Study plants in situ at one of the very many botanical gardens around the UK
Botanic Gardens, Arboreta and the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Societies provide excellent places
​to view and draw plants which you might not be able to get or grow at home. Some will even allow you access to their Herbarium.
This page is ordered as follows:
Botanical Garden History in the UK
​Royal Botanic Gardens and Societies
Royal Horticultural Society Gardens
Royal Gardens
Botanical Gardens and Arboretum in:
  • England - South
  • England - North
  • Scotland
  • Wales
  • Northern Ireland
National Botanic & Plant Conservation Networks

Links in the names go to the website for that garden.

If you have a garden you love, you can suggest an addition to this list using a form at the bottom of the page
I've been visiting botanical gardens in the UK for very many years and have always loved them and not just because the plants come with tags telling you what they are!

You'll find each specialises in different plants and it's worth inspecting their websites to see what their focus is. It often relates to
  • their local environment (soil, climate etc.)
  • any specialist glasshouses they may have.
  • any specialist interests the botanists at the university have.
  • how they got started and developed over time.
Botanic and Physic Gardens of the Past in London
​
Click the link in the title to view information about some of the older physic and botanic gardens which existed in London in the past (on this website)
​
Many of these would have been ones visited by famous and not-so-famous botanical artists of the past.
Palm House, Kew Gardens
The Palm House and Parterre, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Source: Wikipedia - Photo by David Iliff. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

Botanic Garden History in the UK
​

Most of the websites linked to below has information about the history of how it came about.
However the history of botanical gardens does back further than many people realise.
​
BOTANIC GARDENS
The collection and curation of plants, primarily for medicinal applications and later for botanical study, was well-established in England long before Oxford’s Botanic Garden (registered Grade I) was established in 1621. Other early examples include London’s Chelsea Physic Garden of 1673 (registered Grade I), while Kew (London Borough of Richmond on Thames) and Cambridge University botanic gardens (registered respectively Grades I and II*) followed a century later. Many more were set up in the later Georgian and Victorian periods when, it was said, any city worth its salt had a botanic garden, part of the expected philanthropic and educational civic provision. Most were supported by public subscription, the first being Liverpool’s of 1802 which was subsequently moved to become the Grade-II registered Wavertree Botanic Garden, which opened in 1836. Some, like Birmingham’s (established 1829; registered Grade II*) survive, often with impressive glasshouses like the three conservatories of 1837 (each Listed Grade II*) in Sheffield’s Grade-II registered Botanic Gardens. Others floundered entirely or, like Bath’s, became public parks (Royal Victoria Park; registered Grade II). 
Historic England | Register of Parks and Gardens - Urban Landscapes Selection Guide
The Origin Of Plants
by Maggie Campbell-Culver 

When did the plants we see in gardens today actually arrive in Britain?

This remarkable book provides the answer and documents the introduction of new plants to this Island - century by century - starting with the 200 species of plant introduced in the year 1000.

​This book is both a reference book and a plant history
RECOMMENDED: An invaluable book for any plant lover, garden historian and/or plant hunter!

RATED an average of 4.8 out of 5 stars by 14 customer reviews

Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Eden Project Books (30 Oct. 2013)
Text supported by both contemporary paintings and photographs

Royal Botanic Gardens & Societies
​

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew were founded over 250 years ago - in 1759 - and the gardens were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Today it is both a world-leading Scientific Institution and a beautiful and very large botanical garden covering 326 acres /132 hectares in southwest London.
  • Kew is an extraordinarily impressive garden with a hugely prestigious botanical pedigree in part due to it having been around and very active for over 250 years. In 1841 it became a publicly funded organisation. The archives relating to the time prior to it becoming independent of the monarchy can now be found at the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle. 
  • You can see plans of how the garden developed in Kew on Flickr
  • It aims to be the world’s leading botanic garden' and a global resource in plant and fungal knowledge. The living plant collection is the largest and most comprehensive in the world, containing representatives of more than one in eight of all flowering plant species.
  • Of late, the Gardens and website have sadly become much more commercial following the very major reductions in government funding. You now have to search for the history of the gardens and the science and conservation work which are getting more than slightly drowned by all the content relating to income generation, events for the public and selling the site for non-botanical uses such as weddings! 
  • It also has the world's first dedicated Botanical Art Gallery (it has two) and a School of Botanical Art.
  • ​It's open to the public every day of the year except Christmas Day. It gets over a million visitors every year. The website tells you which plants are currently looking good!
​
Picture
The Princess of Wales Conservatory and the Rock Garden at Kew Gardens
Kew has a country outpost at Wakehurst in Sussex.

