Logan Botanical Gardens

Hi all,
In this post I will carry on with our tour of Scotland. We are still in Dumfries and Galloway and staying on the Isle of Whithorn. I have already described how this area is rich in gardens and today we will continue with that theme and visit Logan Botanical Gardens.

Logan Botanical Gardens are in a lovely situation towards the southern end of the Rhinns of Galloway. If you look at a map of Scotland, it's in the extreme left hand corner and looks like the head of hammer. It took quite a while to drive to Logan Botanical Gardens from our base on the Isle of Whithorn, but that didn't matter because the scenery is so good and the miles just fly by. The journey might also have been quicker if we haden't stopped to walk our dog along the deserted beach at Sandhead and then take a stroll around Ardwell House Gardens.

By the time we got to the gardens at Logan we were both ready for something to eat and hoped for a reasonable cafe. We should have worried not a jot because there was a lovely little restaurant; the food was excellent and equalled by the ambiance of the conservatory we dined in.

Having satisfied our need for refreshment, we set about the garden and enjoyed it very much. Logan was very different from Ardwell. Ardwell's charm comes from the fact that its beauty is born out of a natural look. Nature was responsible for the delight of Ardwell, although I suspect that it is given an unseen helping hand by somebody clever. Logan's beauty on the other hand comes from the other end of the spectrum where nature is tamed. For the most part this garden is kept in immaculate condition, every plant is perfect and one suspects that each plant is also in the perfect place.

One is left with the feeling that those who are attending to the needs of Logan Botanical Gardens are not just gardeners, but highly skilled, horticultural engineers. The other thing about Logan is that it's full of plants that are different and not normally seen in other gardens in Scotland, well at least not on the same scale.
Have a look at the gunnera in the photo on the right and you will see what I mean. And I am sure you've already noticed the photo at the top of this post; it could have been taken somewhere tropical, but it wasn't, this is Scotland.

The exotic nature of the plants the garden contains is helped by the conditions. The area is close to the coast, so it rarely sees frost, and it is bathed by a warm air current that comes up from the southern Atlantic.

We enjoyed our trip around Logan Botanical Gardens and I'm sure the memory will stay with us forever. Here's just a reminder if you would like to see more photographs or take a look at some of out paintings please visit our website. Click here In my next Scotland post we'll have a little change from gardens to what else we found in Dumfries and Galloway to satisfy our need for entertainment.