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Branklyn Garden is a small garden not far from the city centre of Perth, Scotland, UK. It currently belongs to the National Trust for Scotland and is open to visitors from March till October. Despite covering less than 2 acres of ground, it contains several thousands of plants, many of them unique. Many of these come from the Sino-Himalayan region, collected by famous plant hunters in the first half of the last century. The garden is also rare for its use of peat walls.

History[edit]

The garden was created in 1922 by Dorothy and John Renton. They bought a small part of an old orchard and built their house there. The garden was originally planned as a small sheltering garden for the house but as the Rentons' passion for gardening grew, so did the garden. Although neither of them was a professional gardener, Dorothy had had a keen interest in botany since childhood and it is often said that she was the real gardener, while John helped with the design.
During their lives, the Rentons made many friends in the botanical world and exchanged seeds and plants with them. The most important seeds came from expeditions to Tibet, Bhutan and China undertaken by plant hunters Joseph Rock, George Forrest, and Frank Ludlow and George Sherriff among others.
Dorothy Renton died in 1966 and John followed her a year later, in 1967. Before his death, he bequeathed the garden to the NTS.

Garden[edit]

The design of the garden is informal; the numerous paths winding through it make it seem bigger than it is but also more personal and intimate.
Among the main features are: the rock garden where Dorothy grew many rare alpines and bulbous plants, the bog and pond area, and the peat walls which were pioneered in this garden and used for growing dwarf rhododendrons, primulas, meconopsis and many others. Since the use of peat is limited today due to environmental concerns, Branklyn is a historical rarity in this aspect.

Branklyn garden also holds four national plant collections under the NCCPG National plant collection scheme:
Cassiope
Lilium
Rhododendron
Meconopsis

External Links[edit]

The official NTS page for Branklyn Garden
Historic Scotland Inventory of Gardens