Wakehurst at Ardingly, Haywards Heath, Sussex, RH17 6TN is where the Millennium Seed Bank is located plus five national collections of plants, a Southern Hemisphere Garden, a Asian Heath Gardens and a Himalayan Glade.
Picture
The Millennium Seed Bank Project buildings at Wakehurst Place, West Sussex, England. (source Wikimedia Commons) Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

​The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh is detailed in the section on Scotland below. It has three subsidiary gardens outside Edinburgh.

Royal Horticultural Society - and the four RHS Gardens
​

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is Britain's leading gardening charity amd is world renowned.

The website provides information about the latest news, advice, events, RHS shows and RHS gardens. 

There are four RHS Gardens in different parts of England. The gardens are open all year except for Christmas Day.
  • RHS Wisley in Surrey - this is the largest of the gardens (24 hectares | 60 acres) and includes a very big glasshouse with temperature zoning, the Horticultural School and a Science Library. This is also where the RHS has its large trials beds of flowers, vegetables and fruit.
  • RHS Hyde Hall in Essex - this is located on a difficult site on top of a hill. The 360-acre estate includes a dry garden and hilltop garden.
  • RHS Rosemoor in Great Torrington in Devon. It has a reputation as a plantsman's paradise. Conditions include a sloping site and valley-bottom location surrounded by woodland; acidic soil and generally mild climate.
  • RHS Harlow Carr in Yorkshire. Set in a valley and covering 23.4ha (58 acres). Conditions include acidic soil, cold, drying winds in winter, deep frosts, a cooler, shorter growing season and lots of wet weather.
Glasshouse at Wisley
The Glasshouse at Wisley from the slopes of the Glasshouse Borders
The Trials Beds at Wisley
The Trials Beds at Wisley - a constant change of plants on trial.

Royal Palaces - Gardens
​

The Royal Parks contain some important gardens with interesting plants
  • Hampton Court Palace Gardens - The formal gardens cover 60 acres (26 hectares) and are looked after by 30 gardeners. They contain a number of very unusual features such as The Great Vine, the Lower Orangery Garden of Exotic Plants and the Topiary Yews. This is a map of the gardens (PDF).  The glassshouse although not advertised has an impressive array of tropical plants (I've been on a tour of it)
  • Richmond Park - a National Nature Reserve, London's largest Site of Special Scientific Interest,  a European Special Area of Conservation and the largest of the Royal Parks. It's also home to the Isabella Plantation, a 40 acre woodland garden with large collections of azaleas, camellias and rhododrendrons.
Hampton Court Palace: Lower Orangery Garden of Exotic Plants
Hampton Court Palace: Lower Orangery Garden of Exotic Plants
Picture
Richmond Park - The Isabella Plantation in May.

Botanic Gardens in the UK
​

The gardens listed below are those where the botanic garden goes beyond being a recreational area which might otherwise be described as a park. Most are associated with universities. It's evident that constraints on public funding in recent years have had an adverse impact on the number of botanic gardens in the UK.

There are more botanical gardens in the UK listed on Wikipedia by location.

Botanic Gardens - London​
​

The Chelsea Physic Garden was founded in 1673, as the Apothecaries' Garden, with the purpose of training apprentices in identifying plants.  It is:  
See also more information - and a map of what it looked like in the past - on my webpages
Picture
Chelsea Physic Garden: the garden is highly structured according to type of plant, its purpose or geography.
REFERENCE: (Chelsea Physic Garden)
​The video below has been made by the Garden.
  • Royal College of Physicians - The Medicinal Garden - This can be found in the grounds of the Royal College of Physicians. It was redesigned in 2005 and surrounds the Grade 1 listed building designed by Denys Lasdun. The Medicinal Garden contains over 1,100 plants which all with links to medicine to the museum. The Medicinal Plant beds are laid out and labeled primarily according to their geographical origins. These locations include: Ancient Greece and Rome; North America; the Orient; Europe; the Middle East and the Southern Hemisphere. Admission to the gardens is free and there are garden tours of garden the first Wednesday of each month 

Botanic Gardens - The South of England and Midlands
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Oxford University Botanic Garden
Oxford University Botanic Garden. Photo: By Ozeye [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) via Wikimedia Commons
Picture
Plan of Oxford Botanic Garden - Etching 1707

