These exotic gardens, which were opened by Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, in 1883, cover 44 acres of the 'Granite City', and contain several ponds, fountains, bowling greens and tennis courts. There is a reindeer park, a Japanese Water Garden, a cactus house, and centre for birds, fish and turtles. In the centre of the park, there is an attractive Victorian bandstand, which is one of the best of its kind. The park also has a number of fascinating monuments, including one in memory of William Wallace, the patriot. There are sundials, Grecian sculptures and gargoyles. The plants come from Brazil, the Sandwich Islands, Natal, Mexico, Guyana, New Guinea and several other exotic countries. Next to the restaurant there is a herd of wooden camels and a Celtic cross commemorating local victims of the Egyptian campaign of 1882. Facilities include a tea-room, and the gardens have good access for wheelchairs and toilets for disabled people.

These gardens, an institution to the city, were established in 1817 in a former university physik garden, but they were relocated on the present site 25 years later. The most outstanding feature is the Kibble Palace, a Victorian glasshouse with a famous collection of tree ferns. It is 23,000 square feet in area and is complemented by a number of Victorian sculptures. Other glasshouses in the gardens boast a vast number of tropical plants, an internationally renowned collection of orchids and the 'National Collection' of begonias. Forty acres of gardens are split into a systematic Garden, a Herb Garden and a Chronological Border. There are footbridges across the River Kibble on the gardens' northern fringe. There is wheelchair access to gardens and grounds, and toilets for disabled people.

Logan Botanical Garden, an outstation of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, is the most southerly in Scotland. It boasts many rare plants from the southern hemisphere, and-unusually for Scotland-the Gulf Stream and the mild climate of the Rhinns of Galloway allow it to grow exotic plants without glasshouses. Oddities include cabbage palms, tree ferns, Californian Lilies, Japanese irises, which grow a mile or so away from the stormy Irish Sea and the same distance from placid Lucy Bay. To the west of the showpiece-tree ferns stand the ruins of the old castle of Balzieland. The woodland area features the largest outdoor Brazilian Gunnera in Britain. Elsewhere there are passion flowers, lobelias, hydrengeas and poplars. The Mcdougalls of Logan, one of Scotland's oldest families, lived here from the 12th century until 1945, when the estate went to Sir Ninian Buchan-Hepburn. Facilities include a licensed salad bar, access for disabled people, and a car park.

This is a magnificent formal geometric garden within a walled square and divided into four. One of the quarters has a floral saltire and thistle, and the coat-of-arms of the Setons, lairds of Pitmedden. Another has a sundial and floral depiction of the well-known Latin dictum, tempus fugit. The garden, with its pavilions and fountains and manicured look, was established by Sir Alexander Seton in 1675 and lovingly restored by the Trust. One of the notable features is the eastern half of the square modelled on the Charles II garden at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. Pitmedden House also has a museum of family life with a collection of farming tools and domestic utensils. There are also woodland walks on the 100 acre estate, as well as an exhibition on formal gardens. Facilities include a ranger service, a picnic area, a tea-room, a visitor centre and partial access for wheelchair users and a toilet for disabled people, a wheelchair is also available.

These well-known gardens specialise in the conservation of threatened plants from throughout the world, and they are thought to possess the largest collection of rhododendrons in the world. There is a world famous rock-garden containing unique alpine plants and a range of exotic species. At the end of the 18th century, plants poured in from the colonies, especially from South Africa. Today heath gardens contain numerous rare heath plants. An exhibition hall houses botanical and horticultural displays. Other facilities include a tea-room, a shop and facilities for disabled people.

These attractive gardens are an out-station for the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. They contain more than 250 different species of azaleas and rhododendrons, many from the Himalayas and the Far East. There are 'lantern trees' and Sierra Redwoods in the extensive woodland. The redwood avenue, which visitors all see when they enter the gates, were planted by Piers Patrick, who owned the then estate of Benmore from 1862 until 1870. A later owner, James Duncan, planted six million trees on the estate. The gardens were owned by a member of the Younger Brewing Family until the 1920s, when they were gifted to the nation. Nowadays botanists at the garden undertake research into rhododendrons, berberis and conifers, while visitors stroll along a good network of footpaths. There is a tea-room, a car-park and toilets for disabled people.

These gardens, stretching over 50 acres, are like an oasis amid the rugged countryside of the Western Highlands. They are set on a peninsula in the shores of Loch Ewe. They were established by Osgood Mackenzie in 1864 when he planted pines and rhododendron hedges to shelter his project. The beneficial Gulf Stream allows the gardens to grow rare and subtropical plants on a latitude north of Moscow. Notable features include the rhododendrons, eucalyptuses and many south American plants. There are Himalayan Lilies, and giant forget-me-nots from the south Pacific. Inverewe Gardens boast a good range of visitor services including a visitor centre, a caravan and camping site, a garden for disabled people, and a restaurant. The ranger service operates during July and August.