What Defines a Botanical Garden?

The concept of cultivating plants has ancient roots, stretching back over 4,000 years to civilizations like ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Romans, known for their interest in horticulture, also recognized the medicinal value of plants. Following the Romans, monks in the 8th century began creating gardens that celebrated both the beauty of plants and their spiritual significance. These monastic gardens laid the groundwork for physic gardens, which emerged in the 16th century. However, these early gardens were not yet considered botanical gardens.

A true botanical garden requires a scientific foundation. The first gardens to fit this definition were the physic gardens of Italy, established during the Renaissance (a period known as the 'rebirth' in French). Luca Ghini founded the first of these gardens at the University of Pisa in 1543. Other Italian universities soon followed, with gardens established in Padova (1545), Firenze (1545), and Bologna (1547). These gardens were dedicated to the academic study of medicinal plants.

By the 16th century, similar medicinal gardens had spread to universities and apothecaries across central Europe, including Cologne and Prague. In the United Kingdom, the University of Oxford's botanical garden, founded in 1621, aimed to advance learning and celebrate divine creation.

The 16th and 17th centuries marked a shift in the role of botanical gardens. The age of exploration and international trade led to the establishment of gardens like the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which focused on cultivating new species brought back from tropical expeditions. These gardens not only supported botanical exploration but also helped establish new gardens in tropical regions for cultivating newly discovered plants. Notable examples include the Calcutta Botanic Gardens (1787), Pamplemousse Botanical Garden in Mauritius (1735), and the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid's garden in La Orotava on Tenerife. These tropical gardens were primarily focused on growing commercial crops such as tea, coffee, breadfruit, cinchona, palm oil, and chocolate. During this period, significant introductions included Para rubber to Singapore, teak and tea to India, and breadfruit, pepper, and star fruit to the Caribbean.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, municipal and public gardens were established across Europe and the British Commonwealth, with many focusing on pleasure and leisure. Among the most influential botanical gardens past and present, three core elements define their purpose:

1. Education

2. Conservation

3. Research

To explore more about these influential establishments, follow the links to the websites of each garden.

 Kew Garden

• •  121 hectares large

  • 700 staff employed

  • $56 million per annum

  • 2 million visitors per annum 

  • The gardens are non-departmental public boy sponsored by DEFRA

  • Formed in 1759, it has the world’s largest collection of living plants. 650scienists employed. Over 30,000 different species of plants. The herbarium has 7 million persevered plant species. The library contains over 750,000 volumes of books, 175,000 prints and paper.

  • It became a new world heritage site in 2005, and in 2006 a new alpine house was constructed which replaced the 1887 version.

  • They are responsible for 90,000 botanists’ world wide.

  • The Chollushi – is a Japanese exhibition built in 1910.

  • It has the world’s largest compost heap

  • Main features include: kew palace, minka house following the 2001 Japanese festival, maranne north gallery, a museum, the north conservatorium, nash conservatory originally designed for Buckingham palace and was moved to kew in 1836, pagada tower, the princess of Wales conservatory (1987) – the third largest, queens charlottes cottage, rhizotron, shanikay sharwood gallery, tree top walkway, vechular tower and water lily house.

  • Collections include: aquatic plants, arboretum, carnivorous plants, herbaceous/other border plants, orchids, ferns, alpines, roses, bonsai, Lilac, Azalea and Rosedendron, bamboo, juniper, Berberis and Magnolia.

The Millennium Seed Bank is owned by Kew and was constructed in 2000. It is housed in the welcome trust millennium building. The millennium seed bank is an insurance policy against the extinction of plants. It is contained underground network of frozen volts. The project is run by Royer Smit OBE. In 2007 it banked its one billionth seed, an Oxytenthera abyssinica – an African bamboo. In 2009 it collected and contained 10% of the world’s plant species. Aims include: to collect all seed from Britian’s native flora, and to act as a focal point for research and development in this area and to encourage public interest. It has pattern ships in: Australia, Mexico, Chile, China, US, Jordan, Mali, Mowdawi, Madagascar, Burkina, Faso, Botswana, Tanzania, Lebanon and finally South Africa. Australia constitutes for 15% of the worlds total flora and 22% of them are under threat of extinction. It is the largest ex-situ conservation project in the world, with now over 24,000 plant species available.  

 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

• • Location – Hollyroad Place

  • Founded in 1670 as a physic garden growing medicinal plants, today it occupies sites across Scotland: Dawyck, Logan, Benmore each with specialist collections.

