A colourful programme of celebrations will be held next year to mark the centenary of one of Perthshire’s most spectacular gardens.
In 1919, renowned horticulturalist Euan Cox returned home from an expedition in Burma and set about transforming the grounds of Glendoick House, near Perth, with rare Himalayan plants.
It was an inspired move, and the garden began to flourish with seeds of rhododendrons, conifers, perennials and bulbs from the other side of the world.
One hundred years on, Glendoick Gardens – which straddles a fast-flowing burn – boasts an incredible variety of exceptional species and hybrid plants.
From spring until summer these specimens, along with magnolias, camellias, erythroniums and meconopsis, fill the garden with colour.
Alongside the five-acre garden is Glendoick’s Nursery, which was established by Euan and his son Peter in 1953 and has a world-wide reputation for hybridising rhododendrons and azaleas.
Now Euan’s grandson Kenneth Cox, third-generation plant hunter, nurseryman and author, is planning to celebrate the grounds’ first 100 years.
He has written a guide book, charting Glendoick’s history which is set for release in the new year.
Three new cultivars will be released throughout 2019 and 2020, including the Glendoick chiffon, a double white evergreen azalea; Glendoick candyfloss, a bright pink double azalea and the Tricia Cox – a dwarf rhododendron with pink flowers which is named after Peter’s wife and founder of the successful Glendoick Garden Centre.
During 2019, a new rope bridge will be created across the burn to represent the types of structures crossed by Euan, Peter and Kenneth during their expeditions to some of the Himalaya’s most remote and inaccessible regions in their search for new plants.
Kenneth said: “The gardens have a rich history and the foundation that my grandfather laid down has been added to over the years by my father and myself.
“It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the centenary, to chart the gardens’ progress and to plan for the next century.”
A display marking 100 years of Glendoick will be created at next summer’s Gardening Scotland festival, at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh. It will showcase many of the plants introduced by the Cox family, as well as the new hybrid cultivars.
