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ARDKINGLAS WOODLAND GARDEN & PRIVATE HOUSE GARDEN, FESTIVAL OF RHODODENDRONS 2020
1st April - 31st May | Daylight hours
The Variety of Species, colour and smell of the rhododendrons at Ardkinglas at this time of year attracts the specialist and the wanderer. Rhododendrons have been grown here for a number of years and include some unusual and historic plants especially a collection of red rhododendron hybrids raised by Lord Glenkinglas. Also on the Bodnant Bank are plants which originated from Bodnant Garden in North Wales. Along with the rhododendrons take time to view the champion trees and give the “mightiest conifer in Britain” a hug. See also the Ladies Garden, Ardkinglas.
Two weeks in May (date to be confirmed)you can visit the normally private Ladies Garden at Ardkinglas Estate at Cairndow to view the flowering of the Ghent and Rustica flore pleno Azaleas.
In 1914 because of the outbreak of the First World War a number of Belgian refugees arrived in Britain. Several thousand of them found their way to Newcastle where John HB Noble (1865-1938) lived and worked. He put some of them up on his estate at Sandhoe and some came with him to Ardkinglas in the summer and at Christmas. At the end of the war John came to live full time at Ardkinglas with his family and a refugee family who had connections with a nursery in Belgium. On their return home, in appreciation of the help they had received, they send a large shipment of Ghent and Rustica flore pleno Azaleas to Ardkinglas. John’s wife Amie planted these in the Ladies Garden. There is ongoing research into naming the plants.