Explorers Garden

This afternoon we paid a long overdue visit to the Explorers garden attached to Pitlochry theatre.
 
Scotland has produced over the last 200 years some of the worlds most successful plant hunters.
 
And these six acres of woodland gardens are devoted to the fruits of their travels.
Many of the plants we all own today are the result of the work of these intrepid Scottish explorers.
 
 
I was intrigued to discover the origin of the monkey tree in our garden.
 
It goes back to a seed Archibald Menzies (1754-1842-) collected from the dining table of the Spanish Viceroy in Chile in 1794.
 
The dessert included some nuts that he did not recognise.
 
 He is reputed to have put them in his pockets, sowed them on-board ship and brought them back to Britain where one was planted at Kew lived for nearly a century.
 
This garden is run largely by a team of dedicated volunteers  and it’s well worth a visit, not only for the plants but for the interesting stone artefacts too.( see extra).