Inverness Botanic Gardens

General information

With each new season the outside gardens are an explosion of colour and texture, and borders are planted to demonstrate a wide variety of plants and growing conditions. The impressive glasshouses reveal the drama of plant diversity ranging from the tropical rainforests to arid, heat scorched desert.

In the Tropical House which mimics the hot, humid tropical regions of the world, the plantings are a mixture of the familiar and the spectacular. Some of our most popular houseplants derive from the rainforests, and can be seen growing alongside important economic crops such as coffee. A waterfall cascades into a pond filled with friendly Koi carp, surrounded by showy tender plants such as bougainvillea, bird of paradise plants and orchids.

In the adjoining cactus house, the amazing sculptural shapes of hundreds of species of cacti are planted among 75 tonnes of rock and it is a stunning reminder of the beauty of these plants which survive in the harshest of environments.

The outside gardens are sheltered by a high stone wall and are richly planted with display beds, trees, shrubs, herbs and herbaceous borders. Our younger visitors enjoy discovering the wooden carvings such as teddy bears and meerkats peeping out from among the plants.

Summer Hours (April through October) are 10am to 5pm
Last entry to the gardens at 4.30pm
Winter Hours (End October / November through March) are 10am to 4pm
Last entry to the Gardens at 3.30pm

Plants are available for sale on site.
All outdoor plants and many houseplants are grown by us or sourced locally.

Inverness Botanic Gardens are managed by High Life Highland.

“High Life Highland is a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland No. SC407011 and is a registered Scottish charity No. SC042593”