The Crarae Cuckoo

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On our journey home yesterday we stopped briefly at Crarae Gardens for a morning stroll. It is a Himalayan Glen, originally planted by three generations of the Campbells of Succoth and preserved by the National Trust for Scotland since 2002.



Between Loch Fyne to the South and Barr Mor Hill to the North, we walked up and down both sides of Crarae Burn pausing for photographs.


There are reputed to be 600 different rhododendrons in the garden and visiting, as we did, in late April the ubiquitous bluebells and the rhododendron blooms provided contrasting colours around the cascading stream.





Many of the specimens are from China where the rhododendron is known as the cuckoo flower. Yesterday we learned that hundreds of years ago the King of Sichuan was killed and returned as a cuckoo. Flying round and round, he cried out "cuckoo" so often that his throat began to bleed, dripping to the ground beneath where each drop grew into a rhododendron bush. As you can see from the photograph below, he must still be flying!

Comments

Stephanie Jane said…
These gardens are beautiful! I love all the different rhododendron colours. We're planning to maybe return to Scotland for a few weeks this summer so Dave's investigating Crarae online as I type :-)
10 May 2019 at 11:35
Caree Risover said…
I hope he’s spotted The Arduaine Garden a little further north at Kilmelfort too, another Scottish National Trust Garden that we visited last May when it was just springing into bloom. Oh, and between the two, call into Crinan to inspect our retirement project, would love to see you both if we are there at the same time.
10 May 2019 at 19:28
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