Botanic Gardens - The North of England
​

  • Durham University Botanic Garden - a 10 hectare university Botanic Garden. It's located on the southern outskirts of the city of Durham
  • Ness Botanic Gardens - a 64 acre garden located on the Wirral Peninsula. Founded by Arthur Kilpin Bulley who was responsible for introducing hundreds of new plants to the UK in the early 20th century. It's now part of the University of Liverpool.
  • Sheffield Botanical Gardens Home Page - A 19 acre garden which opened in 1836. Originally designed by Robert Marnock in the Gardenesque style, the site now has fifteen different garden areas featuring collections of plants from all over the world. This Botanic Garden has a Florilegium Society
Picture
Sheffield Botanical Garden - The Glasshouse © Jeremy Atherton, 2004 via Wikimedia Commons CC 2.5

Arboretum, ​Pinetum, Ancient Woods and Native Trees
​

​Arboretum and Pinetum

  • ​Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest - This is a a Historic Arboretum Grade II. Established as the National Conifer Collection in 1925. The Pinterum covers 320 acres; has over 12,000 trees and shrubs (including 1,800 different species) from across five continents. A number of the trees and plants are classified as being rare and endangered.  The Pinetum has the most complete collection of conifers on one site anywhere in the world. It now has a florilegium society.
  • Bodenham Arboretum - over over 3000 species of trees
    and shrubs are labelled, mapped and catalogued in book form and computer. Near Kidderminster in Worcestershire
  • Harcourt Arboretum (OXFORD) Harcourt Arboretum is part of the University of Oxford and comprises 130 acres of the best collection of trees in Oxfordshire. It has some of the oldest redwoods in the UK.
Bedgebury Pinetum
Marshal's Lake, Bedgebury Pinetum, Kent. Photographer: Ron Strutt via Wikimedia Commons CC 2.0

​Ancient Woods and Trees

‘Ancient woodland’ is any wooded area that has been wooded continuously since at least 1600 AD. It includes:
  • ‘ancient semi-natural woodland’ mainly made up of trees and shrubs native to the site, usually arising from natural regeneration
  • ‘plantations on ancient woodland sites’ ­ areas of ancient woodland where the former native tree cover has been felled and replaced by planted trees, usually of species not native to the site
​​An ancient wood is a wood which has continued in existence since 1600 after which deliberate planting of trees started to occur. Ancient woodland does not necessarily contain old trees as management of trees involves them being cut down
Ancient Woods - London & South East of England 
Ancient Woods - South West
Ancient Woods - North of England
Ancient Woods - Midlands & East Anglia
Ancient Oaks: In the English Landscape
by Aljos Farjon 

The story of how Farjon identified that England has a unique 'population' of ancient oaks which are highly important for biodiversity. He identifies the reasons why the native species of oak, pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) and sessile oak (Q. petraea) are among the longest living trees in England and
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Kew Publishing (31 May 2017)

