When the Campbells of Jura built Jura House and its adjacent walled garden, they picked a lovely spot on its south shore with beautiful views and shelter in mind. The views to Islay and occasionally Kintyre and Ireland are indeed spectacular with its ever changing moods. Also its south facing, sloping position favours a good growing climate.
The garden was designed as a Victorian Kitchen garden with boxwood hedges, a rosegarden, vegetables and fruit trees against the walls, now one of few remaining, active walled gardens. Added to that, the staff from Jura House garden have an extensive range of ornamental plants and, thanks to the mild climate, are able to grow many non-hardy plants.
Argyll as a whole has a very favourable growing climate, long days and high rainfall in summer, combined with the mild influence of the Gulf stream in winter, makes for rapid growth. So long as shelter is provided from the killer winds and the soil is reasonable, the sky is the limit, or more accurately, the hedge is the limit! Another limiting factor is the amount of sunshine, often reducing the amount of quality flowers, but the flipside of this is that, in a dry summer, while everything down south goes yellow, here things thrive.
This climate, combined with acid soils, especially flavour the rhododendron and its relations, with many gardens in Argyll famous world-wide for this particular plant. However, to be able to grow them successfully, the plants need lots of shelter, preferably from large, leafy deciduous trees, to create that shaded, moist, cool atmosphere they require.
Jura House Gardens are closed “Until Further Notice”
