Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh...

...to give it its full name.  And why not!


Marvellous.  We entered via the East Gate entrance on Inverleith Row after a 10 minute walk from Princes Street into an extremely verdant setting, probably made more so because of the heavy skies, of course.  One of the first plants you see after a few specimen trees are some large Gunneras thriving in the damp conditions.  At Hadlow there are some by the pond and they do quite well but these as you can see from the photo are in a border by a path and not a hint of them wilting in the blazing sunshine.

 Gunneras 

Cirsium purpuratum

 Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

 Ferns beside the John Hope Gateway

 A little bit of Japan in Edinburgh

 Dahlias

 Long borders near the Glasshouse

More Dahlias

As you walk through what is essentially an arboretum you come to a newish building called the John Hope Gateway which is a visitor centre and restaurant.  Outside there are some Piet Oudolf style beds that you can walk partially through with grasses and herbaceous perennials that were looking pretty good in August even though the weather was doing its best to put them off.  Beside the perennials are some ferns and further into the middle of the Gardens tucked away is a Japanese Garden.