Plant Gardens 101

As is the case with most major American cities, St Louis, Missouri, underwent rapid industrialisation over the course of the twentieth century. However, unlike many of these cities, St Louis also managed to preserve a large amount of its natural parkland: today, it is home to just under three million people, yet it houses a staggering total of 105 open parks. These include Forrest Park, which is one of the world’s largest urban parks and is even larger than New York’s Central Park; the Saint Louis Zoological Park; and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, a 91 acre national park situated on the riverfront along which the city was first established in 1764. However, the most interesting and perhaps the most widely applauded of St Louis’ many parks is the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

One of the oldest of its kind in the United States, the Missouri Botanical Gardens is a National Historic Landmark and has continued to live up to its mission statement - “To discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment, in order to preserve and enrich life,” - since its inception in 1859. Founded by Henry Shaw, a nineteenth century botanist and philanthropist from Sheffield, England, it is often affectionately known as ‘Shaw’s Garden’, and is today one of the leading botanical research sites in the world. When Shaw built his estate, the Tower Grove House, in 1851, he saw the great potential of turning the grounds surrounding his estate into a botanical garden, and spent years planning and funding its development. (more…)

For the past year I’ve been compiling a list of Public Gardens in the United States for my gardening website. These gardens all look like fantastic places to visit, but what are the most popular?

The most popular public gardens (based on online chatter) in the USA are:

20. New Orleans Botanical Garden in New Orleans, Louisiana
…a tie for #20…
20. Cleveland Botanical Garden in Cleveland, Ohio
19. Beaumont Botanical Gardens in Beaumont, Texas
18. Memphis Botanic Garden in Memphis, Tennessee (more…)

The Great Conservatory at Syon House is not far from the Orangery at Hampton Court Palace that I wrote about yesterday. So if you are visiting one it is worth travelling an extra few miles to visit the other.

Syon House belongs to the Duke of Northumberland and is his family’s London residence.

Set within 200 acres of parkland designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown from the 1750s to 1770s, there are 40 acres of formal gardens, an ornamental lake and a collection of 200 species of rare trees. It is registered as a Grade 1 landscape in the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Historic Importance in England. (more…)

Conservatory design and orangery design are often influenced by historic architecture, as are the gardens around them. The Lower Orangery Garden at Hampton Court Palace has recently been reopened after extensive restoration based on twenty years of research.

To restore the gardens to their 17th century splendour, the Gardens and Estates team and curators at Hampton Court Palace went through old account ledgers to see what plants had been purchased at the time, plant lists, maps, other documents and undertook archaeological digs to confirm the exact lay out of the garden. (more…)

Gardening doesn’t simply have to be just your flower bed or vegetables growing in your yard anymore. Now it can be a full fledged vacation. Here are some destinations that you can travel to if you want to get away and still enjoy your love for gardening.

The Butchart Gardens Nestled on 55 acres on Vancouver Island, it ranks as one of the world’s greatest garden spectacles. Started in 1904 by Jennie Butchart, she began sculpting the landscape to meet a Victorian style. The Butchart Gardens boasts 26 greenhouses, and a variety of flowers that bloom throughout the year. You can go on self guided and group tours as well as eco-friendly boat tours. They boast a gift shop where you can buy seeds of the flowers they grow as well as a knowledgeable staff to help you in your own gardening ventures. If you love gardens, this is a great one to see.

National Gardens in Washington, DC Beyond the many historical and governmental attractions of the nation’s capitol sits the newest addition to the botanical gardens which opened in October of 2006. The National Gardens has four gardens, which consist of a seven bed regional garden, a first ladies garden, a formal rose garden and a butterfly garden. The gardens have a great backdrop of the US Capitol and best of all there is no cost to go in to see them. (more…)

See Kew Gardens.

For many gardeners in the U.S. the winter is a down time because the ground is frozen and covered with snow. A popular alternative is for garden and gardening lovers is to take a midwinter trip to the world’s most famous gardens. This article will take you to some of most famous gardens in the world.

