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Auchgourish Botanic Garden |
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Scotland’s Millennium Botanic Garden |
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Setting
The creation of the gardens at Auchgourish [pronounced “och – gow – rish] began in 1994 with the growing of numerous different plant species from seed initially in a small nursery in the nearby village of Boat of Garten. This seed, like most of all the seed the being sown each year, has been and will mostly continue to be, sourced from botanists working in often remote areas of Europe, Asia, and North America.
The actual area of the gardens is around 4 hectares or 10 acres set within former commercial forestry plantation planted in 1978. |
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History & Background of Gardens |
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Subsequently in 1996, following the timber harvesting operations in what was then a commercial conifer crop comprising mostly of non native Lodgepole Pine – Pinus contorta var. latifolia. However, retaining all the small groups and individual trees of the native Caledonian Scots Pine – Pinus sylvestris var. scotica along with a few Silver Birches—Betula pendula and Downy Birches - Betula pubescens var. scotica. For the short to medium term there are remains of the former commercial crop which have be retained as shelter. This is especially vital during the winter and spring. This will remain until the newly planted native Scots Pine trees that are progressively planted each year, are large enough to take over that role.
Work then began on planning where each regional plant groups would be positioned and with limited use of excavators then implemented. The design of the garden utilises and incorporates the routes created to extract the harvested timber as the principle avenues. Also at this time part of the ground which is sheltered by the retained trees, was cleared and levelled in order to erect the nursery poly tunnel, in which most plants would subsequently be grown.
View Looking down to Ponds and Bridge under construction
View Looking into the Gardens from the Car Park
Environmental Location & Influences
Auchgourish Botanic Gardens is the most northerly Botanic Garden in the British Isles at 57° degrees 15’ minutes north, 3° degrees 45’ minutes west, we share similar same latitude as Moscow, Novosibirsk, Kamtchatka and even Churchill in central Hudson's Bay in Canada where Polar Bears play on the council rubbish dump. We may receive some beneficial effect from the Gulf Stream, but bear in mind that we are located in the Central Highlands just as far from the ocean in any direction as you can get in Scotland. We are at c.700 feet or 230 meters above sea level in the shadow of Cairngorm Mountain. This isn't much altitude when compared to the Swiss Alps, but it is an important factor which means that this Botanic Garden has the shortest growing season in the British Isles and where we have Narcisus species and Tulip species in full flower during the first half of June and this does come as a shock to our many Dutch visitors. For those familiar with the United States Department of Agriculture Hardiness Zone system, we sit climatically somewhere close to Zone 6, however this is not strictly analogous owing to the European Weather patterns and our more northerly latitude.
We can experience severe winters with temperatures going as low as - 25°C and temperatures of -10°C to -15°C and -18°C which can often last for up to a week at a time. Throughout the year there is an ever present risk of frost which has to be taken into consideration. Examples of such events include the first year the gardens were open to the public in 2001 we experienced -18°C during the night of the 31st March. More recently in June 2007 we experienced 4 frosts, the lowest temperature being -4°C on the 19th of June which seriously damaged our flowering species in particular our lily collection. Maximum temperatures rarely exceed 30°C, and are more often ranging between 15°C and 25°C
Work commenced in clearing much of the forest crop in 1995-96 but the areas of Pine and Birch forest were retained and managed as such in order to provide vital protection from the mainly prevailing south westerly winds, the gardens can also experiences bitter north easterly winds in late winter and early spring. The wind chill factor and its potential for damaging plants is quite considerable especially to those species from a more southerly distribution which have been encouraged into premature growth.
When work started to clear the forest into which the gardens and associated nursery were developed, the soil was discovered to be derived from glaciated granites and free draining pure sand and gravel which was devoid of any humus and totally lacking in earth worms. The pH of the soil at Auchgourish is within the range of 4.5 and 5.0 which is very acidic. With considerable effort the soils humus and fertility has been improved with the application of cow manure (from our highland cows), horse manure and leaf mould, which has been generously given by the villagers and farmers of Boat of Garten. With the on going introduction of this material the presence of earth worms has been established.
Environmental Impact of Garden Development
Before any work commenced in developing the gardens initially through the clear felling of a lot of timber, an Environmental Impact Assessment was carried out for our own interest. This revealed that there were at that time only four species of birds breeding on the land, in more recent times the tally as of spring and summer 2008 gratifyingly shows seventeen species now. The herb layer, comprising of re-colonising native plant species, has become highly diverse with the result that the Gardens and immediately surrounding forest are now home to an increasing number of the larger mammal species, including the very rare Scottish Wild Cats – Felis sylvestris var. scotica and the Badgers – Melis melis who have colonised the gardens. Now we have both worms and cow pats with beetles for food for the badgers, whose cubs play havoc with plant labels chasing each other playing tag with them and often breaking the temporary plastic labels. We also have Red Foxes – Vulpes vulpes who regularly hunt through the gardens and lastly the shy and quite rare Pine Martens – Martes martes. The animals most visitors are anxious to see and quite often do is the Red Squirrel – Scurius vulgaris, a resident breeder and entertaining acrobat at the various feeding stations.
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Contact is easiest either by use of email or mobile phone, the land line is not permanently manned, we are out and about in the fresh air! Land Line phone: 01479 831 464; Mobile phone: 07746 122775; Fax: 01479 831 672 |