  • Edinburgh Botanics houses over 15,000 plant species and 4,100 accessions. The herbarium houses over three million preserved species. It is the second oldest botanical garden is world and has the tallest palm house built in 1858.

  • Benmore was built in 1929.

  • Logan was built in 1969.

  • Dawyck was built in 1978.

  • A world leader of keeping biodiversity, it also co-ordinates in-situ and ex-situ conservation.

  • Living collections include: alpines, Chinese hillside, cryptogrammic (lower plant collection e.g. ferns) garden, the greenhouses, palm house, temperate garden/palms, tropical palms, orchids and cycodes, ferns and fossils, plants and people exhibit which homes giant water lily pond, temperate lands, rainforest riches, arid land, wet tropical plants, peat walks, the queen mother’s memorial garden, rock garden, Scottish health garden and finally woodland gardens.

  • The herbarium is a world leading botanical collection.

  • Benmore – a wet coast tree and shrub collections, conifer garden and Rosedendron collection.

  • Dawyck – south coast fungi and cryptogrammic collection.

  • Logan – exotic collection, sub tropical garden.

  • The library contains over 70,000 books and 150,000 research papers.

 The Eden Project

• • The world’s largest greenhouse.

  • Located in the reclaimed Kaolinite pit, two kilometres away from St. Balsey in Cornwall.

  • Hundreds of hexagonal inflated plastic cells are used instead of glass.

  • Design by Nicholas Grimshaw and project was conceived by Tim Smit.

  • The Eden Project took 2.5 year to build and opened on 17th March 2001.

  • Features include: Dina clay pit, planted landscapes, vegetable garden and several sculptures including a giant robot called RSA WEEE man.

  • The tropical biome is 1.56 hectares and 55 metres high with fruiting bananas, coffee, rubber plants and giant bamboos. The mediterranean biome covers 1.6 acres and measures 35 metres high, it houses warm temperate plants such as olives, grapes and other arid plants.

  • The outer biome (not covered) houses tea, lavender, hops, hemps and sunflowers.

  • Hex-tri-hex construction was used.

  • The core opened in 2005 and houses classrooms and exhibitions to help relationships between people and plants.

  • It provided plants for the African garden at the British museum.

  • Time of gifts project – ice ricks, café and a Christmas market.

  • There was press criticism that the Eden project received too much public funding, well over £130 million.

 Oxford Botanic Garden

• • Oxford Botanical Garden is located ten kilometres south of Oxford itself.

  • Oldest botanical garden in Britian and the world as a scientific garden.

  • Founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal research. It houses over 8,000 plant species over 1.8 hectares in land. It is the compact a diverse plant collection in the world. It contains approximately 90% of the higher plant families. In 1621 Henry Danvers or the 1st Earl of Darby contributed over £5,000 for “the glorification of god and the furtherance of learning”.

  • The walled garden houses a Taxus collection, hardy and herbaceous plants grouped in long, narrow rectangular beds. In 1983 The NCCPT chose Oxford Botanical Garden to cultivate a national collection of Euphorbia’s, the most rare/valuable being Euphorbia stygains.

  • The greenhouses contain – alpines, fernery, tropical lily house, orchids, palm house and succulents.

  • The Harcount Arboretum – is located next to the river Cherwood.

  • The Darby gateway was designed by Nicholas Stone between 1632 – 1633, the earliest structures to be built in Oxford.

  • Economic beds produce food, clothing, shelter materials and medicinal for example Utica dioica or the common nettle.

Chelsea Physic Garden

 Apothecaries garden back in 1673

• • The word “physic” refers to the science of healing.

  • It is the second oldest botanical garden in Britian after Oxford Botanics. Its rock garden is the oldest English garden devoted to alpines. It holds the largest fruiting olive trees. It has the northern most grapefruit growing outdoors. In 1983 the garden became a charity and opened to the general public. It is a member of The London Museum of Health and Medicine. Sir John Danvers founded the original garden. The manor also referred to as The Dancers House. The house was pulled down in 1696, to make way for Danvers Street. It houses over 2,000 plant species. It also covered four acres of land.

  • Parts of the classic garden have been at the cost of the development of the 1874 construction of Chelsea embankment. The bank of the river Thames and a strip of the garden was widened for The Royal Hospital Road which reaches 1.4 hectares patch in the heart of London.

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