BENMORE BOTANIC GARDEN

Benmore Botanic Garden is one of the four gardens of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. It is situated in the Cowal peninsula at the southern edge of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. This magnificent mountainside setting offers splendid views to the south towards Holy Loch. The garden features an avenue of 150-year-old giant redwoods more than 164ft (50m) in height. An ornamental pond is overhung by a beautiful Japanese katsura tree, Cercidophyllum japonicum, and a Chilean rainforest boasts fitzroya, araucaria and embothrium. There is also a Bhutan glade and rich collections of rhododendron in their full glory from March until June. It is open daily from 1 March to 31 October, from 10am-5pm in March and October and 10am-6pm May to September. The fernery opens at 11am and closes one hour before the gardens.