Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: FrazerHenderson on September 28, 2009, 04:39:21 PM
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Established as a university teaching facility in 1889 the garden moved to its present location in 1960. Since 1987it has been managed by the local authority. There are 7 hectares of grounds comprising large plantings of woods, herbaceous borders, ponds, waterfalls, an extensive rock garden, glass and alpine houses as well as many beds arranged by order and plant family.
The garden is probably,excepting the RBGE gardens, the best botanic garden in Scotland. Paths are well laid out and all plants are properly labelled.
Entry is a mere £2, but for £15 per family per annum one can receive free unlimited entry, lectures, workshops, four news magazines as well as participation in the annual seed distribution! For more details email botanic@standbg.plus.com
The gardens are open May - Sept (1000-1900hrs), October- April (1000-1600hrs). There is a small gallery, limited drinks facilities, toilets and an abundance of seats.
Here's a whistle stop tour starting in the Peace Garden (Herbaceous borders)
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and now moving towards and into the glasshouses
IMG_4345 Bolax glebaria_1.jpg
IMG_4347 Begonia paulensis_1.jpg
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IMG_4354_1.JPG
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IMG_4365 Ophiopogn jaburan Variegatum_1.jpg
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....and now into the Alpine house....
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IMG_4370 Aquilegia chaplinei_1.jpg
IMG_4373 Mimulus bifidus_1.jpg
IMG_4375 Heterotheca villosa_1.jpg
IMG_4377 Celmisia monroi_1.jpg
IMG_4378 Celmisia monroi_1.jpg
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...and some more rock work and planting...
IMG_4380_1.JPG
IMG_4381_1.JPG
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IMG_4383 Carduncellus rhaponticoides (Morocco)_1.jpg
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...and now to South Africa...
IMG_4390 Macowania sorotis (South Africa)_1.jpg
IMG_4430 Lithops hookeri vr elephina_1.jpg
IMG_4432 Lithops karasmontana var karasmontana_1.jpg
IMG_4434 Lithops bromfieldii var mennellii_1.jpg
IMG_4436 Lithops aucampiae var koelemanii_1.jpg
IMG_4438 Crassula ruprestis (South Africa)_1.jpg
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..and now more general plants under glass..
IMG_4396 Sempervivum ciliosum var borisii_1.jpg
IMG_4399 Campanula raineri_1.jpg
IMG_4401 Physoplexis comosa_1................ ??? :-\
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IMG_4405 Sedum retusum_1.jpg
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IMG_4408 Salvia broussonetti (Canary Islands)_1.jpg
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..off now to something more tropical, perhaps...
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IMG_4420 Polystichum setiferum_1.jpg
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...a last look at the glasshouses...
IMG_4441 Aloe sinkitan (Sudan)_1.jpg
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..border flowers and ponds...
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...and now some goodies...
IMG_4412 Primula rusbyi_1.jpg
IMG_4468 Primula capitata ssp mooreana (Sikkim)_1.jpg
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...and now off to explore the rock garden...
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..and more rock garden...
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IMG_4492 Papaver alpinum_1.jpg
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...and trees and limestone pavement...
IMG_4499 Aster diplostephioides_1.jpg
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..just a few more (at last I hear you cry!)
Hope that I've managed to give you an idea of what the gardens are like. If you do have the opportunity I recommend a visit; you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Further details can be obtained from botanic@standbg.plus.com or look up www.st-andrews-botanic.org (http://www.st-andrews-botanic.org)
St. Andrews Botanic Garden
Canongate, St Andrews
Fife KY16 8RT
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IMG_4514 Geranium wlassorianum_1.jpg
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Oh, should have said the pictures were taken on 20 September 2009 (17C) so still some colour at the end of a wet, grey season. Now that's all folks!
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That was a grand visit, Frazer! Thanks 8)
What is 7 hectares as measured in acres, do you know? Ah, I remember, found ready reckoner.... hectares to acres = multiply by 2.47 so Gardenscover 17.29 acres ..... a goodly size, and more than I would care to look after!! 8)
Not sure what the plant in reply 5, image 4401 actually is, but it is not Physoplexis comosa :-\
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A terrific tour of the gardens, Frazer, isn't it amazing what they can grow in spite of the North Sea winds/gales :o Imagine it must be behind walls as I was at school in St Andrews for many years and hadn't a clue there was a Botanical Garden of such diversity there at the university :o Access to such things was pretty well denied anyway ;D
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What a mammoth posting sir ... I shall return to this on a number of occasions and enjoy at my leisure ... many thanks for taking the time and trouble to post (I know just how much preparation is involved).
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Many thanks for your posting Frazer, certainly a garden to put on the "want to visit list", it looks well tended and with all those seats a day could be well spent there.
