Galloway’s Logan Botanic Gardens proves an irresistible day out for Polly Pullar
Polly Pullar is in Galloway to learn what makes Logan Botanic Garden so special.
DURING my visits to the annual Wigtown Book Festival, I meet some fantastic people, among them Richard Baines.
“I have been Curator of Logan Botanic Garden since 2007. The sub-tropical nature of Logan means that plants from many exotic countries thrive here.
“One of our aims is plant conservation, and my passion is being a modernday plant hunter with a particular interest in rhododendrons and magnolias,” he explains.
“I have participated in four expeditions in the last six years to Vietnam and China, where growing conditions are surprisingly similar to those at Logan.
“Plant hunting in the wild jungle is not for the fainthearted, due to venomous snakes, unpredictable weather and dangerously steep terrain.
“However, the amazement and joy at discovering a new plant species cannot be beaten and is the highlight of my life!
“The seed we bring back can eventually be planted at Logan and assists in conserving critically endangered species as well as discovering species new to science. At home, I have a ten-acre garden full of rhododendrons and camellias.”
Richard’s event last year at Wigtown revealed much about Scotland’s most exotic garden as well as about his forthcoming book on plant hunting.
His highly anticipated expeditions with fellow plant hunters from various horticultural organisations across the UK come only after long months of planning.
Making travel arrangements, and contacting government agencies to obtain permission, special licences and guides for each country they are visiting, are arduous tasks.
And once their mission has been accomplished and the seed has been collected – often involving long treks through pathless terrain
– it will have to be quarantined in specialist glasshouses at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden.
It’s a painstaking process, but one that Richard relishes.
His effervescent enthusiasm and humour, particularly relating to some of their mishaps, as well as the beautiful descriptions of Logan, result two days later in me driving along the rugged Wigtownshire coastline, heading for the gardens, 13 miles south of Stranraer on the Mull of Galloway.
I’m not sure what to expect as I travel up the long driveway through an avenue of palm trees.
Exotic is what I find. Beef cattle and fat sheep graze beside the fence, giving the only indication that this is in the heart of farming country and not some far-flung land.
But I feel as if I’m entering another world altogether.
The warmth of the Gulf Stream regularly massages this windswept part of deepest Galloway.
This is why you will find such exotica nestling in this horticultural haven.
And whether you are a garden expert, knowledgeable in rare plants or someone who loves nature and gardens as I do, you cannot fail to be enchanted, enthralled and intoxicated.
Here, the treasures you discover include those from South and Central America, Australasia and Vietnam; a wealth of rare and nonhardy flowers, shrubs and trees.
The result is a taste of paradise and inexplicable peace that envelops you immediately.
There has been a garden here now since the early 1800s, but it is a far cry from the original walled garden that would once have provided produce for the family at Logan House.
Farther back, the McDouall family built
Castle Balzieland which almost entirely burned down in the 1500s.
Today only one ancient cornice remains at the back of the garden wall.
Its lichen-covered stonework is colonised by plants and creepers, and echoes with the chakking cries of jackdaws, for this is the perfect spot to find a nesting crevice.
Nature is integral to the ethos of this garden, Richard explains as he takes me for a tour.
“We put up nest boxes, make bug hotels and leave areas wild to encourage wildlife.
“We make sure, if
birds are nesting near pathways, visitors won’t disturb them.”
In 1869 Agnes BuchanHepburn married the laird, James McDouall, and thus began the garden’s metamorphosis when exotic flowers, trees and shrubs, garnered from around the world by the plant hunters of the era, began to transform Logan.
Realising that the gentle climate gave them endless scope, Agnes’s two sons, who were equally passionate about horticulture, also travelled in search of plants.
They brought back tree ferns and palm trees.
Perhaps it is this lush greenery above all else, here amid the vibrant pinks, reds and purples of late-flowering species, that defines Logan’s extraordinary atmosphere.
By 1949 the gardens were no longer in the McDouall family, but restoration work began to renew their legacy.
A trust ran the estate before it was given to the nation in 1969.
Appropriately, both Logan House and its magnificent gardens were then purchased by the McDoualls’ cousin, Sir Ninian Buchan-Hepburn.
However, the walled garden and the surrounding 24 acres of protective woodland was passed to Edinburgh Royal
Botanic Garden (RBGE), which has cared for it for the past half-century.
It is a jewel in RBGE’s portfolio, a horticultural gem in Scotland’s crown.
Today, Logan covers 11 acres, excluding the surrounding woodland that helps to guard it against the rigours of salt-laden gales.
It has an excellent place to eat – the Potting Shed Bistro, where the staff take pride in providing delicious, locally sourced food and
Fair Trade products.
There is a small shop and a Discovery Centre which houses exhibitions and also reveals the story of many of the plants, the people and the work involved in making Logan unique.
In 2014 a beautiful Victorian-style conservatory was added.
In the true ethos of this place, where recycling and care of the natural environment are of paramount importance, heating for the rare, tender plants within is provided by PV solar panels and airsource heat pumps.
“We pride ourselves on our recycling, and we are the first garden in the country to provide electric vehicle-charging facilities in our car park,” Richard tells me proudly.
A large fishpond fringed with glorious plants and part-covered in lily pads brims with friendly giantsized goldfish and Koi carp.
They swim over to commune with the visitors and clearly enjoy the attention.
Their mesmerising movements bring further calm and intrigue to this magical environment.
Eucalyptus trees frame the scene as a robin follows us, serenading us with its plaintive autumnal song, and a blackbird pulls worms out of the sward.
Distant storm clouds darken the horizon like ink spreading over blotting paper.
Still, sunlight dominates and backlights the tall feathery grasses in a jungle of giant gunneras – a forest of green where secret paths lead into the unknown.
“This is Loganasaurus Rex!” Richard laughs as we pass an imposing life-size model of Tyrannosaurus Rex, brilliantly constructed by one of the nation’s finest willow sculptors, Trevor Leat.
“Successful gardens are based around creativity, innovation and long-term vision.
“The dinosaur should feel very much at home here, located amongst giant tree ferns that would have been growing during the Jurassic period.
“It is a fun addition, especially for kids, part of our fiftieth-anniversary celebrations.”
Since Richard became curator he has always been keen to work with schools, as well as budding horticulturists, and to make Logan accessible to everyone.
So much to see and take in. Most of all, Logan is a peaceful garden that affects the soul.
It’s little wonder this haven on the far southernmost tip of Scotland has been the recipient of many awards.
In Richard Baines it has found a caretaker with a passion and dedication to ensure Logan, as part of the RBGE, is fulfilling a critical role in saving some of the world’s most precious plants.
We are currently required to avoid all unnecessary travel. Keep this destination in mind for when restrictions are lifted.