Inverewe Garden

Inverewe Garden
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Inverewe Garden

Located a half-mile (1 km) north of Poolewe in Wester Ross, Inverewe Garden was created from 1862 out of windswept scrubland by Osgood Mackenzie, the son of a Gairloch laird, on his estate surrounding Inverewe House. Its location gave Mackenzie challenging problems, yet its remarkable northerly latitude benefits from a mild climate promoted by the Gulf Stream which bathes Scotland's west coast. Through a process of trial and error, Mackenzie planted trees to give shelter from the salt spray blowing in from the North Atlantic, brought in soil to augment the little which was already there and improved this with seaweed.

This beautiful garden extends to some 20 ha (50 acres) and a network of pathways take the visitor from walled garden to woodland, out onto a promontory in Loch Ewe. The garden includes more than 2500 exotic plant species from around the world. Palm trees and Giant Yuccas grow alongside Agapanthus from South Africa, American Avalanche Lilies, beds of the giant Chatham Island Forget-Me-Not, Chilean Flame Flowers, Chinese Magnolias, Eucalypts from Tasmania, Japanese Hydrangeas, Oleria from New Zealand and Rhododendrons from the Himalayas. Seeds were obtained from plant collectors such as George Forrest (1873 - 1932).

A visitor centre relates the story of the garden, Mackenzie and his estate workers who helped him created the garden.

The garden is now the property of the National Trust for Scotland, having been given to the trust by Mackenzie's daughter in 1952.


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