Botanic Gardens - Scotland
​

Scotland has a wonderful array of plants in botanical and other gardens and some people may be amazed at what can be grown in Scotland!
  • Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RGBE)
    Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a world-renowned scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation. The Garden offers educational courses and events for adults and children; and also trains specialists. This includes courses for botanical artists
  • Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh - The Gardens - The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh was established in 1670and covers 70 acres. This is a map of the garden. It includes the largest collection of wild-origin Chinese plants outside China and a world-famous Rock Garden, which is home to over 5,000 alpine plants
  • RGBE - Benmore Botanic Garden - Located on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll. It includes over 300 species of rhododendron and over a third of the world's winter hardy conifer species. Open daily, 1 March - 31 October
  • RGBE- Logan Botanic Garden
    Scotland's most exotic garden is warmed by the Gulf Stream. Southern hemisphere plants flourish in this plantsman's paradise near Port Logan in Dumfries & Galloway. Open daily 15 March to 31 October
  • RGBE - Dawyck Botanic Garden - A botanic garden and arboretum covering 25 ha at Stobo in the Scottish Borders region of Scotland.  It is a world famous arboretum with mature specimens of Chinese conifers, Japanese maples, Brewer's spruce, the unique Dawyck beech and Sequoiadendrons which are over 45 metres tall. Open daily, 1 February - 30 November
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh in December
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh in December via Wikimedia Commons
  • Cruickshank Botanic Garden - In a sheltered location a mile from the sea in Aberdeen; supported by the University of Aberdeen and the Cruickshank Botanic Gardens Trust. The 11 acre Garden has over 2500 labelled plants in shrub borders, a rock and water garden, sunken garden, rose garden, herbaceous border and an arboretum. Plants in the garden can be located via an online catalogue.
  • Glasgow Botanic Gardens - Founded in 1817. It comprises 50 hectares next to the River Kelvin and is home to National Collections of Begonias, Tree Ferns (Dicksoniaceae) and Dendrobium Orchids. Originally connected to the University they were taken over by Glasgow Corporation in 1891. The two main glasshouses have been recently restored and the Kibble Palace is thickly planted with tree ferns.  Address: 730 Great Western Road, Glasgow G12 0UE. Open all year 7am to dusk.
  • St Andrews Botanic Garden - Owned by St Andrews University and located in the university town in Fife. Now managed by a Trust. Includes c. 8000 species of ferns, herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees. Open daily all year.  RHS reference
  • Inverewe Garden & Estate (National Trust for Scotland)
    Inverewe Garden in the North West Highlands of Scotland - a unique botanical enterprise growing an amazing range of plants due to the Gulf Stream. I visited when young - and it's simply amazing!
Picture
Glasgow Botanical Gardens - Kibble Palace Tree Fern. Photograph: wfmillar via Wikimedia Commons CC 2.0
The Walled Garden at Inverewe
The Walled Garden at Inverewe Gardens in Wester Ross, Scotland. Photo: By Alexandre Dulaunoy from Les Bulles, Chiny, Belgium [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Botanic Gardens - Wales
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  • National Botanical Gardens - Wales  The Garden covers 568 acres of Carmarthenshire countryside and includes a nature reserve as well as a formal garden, with Lord Foster’s Great Glasshouse as its centrepiece. It doesn't get crowds of visitors so great if you like peace and quiet in your botanical garden
  • Singleton Botanical Gardens - These Botanical Gardens on the outskirts of Swansea house one of Wales' premier plant collections, with spectacular herbaceous borders and large glasshouses. 
  • Treborth Botanical Garden - Located next to the Menai Strait, the garden has a diversity of habitats and soil types, supporting many native plants and animals. Part of the woodland is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The garden has a collection of native plants from coastal and the mountains of Snowdonia and from coastal habitats in Wales.
Picture
National Botanical Gardens of Wales. Photo by: Peter Shaw [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
You might want turn off or turn down the rather penetrating music!

Botanic Gardens - Northern Ireland
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  • Botanic Garden, Belfast - Located in South Belfast, next to Queens University, the garden covers 28 acres (110,000 m2). Established in 1828 by the Belfast Botanic and Horticultural Society. The Palm House is an early example of a curvilinear cast iron glasshouse; both it and the Tropical Ravine - the only one in Europe - contain examples of tropical species.  The Tropical Ravine is curently closed for a £3.8 million restoration.
Picture
Palm house at Belfast's Botanic Gardens (photo by Robert Young via Wikimedia Commons)

National Botanic & Plant Conservation Networks
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Review the resources available to botanical artists - in terms of botanical gardens, plant collections and botanical databases for both plants and art
  • PlantNetwork
    PlantNetwork is the national network of botanic gardens, arboreta and other documented plant collections. Promoting botanical collections in Britain 
  • BSBI
    The Botanical Society of the British Isles is the leading organisation for identification of British and Irish plants.
  • Royal Horticultural Society - RHS Lindley Libraries
    All RHS libraries are part of the Lindley Library, the world's finest horticultural library. The largest and best-known branch is in London, but there also libraries at each of the RHS Gardens
  • Plant Heritage
    Plant Heritage is the world's leading garden plant conservation charity. Our mission is to encourage the conservation of cultivated plants in the British Isles, supporting and publishing research into these plants, their origins, their historical and
  • Plant Heritage - National Collections
    Our main conservation vehicle is the Plant Heritage National Plant Collection scheme where individuals or organisations undertake to document, develop and preserve a comprehensive collection of one group of plants in trust for the future.
  • The Threatened Plants Project
    Plant Heritage - The Threatened Plants ProjectThis is for hardy and tender plants, trees, ferns, fruit and seeds which come true to name; across England, Wales, Scotland Ireland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.

    Suggest a Botanic Garden in the UK