Array of Colours in Argyll

I wouldn’t say I was a fan of pink. Hot pink that is, not the delicious baby pink, as hot pink is a bit Barbie. But what an eye-catching colour it is.

The vibrant array of colours displayed on the shrubs and bushes in bloom throughout gardens around here are amazing dollops of deep pink, rose red, Boxer dog orange and shadings of Purple Rain.   

I keep pointing out the wonderful colours as John and I drive past them and I badger him to stop the car – so that I can nip out and take photographs. (Without being a hazard to fellow drivers of course!)  

However, just admiring colours is the easy bit of horticulture; what are these shrubs called? 

Being of the non-gardening type, who knows?  If my dad was here, he would know. He would have loved this part of the world for its varied and interesting flora.  And he would have be taking plant cuttings left, right and centre. 

So, I refer to his copy of The Royal Horticultural Society’s Encyclopaedia of Plants & Flowers to read up on shrubs.  But like using a dictionary- which doesn’t help if you can’t spell the word – how do you know what the shrub is in an encyclopaedia of everything?  OK, so you look at the pictures.  I look at all the photographs of wonderfully coloured flowers and shrubs.   

Plus, I do a bit of plant research with a quick trip to Crarae Gardens, the National Trust for Scotland’s Himalayan- style garden woodland, just down the road from us, which is crammed with exotic shrubs and trees and countless rhododendrons and azaleas.  Botanically, both are classified as rhododendrons – don’t you know?  And, as it turns out these are the plants with their masses of colourful blooms produced in late spring that feature in many gardens throughout Mid-Argyll. 

So, wait no longer and come and see mid-Argyll’s beautiful displays of colour courtesy of local gardeners who know their Purple Splendour, Pink Pearl or Grace Seabrook rhododendrons from their Blue Danube, Blaauw’s Pink and Gibraltar azaleas.  Or better still enjoy a break with us at Powdermills Bed and Breakfast near Inveraray and enjoy our stunning Argyll gardens.

And feel free to ask me anything if it is in my encyclopaedia. Do people still use encyclopaedias?  I’ll look it up.