The first stop on the itinerary is the Far East. Japan has long been famous for its Zen or “Japanese Style” gardens. These gardens feature carved stone lanterns that are hundreds of years old, along with stones and plants arranged to maximize the Zen of the garden. Most gardens in Japan can be found near Buddhist temples often surrounding them or leading up to the Temples from the busy streets. Kenroku-en, Kairaku-en and Koraku-en are the three great gardens of Japan. Kenroku-en located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, is an old private garden developed from the 1620s to 1840s. It is open year-round during daylight hours and famous for its beauty in all seasons; an admission fee is charged. The garden is located outside the gates of Kanazawa Castle where it originally formed the outer garden, and covers over 25 acres. The garden is home to the oldest fountain in Japan and is lovely to visit in the winter.   (more…)

Botanical gardens are places where a enormous variety of plants are developed, usually for scientific purposes. Not all botanical gardens are open to the public, but the ones that are serve as a great educational tool, as you will be able to study many different plants up-close. While research certainly takes place on these plants, a botanical garden also serves as a place for conservation, keeping these plants protected in the process.

Here are some of the best botanical gardens in the world.

1. The New York Botanical Garden is one of the most well-known botanical gardens in the world. Situated in the Bronx borough of New York City, this garden sits on 250 acres and contains 50 gardens and plant collections. It was founded in 1891 and it acts as the region’s leader in research and plant collection. The New York Botanical Garden has also remained as international leader when it comes to research. If you ever are scheduling a trip to see one of these gardens, this would certainly be a place to keep in mind, as they contain some of the best collections of plants in the entire world. (more…)

Talking about China, you will think of the images of Chinese classical garden. Suzhou, a cultural and historical city in east China Jiangsu Province, is celebrated around the world for its elegant gardens. If you are a Chinese Gardens lover, don’t miss to go there.

Suzhou is also known as “Gusu city”, having the fame of “Oriental Venice” with more than 2500 years history. As the world of garden, Suzhou offers the best museum to show its ancient gardens which are the gem of classical garden architecture in south China and has been included in the UNESCO heritage list.

Local chronicles reveal that Suzhou city held nearly 200 gardens during its heyday. As the saying goes, gardens to the south of Yangtze River are the best in the World and Suzhou gardens are the best among them. These gardens attain their high reputation not only for their vast numbers, but also for their charming natural beauty and harmonious construction.   (more…)

There are different types of gardens everywhere around us for ex. Public garden, private garden, botanical gardens etc. In such places different types of plants are cultivated and conserved. In public and private gardens we give more importance for their aesthetic value because the main purpose of these gardens is recreation. But in botanical garden apart from the aesthetic value more importance is given to its educational value as well as their utilities. Botanical gardens play an important role in maintaining the ecological balance. This is why botanical gardens are different from other types of gardens. Role of botanical garden:

The botanical gardens mainly serve the education purpose. Here characteristics of the plants are improved for the taxonomic and horticulture studies.

Due to increasing quantity of industries and residential zone, the natural plantation is decreasing day by day. This decrease results in different types of environmental pollutions like water pollution, soil pollution, air pollution etc. Due to the increasing pollution levels, there is ecological imbalance and adversely affects the animals as well as plants. The botanical gardens can take place of the natural plantation and serve as the places for pollution control and other ecological problems.

In the botanical gardens the plant species which are rare and biologically important are conserved. (more…)

A botanic garden comprising 40 distinct gardens, located just a few miles from the city’s downtown skyscrapers. Notable are the Rock Alpine Garden, with more than 3,000 different plants, and the Xeriscape and Plains Gardens, which feature plants native only to Colorado.

See Royal Horticultural Society.

An organization formed in 1989 for the primary purpose of preserving exceptional American gardens by facilitating their transfer from private to independent, nonprofit, public ownership and management.

Located in Madison, a leader in the field of restoration ecology, containing the world’s oldest restored tall-grass prairie. Its 1,270-acre site is connected by 20 miles of trails and fire lanes and also includes a deciduous oak forest, a conifer forest, and wetlands as well as more-traditional arboretum collections.

A 950-acre arboretum in Newark, Ohio, featuring more than 2,000 kinds of woody plants, including major collections of crab apples, pines, maples, oaks, hollies, and rhododendrons.