ONE OF Scotland’s most popular botanical gardens has been lit up in a spectacular night-time trail of colours.

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) will be illuminated at night by a series of light installations as part of the inaugural “Christmas at the Botanics”.

The festive event will see visitors following a one-mile trail through the Gardens’ thousands of trees and plants aglow.

The event, which has involved a host of Scottish, UK and international installation artists and lighting designers, will run for 29 selected nights until Saturday December 30.

Families are told to expect to “stimulate their senses” as light, sound and visual effects are used to transform the garden’s landscape.

Highlights include “The Choir of Trees”, nine “singing conifers” each with a different voice; the scented Fire Garden; and Bloom on Inverleith House Lawn, made up of 1000 illuminated spheres.

Children can enjoy a UV tunnel of bubbles, while Santa and his elves perform a short Christmas vignette.

Simon Milne, the Regius Keeper of the RBGE, said: “The incredible display of lighting installations at Christmas at the Botanics provides a wonderful opportunity for visitors to experience the Garden like never before.”

The RBGE is at the heart of efforts to save endangered habitats, often bringing plants under threat to Scotland in order to research them and to develop conservation strategies.

Mr Milne added: “When we are all thinking about Christmas trees, holly wreaths and so on, there is a wonderful synergy with the light trail and the work we do.”