1968, but still retains the feel of an intimate, personal garden. The responsibility of the current team of gardeners, led by Jim Jermyn, is to maintain the legacy of the Rentons, whilst ensuring the garden and its extensive collection of rare plants remains current in the 21st century.

Visitors to the garden can be treated to a feast of varied plant species from February through to October. The garden officially opens to the public in April, however there are more than 150 snowdrop cultivars which visitors can enjoy during snowdrop weekends in February. Spring launches into a display of erythroniums and then a mass of early flowering rhododendrons and trilliums, whilst the giant lily, Cardiocrinum giganteum, entrances visitors during the summer.

Dorothy Renton built up a great relationship with the Himalayan plant collectors, including Ludlow and Sherriff, Euan Cox, Kingdon-Ward and Joseph Rock, and as a result, the garden contains many of their seed introductions, from trees and shrubs, to the famous Meconopsis.

The rock garden and alpine plants are important features in the garden and work is currently being carried out to restore each of the three rock gardens, as well as the splendid Westmorland limestone rock garden.

WEBSITE: nts.org.uk/BranklynGarden

TELEPHONE: 01738 625535

OPENING TIMES: Daily 10am-5pm (April to October 31). Tea-room open 11am-4pm

ADMISSION COSTS: NTS members free of charge, Adults £6.50, Concessions £5, Family ticket £16.50