Greenbank Garden – stories behind the records

Greenbank Garden, on the outskirts of Glasgow, was gifted to the National Trust for Scotland in 1976. Records were kept of plants added to the garden, and when the Trust took ownership of the property, an extensive plant database was developed. From this data, we can now see that Greenbank’s former owner brought some favourite plants from their previous garden, several of which can still be seen growing here today.

The dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), situated at the front of the house, was transplanted in 1962. The species was only discovered as a living specimen in the 1940s, in the Hubei area of China – it received a huge amount of international interest as a living fossil. Seeds were quickly dispersed to botanical gardens around the world and it would have been introduced to the horticultural trade in the 1950s. It can be assumed that the Greenbank tree would have been at least 5 years old when it was brought here.

There are several other notable trees and shrubs that were brought to Greenbank around this time. The cherry tree (Prunus sargentii) that dominates the central path of the walled garden delights visitors with a canopy of pink flowers in April and brightens the autumn with a carpet of scarlet leaves. One of my favourite sights in the garden is the Acer pseudoplatanus ‘Brilliantissimum’ near the side gate. Underplanted with a carpet of snowdrops and with branches clothed in moss, this dwarf relative of the sycamore is at its best in spring when the new pale-pink leaves unfurl.

Magnolia stellata (star magnolia) is a popular shrub in gardens across Scotland. The specimen growing at the entrance to Greenbank Garden shows that it is a valuable plant for a small garden, having only grown to a height of 2 metres in 60 years yet reliably covered in white flowers every spring.