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Thanks for the tour, Frazer. Have been wanting to visit ever since Stuart Pawley (now seed manager at SRGC I believe) told me that it was not to be missed some 10 years ago. Next time I'm in Edinburgh, I'll be going to St. Andrews instead of the usual visit to the Edinburgh botanics. :)
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Frazer,
This is obviously a wonderful garden - as well as having the selection one would expect in a botanic garden. There are great vistas, beds, planting etc. A great report, many thanks.
I'm puzzled by 4454-1, looks like a window suspended within a glasshouse?
Paddy
edit by Maggi: pic repeated below..... click to enlarge
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A wonderful tour Frazer !!
The whole garden looks magnificent but the rock garden is my favourite (no surprises here !! ;D )
Nice Primulas as well !! Not familiar to me... :-\
Thanks for showing !! :D
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Maggi,
Thank you for moving the photograph to the post above. Do you know what it is? Is that a plant within glass or is it a plant somehow painted on glass, even stained glass?
It's an odd thing.
Paddy
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I've been having a good look at the hanging "thing"...... I think that it is an artwork, hanging in the glass house... possibly ceramic sections, painted with floral parts. I think the uppermost part shows a large Aloe :-\ And the lower section is a representation of tropical plants .... ::)
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Edit by maggi: I have a merged these posts by Matt to the original thread about St. A.B.G
During our week in the East Neuk we also visited St Andrews Botanic Garden. We both agreed that it was the best day out that £2 can buy. It was refreshing to find a garden that felt real, it wasn't overly manicured and the focus is clearly on the plants (like our own garden). Plenty of flower power in the alpine house, including lots of forms of Cyclamen hederifolium and some Cyclamen africanum. There was also plenty of interest outside, with the perennial borders in fine fettle including Echinacea purpurea just at its peak. In other areas autumn had taken hold where the leaves of Prunus contrasted beautifully with Helleborus foetidus. We spent a whole afternoon there, but there'll be plenty more to see on a return visit. Highly recommended!
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St Andrews Botanic Garden
"Come and join old friends and new at this year’s Botanic Bonanza - 8 weeks of talks given by experts on different topics to do with botany , horticulture and ecology. The series begins on Thursday 9 October from 10am - 12pm with John Mitchell from RBGE who will talk on some of his botanical expeditions through the foothills of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan to Tajikistan and Kurgyzstan in spring time. Not to be missed!"
www.st-andrews.ac.uk (http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk) and follow link to Adult Education. (£50.00 for 8 weeks or £8.00 for a single session).
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The last time I went there twenty or so years ago they had a beautiful Atropa belladonna bush unprotected and covered in juicy black berries.
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Matt
Whilst you were at St Andrews we were exploring the majesty of the Outer Hebs, marvelling at escapees of fuchsia, montbretia and gunnera manicata and sitting in the billowing feathers of the guga hunters!
Here's a link to a previous thread on St Andrews botanic gardens http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=4245.0 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=4245.0)
Frazer
eidt by maggi - seemed a good idea to merge the threads, Frazer. ;)
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It sounds as though you enjoyed your trip, Frazer. We certainly do have a small number of feral garden plants that seem to do very well here. A large proportion of our garden is covered by Crocosmia, gloriously colourful for a few weeks of the year and a menace for the rest of the time!
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Whilst you were at St Andrews we were exploring the majesty of the Outer Hebs, marvelling at escapees of fuchsia, montbretia and gunnera manicata and sitting in the billowing feathers of the guga hunters!
Frazer
Frazer, I don't know weather to congratulate you on your astute observation or be depressed that these Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) are so obvious. :(
Outer Hebrides Biological Recording have an ongoing project to record these INNS and create public awareness. More information here: http://www.ohbr.org.uk/INNS/INNS.php (http://www.ohbr.org.uk/INNS/INNS.php)
Chris
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Like Luc has said the gardens are looking lovely, well worth a visit again. I have been quite a few times but not this year so it's nice to have a look at your lovely pictures.
Angie :)
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This short YouTube video (by Paul Carey) features overhead shots of the St Andrews Botanic Garden - made, I imagine, using a camera drone -
St Andrews Botanic Gardens (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhxfaBmuBXE#ws)
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An excellent book by Bob Mitchell about the history of St Andrews Botanic Garden (http://www.st-andrews-botanic.org) has just been published - all proceeds go to the garden
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A book signing and launch will be held on 7th February :
St Andrews Botanic Garden Trust
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7th IS A RED LETTER DAY
Bob Mitchell will be signing copies of his just published book,
THE HISTORY OF 125 YEARS 1889‐2014 Robert John Mitchell
There is a limited number available so don’t miss out on your copy £10.00
10am‐12midday in the Glass Class at the Garden, Canongate, St Andrews, Fife KY16 8RT
Coffee and biscuits