Benmore Botanic Garden

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United Kingdom - Argyll, Scotland - Benmore

Institution Code: E

BGCI Member: Yes

Giant Redwood Avenue at Benmore Botanic Garden
Giant Redwood Avenue at Benmore Botanic Garden

About the Benmore Botanic Garden

One of the National Botanic Gardens of Scotland. A specialist (satellite) Garden of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE).


This is a woodland garden which benefits from the Gulf Stream, so the climate here is damp and humid. Its highest point lies at the top of Benmore Hill, at 137 m (450 ft). More than 650 species, subspecies and hybrids of rhododendron can be found here, as well as a vast range of conifers.

Main Address:
Benmore Botanic Garden
Benmore
Argyll, Scotland PA23 8QU United Kingdom

Telephone: 01369 706261
Fax: 01369 706369
URL: http://www.rbge.org.uk
Primary Email: benmore@rbge.org.uk

Staff Details

  • Director's Name: Simon Milne
    Curator's Name: Peter Baxter
    Plant Records Officer's Name: Robert Cubey
  • Total Staff:
    Horticultural Staff Number: 11
    Educational Staff Number:
    Research Staff Number:
    Administration Staff Number:

About the Garden

  • Institution Type: Botanic Garden
  • Status
  • Status: Private: No
    Status: State: Yes
    Status: Educational: Yes
    Status: Municipal: No
    Status: Satellite: Yes
  • Date founded: 1850
  • Physical Data
  • Total Area: 49 Hectares
    Latitude: 56.028266
    Longitude: -4.983936
    Annual Rainfall: 2000 mm
    Altitude: 15.00 Metres
  • Additional Locations
  • Satellite Garden Names: This garden is a Specialist (Satellite) Garden of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Features and Facilities

  • Herbarium: No
  • Micropropagation/ Tissue Culture Facilities: No
    Seed Bank: No
    Published Plant Catalogue: Yes
    Computer Plant Record System: Yes
  • Open to public: Yes
    Friends society: Yes
    Retail Outlet: Shop: Yes
    Retail Outlet: Plant Sales: Yes
    Disabled access: Yes
  • Number of Visitors: 33054

Plant Collections

  • Accession Number: 5015
    Cultivation Taxa Num: 2404
  • Special Collections:Rhododendrons


    Plant-hunter George Forrest undertook seven major expeditions to western China between 1904 and 1932, and these yielded more than 30 000 specimens and 10 000 seed samples. RBGE desperately wanted to have a west coast site better suited to the cultivation of these new plants. In 1929 the policies around Benmore were given to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

  • Invasive Species Monitoring: Yes
    Invasive Species Policy: Yes
    ABS Policy: Yes
    Plant Collection Policy: Yes

Conservation Programmes

  • Conservation Programme: Yes
    Medicinal Plant Programme: No
    Ex Situ Conservation Programme: Yes
    Reintroduction Programme: No

Research Programmes

  • Conservation - Biology: Yes
    Horticulture: Yes

Education Programmes

  • Visitor/Education Centre: Yes
    Education Signs in Garden: Yes
    Public Lectures/Talks: Yes
    Education Booklets/Leaflets: Yes
    Guided Tours: Yes
    Permanent Public Displays: Yes
    Special Exhibitions: Yes
    Courses for General Public: Yes
    Education Programme: Yes