Garden of GARDEN OF theTwHEeWekEEK green leaves are sometimes red

LOGAN BOTANIC GARDEN, PORT LOGAN, DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY

Logan Botanic Garden, on the south-west tip of Scotland, is home to plant treasures from South and Central America, southern Africa and Australasia, all rarely seen in the United Kingdom.

The warming influence of the Gulf Stream helps to create “Scotland’s most exotic garden”. Visitors can walk through groves of eucalyptus and palm trees or stand in the shade of the awesome rhubarb-like gunnera.

Autumn is a wonderful season at Logan. Carpets of Nerine bowdenii produce swathes of pink around the pond and in other areas of the walled garden, while exotic palms such as butia and trachycarpus from all parts of the globe provide a majestic structure. As Logan is almost frost-free, plants continue to bloom and provide colour well into December. Hardy perennials such as argyranthemum, diascia and penstemon provide a painter’s palette of colour around the walled garden. Autumn flowering shrubs such as Schima khasiana provide an abundance of camellia-like white flowers and exotic outdoor pineapples provide ruby-red rosettes throughout autumn.

Aeoniums from the Canary Islands often overwinter at Logan and create an unusual welcome to the garden, as they are grown en masse to produce a stunning display.

The elegant conservatory, the first carbon-free glasshouse of its kind in the UK, provides a succession of autumn colours from a large collection of pelargoniums, stunning proteas and Cape primroses, which have a mass of lavender, trumpet-like flowers.

At this time of year, the conservatory frontage is ablaze with fiery red cannas that create a sub-tropical feel all summer long with its banana-like foliage. It is incredible that this lives outdoors all year round at Logan.

Website: www.rbge.org.uk Tel: 01776 860231

Opening times: 10am to 5pm (4pm in November). Garden closes for winter on 15 November and will reopen on March 1

Admission costs: Adults 6.50, concessions £5.50, under-16s go free

Garden of the Week is in association with Discover Scottish Gardens. For more information, advice and day-out ideas, visit discoverscottishgardens.org

Fading deciduous leaves produce a dazzling display in the autumn