The best rhododendron and azalea gardens in Britain

Great Comp, Kent

As featured on the Country Life website last week, this gem of a garden just outside the M25 is beautiful all year round, but all the more so in spring.

Leonardslee, West Sussex

The Loderi Garden — like Great Comp, also featured recently in Country Life — has the world’s most complete collection of Loderi hybrid rhododendrons, bred by Leonardslee’s former owner, Sir Edmund Loder, from 1901. Some plants in the collection are more than 100 years old.

Ramster Gardens, Surrey

Rhododendrons were a passion of the Hon Florence Priscilla McLaren, known as Lady Norman, who lived at Ramster from 1922. Many of the large rhododendrons were planted in the 1920s and 1930s, some with russet trunks now stretching to 20ft in height.

Sheringham Park, Norfolk

The 50-acre Wild Garden at Sheringham is home to a nationally important collection of rhododendrons. The ‘carpet of colour’ can be admired from two viewing platforms, but gargantuan lemon-coloured rhododendron macabeanum, tucked away from the path network, are well worth a diversion.

Trewithen Gardens, Cornwall

A traditional Cornish woodland garden with a strong bias toward spring flowering plants, many of plant hunter origin. Rhododendrons, interspersed with Asiatic magnolias, flank the huge serpentine lawn and signal the arrival of spring, best between February and July.

Scotney Castle, Kent

When spring arrives, the Main Lawns and Lime Walk are swamped by their mauve-pink blooms. A sea of rhododendrons flood the sloping valley, cascading from Dell Garden down to the moat, where ruins of the 14th-century castle emerge from below.

Glendoick Gardens, Scotland

The rhododendron nursery was established in 1953, filled with seeds of wild species collected on plant-hunting expeditions. Today, it is the site of a project to create hybrid species that will withstand rising temperatures.

Exbury Gardens, Hampshire

This rhododendron haven was begun by Lionel de Rothschild in 1919. Three generations, thousands of bulbs, and more than 1,000 hybrids later, the collection is world-famous, at its best in May.

Borde Hill, Haywards Heath

With a legacy that includes the first Chinese rhododendrons to be introduced to Britain, flowers from seeds collected by 19th-century plant hunters, and the place where Col. Stephenson Robert Clarke began his rhododendron collection in earnest, The Old Rhododendron Garden promises a bounty of history and blooms.

Bowood Garden, Wiltshire

The Woodland Garden, laid out by the 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne in 1854 and open for six weeks during the flowering season (mid-April to early June), is home to hundreds of rare and hybrid rhododendron species, with two miles of meandering paths to enjoy them.

RHS Garden Rosemoor, Devon

Good throughout the season, but head for the National Rhododendron Show (April 26-27) and you'll see exhibitors from all of the south and west of England gather for a special event, showcasing magnificent displays and a programme of classes, trade and advice stands, and competitions. Entry included in garden admission, from £14.50.