Parklea Branching Out Port Glasgow | The new home for the 2026 Commonwealth Games Garden

Welcome back to the channel. We are visiting the fantastic Parklea Branching Out in Port Glasgow to see something very special.

The stunning garden that featured in the official opening of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow has now found its permanent home right here in Inverclyde.

In this video, we take a tour around the grounds, catch some brilliant drone views, and sit down to chat with Sharon and Christine about what this incredible new garden means for the team, the visitors, and the local community.

In this video, we explore:

• The Commonwealth Games Garden: A close look at the plants, trees, and its new permanent home.

• Parklea Branching Out Tour: Exploring the wider grounds and seeing all the amazing work they do.

• Exclusive Interview: Speaking with Sharon and Christine about bringing the garden to Port Glasgow and what Parklea Branching Out does, it’s much more than a Garden Centre.

Parklea is such a valuable asset to the local area, and seeing this piece of Commonwealth history settled here is truly wonderful.

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Music. Epidemic Sound.


Plant list:

Scottish Nature Garden (Commonwealth Games 2026)

• Acer campestre (Field Maple) native, tough, takes coastal wind well

• Achillea (Common Yarrow) great addition for wildlife gardens

• Agastache ‘Blackadder’ flowers for months & bees rarely leave it alone

• Agastache ‘Alabaster’ soft white, lovely for lifting a muted palette at dusk

• Allium ‘Millenium’ late summer drumsticks & foliage stays good

• Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ upright, unflappable, still standing in February

• Campanula lactiflora ‘Loddon Anna’ soft dusky pink, cottage garden plant copes poor weather

• Catananche caerulea (Cupid’s dart) papery cornflower blue, best in sun & sharp drainage

• Carex paniculata, particularly thrives in wet ground

• Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’ thistle like deep crimson flowers that the bees love

• Cornus mas (Cornelian Cherry) yellow flowers on bare stems in Feb when nothing else around

• Cornus sericea ‘Flaviramea’ acid green winter stems, enjoys damp ground

• Ekianthus campanulatus , large deciduous shrub giving interest from spring through to autumn

• Eryngium planum (Sea Holly) resilient to wide range of soils including coastal areas

• Eupatorium maculatum ‘Atropurpureum’ loves damp ground

• Euphorbia palustris loves marshy soil (beware – milky sap is a skin irritant)

• Eurybia macrophylla (Big leaf Aster) stands tall with a sea of lilac daisy flowers on top

• Gallium odoratum (Sweet Woodruff) great ground cover in a naturalized planting scheme

• Limonium (Sea Lavender) coastal plant, dries beautifully

• Miscanthus sinensis ‘Kleine Silberspinne’ finer & better behaved than bigger miscanthus

• Molinia caerulea low hazy movement through late summer

• Petrovskia (Russian Sage) soft grey aromatic leaves

• Salvia ‘Melen’ cut back after first flush for 2nd show, bees love it, long flowering

• Sanguisorba officinalis ‘Tanna’ compact bobbles on wiry stems

• Scabiosa ‘Cream Pincushions’ elegant natural variety, small butter cream flowers dance in the breeze

• Sesleria autumnalis evergreen, low, holds ground layer together

• Verbena bonariensis see through height, self-seeds gently

• Verbena hastata ‘Lavender Spires’ more upright & better in heaver soil

• Veronica longifolia (Garden Speedwell) beautiful in a cottage garden for pollinators

• Veronica virginicum vertical interest in country gardens





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