The Mountain Garden at CairnGorm in the Scottish Highlands

[Maggi Young]

The Mountain Garden at CairnGorm


This garden at 650m above sea level is located just above the Base Station at the Coire Cas car park. It is home to some of the rarest plant species in the UK and showcases the plants found in the surrounding mountains and to see similar habitats you would have to travel over two thousand miles north to Arctic Norway.
The garden is open daily and free of charge.

Jonny Porteous the gardener will be pleased to meet any SRGC visitors.

 Follow this link to learn more....
http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/see-do/mountain-garden

[Jonny Porteous]

Hi Folks

Here are some photos from the garden so far this year!

JP

Starry Saxifrage
Scottish Bog Asphodel
Water avens before and after
Dwarf Cornel.

[Ragged Robin]

This Mountain Garden at Cairngorm sounds a very special place and the Macro photos you posted are stunning Jonny - who could resist a smile seeing the Starry Saxifrage?  

[Stephenb]

Look forward to seeing more having spent many weekends working on an RSPB reserve nearby (Insh Marshes).

Re- your Scottish Bog Asphodel - is this a special white flowered form of Bog Asphodel?

[Maggi Young]

Lovely pictures, Jonny.... I have re sized them to 760 pixels wide to make them more viewer friendly!

[Maggi Young]

Here are the Latin names for the plants Jonny showed us...
Saxifraga stellaris- the Starry saxifrage

Geum rivale - the Water Avens 

Jonny's fourth photo is Cornus suecica -the Dwarf Cornel

Jonny calls  his third photo the "Scottish bog asphodel"  but it is more correctly Tofieldia pusilla, the  'Scottish Asphodel'

 The 'Bog Asphodel' is the gorgeous yellow Narthecium ossifragum ... see the photo below, from Stephenb in another thread of the forum. 

[Jonny Porteous]

Aye Scottish Asphodel not Scottish Bog Asphodel!

The sun must have been getting to me today!

JP

[Maggi Young]

The sun must have been getting to me today!

JP

It's been nice here too.... lovely warm sunny day.... wondered why we were getting this summer treat, then remembered the children have returned to school, so of course the weather's good 

[cohan]

interesting place! i'm fascinated to read that the treeline is so low (up to several hundred metres lower than me! and i am far from the treeline, even here in the frigid north)--i guess that's due to exposure?

lots of nice plants in the flickr album-- the colour of 'FOX -AND- CUBS' is wonderful-- what is this,a hieracium or similar?

[Maggi Young]

lots of nice plants in the flickr album-- the colour of 'FOX -AND- CUBS' is wonderful-- what is this,a hieracium or similar?

I didn't know the common name of this plant... which is widely naturalised through the UK, having been introduced in the 17th century, I believe.
Super pic, as you say, cohan.... it is  Hieracium aurantiacum, also known as  Pilosella aurantiaca

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cairngormmountain/3674058909/in/set-72157615885916409/

[cohan]

and very aurantiacum it is! great colour! thanks for the details, maggi!

[Jonny Porteous]

Credit to Ruari MacDonald for the photos on Flickr, he is one of the rangers up here at the mountain.

[Maggi Young]

 Hi, Jonny, thanks for giving us the "gen" on Ruari .... please pass our thanks to him for the photos 

[Ragged Robin]

Yes, I agree with Maggi, the photos are terrific and very clear images of plants growing in this Mountain Garden.....lovely to see Cloudberry and Cowberry amongst them and the frog Lichen is fascinating and amusing  .  Thanks to Ruari - btw good to see dry stone walling in progress!

[rangerruari]

thanks for all the comments regarding the photos
ruari