Kilmun - Kilmun Arboretum (Argyllshire)

Giant Redwood - July 2007	Coast Redwood - July 2007
Tam says "I made some great finds at Kilmun Arboretum which is situated on a hillside above the small hamlet of Kilmun on the A880. The arboretum overlooks the Holy Loch and gives some wonderful views over the estuary too. It contains over 180 acres of trees from all over the world. Seemingly it was first planted in the 1930s to see how well different varieties of trees would grow in the west coast environment of Scotland. It has been maintained by the Research Department of the Forestry Commission since 1948. It is a great place for walks and so many different trees are to be found here planted in groups as well as individually. Not far from the car park on either side of the path are two separate groves of Redwoods. On the upper side of the path is a mini forest of Giant Sequoia of over 100 trees planted in 1961. On the lower side of the path is a forest of Coast Redwood, again over 100 of them which were planted in 1954."
Dawn Redwood - July 2007
"I found this Dawn Redwood in the arboretum a little further up the hillside from the Redwood forests it was planted in 1960. I also came across a two nice Sequoias planted among the Spruce group." Thanks for the photographs Tam. I have seen a grove of Sequoia sempervirens but have been hoping to hear about a plantation of Sequoiadendron giganteum for some time. It would be interesting to learn of any conclusions that have been reached by the Forestry Commission, after nearly fifty years, although perhaps it will take a few hundred years before any significant results can be published. In January 2005 there were fears of the Arboretum falling onto disprepair, as mentioned in the Dunoon Observer at the time. Hopefully this has now been resolved and this is worthy experiment can continue.