Recently I visited the 'Birmingham Botanical Gardens' so I thought of sharing my visit experience and observations. The Gardens are a part of the Birmingham Heritage Forum. 

 

As soon as I entered the botanical garden, I could experience the humidity, sights and smells of the Tropical House. It was great to find the gigantic Citrons in the Mediterranean House and the bizarre and fascinating ways that the Cacti have developed to protect themselves in the harsh environment of the world's deserts.

 

I was enjoying every bit of it as I was wandering around the stunning grounds seeing the giant koi carp and the Victorian cascade in the Rock Garden. I stopped at many places to smell the many herbs in its Herb Garden. I could feel so close nature as I touched, smelt, looked and listened to all the amazing plants and other features there while getting fresh air all around. There is so much to see at the Gardens, that I felt half a day is just not sufficient especially if love natural world.

 

It has four unique glasshouses which range from exotic Tropical House through to  Subtropical, Mediterranean and Arid Houses. There is a large lawn in front of the glasshouses with a range of beds and shrubberies around its perimeter. Overall, the character is that of a Victorian public park with a bandstand set in 15 acres (6.1 ha) of landscaped greenery.

 

Let me get into the details of the glasshouses:

With over 1000 accessions, their glasshouses are home to many exotic and unusual plants that are not found in many places in the U.K.

 

TROPICAL HOUSE

This house has the most varied collection of diverse plants in a small space compared to other parts of the Gardens. The hot humid atmosphere most nearly simulates the conditions of the lowland equatorial regions of the tropics and the species grown represent the great variation of life forms which are characteristic of these habitats trees, climbers, epiphytes -plants that grow on other plants for support, ferns, shade loving herbs and water plants. It has a minimum winter night temperature of 16 degree.

 

SUBTROPICAL HOUSE

The Subtropical (Palm) House is the largest of their glasshouses, rising to 8m at the peak – a height sufficient to accommodate size-able trees including palms, tree ferns and a giant bird-of-paradise plant. In fact one tree fern Dicksonia x lathamii is unique to the gardens and the only one in the world! This house is kept at lower temperatures and humidity than the Tropical House. With a minimum winter night temperature of 13 degree , it more nearly represents climates of subtropical regions.

 

MEDITERRANEAN HOUSE

This house preserves something of the atmosphere of a Victorian conservatory or orangery. This early type of glasshouse was a popular feature of the houses of prosperous families in the last century. The central beds are planted with a wide range of citrus varieties. The left hand display shows a collection of Pelargonium (indoor geranium), ranging from the colourful hybrids used as summer bedding plants through to the wild species from which they all originated from South Africa and Australia. On the right hand side, a 70ft (21 metre) long display of unusual and colourful plants create a magnificent display every day of the year. This glasshouse has a minimum winter night temperature of 10 degree , similar to the Mediterranean.

ARID HOUSE

A glasshouse for plants from climates with low, irregular rainfall but also for plants of dry locations such as cliffs, deserts or tree branches. This house is allowed to follow ambient temperatures except for low-level heating in times of frost. Water is given about three times weekly in summer, reducing to zero between October and March. Plants range from tall cacti and succulents from Central America to drought tolerant shrubs like mimosa and bottle brush from Australia and living stones from South Africa. This glasshouse has a minimum winter night temperature of 7 degree.

The Butterfly house is home to colourful tropical butterflies from the Philippines, Central America and tropical parts of Africa. It was a treat to watch these butterflies drinking from exotic, scented, nectar rich plants like Lantana, Trachelospermum and Heliotrope. I enjoyed seeing them feeding on sugar-water feeders and saucers of fermenting  fruit like banana, apple and oranges. It was lovely being amidst these beautiful butterflies which were flying around us. One landed on me-I wanted to take a selfie but thought it may not stay on me till then. So I concentrated on enjoying it.

 

We were told that these butterflies are not always flying like these. On cloudy days they prefer to rest in the foliage and are camouflaged as 'dead leaves'.  We were lucky that first of all the butterfly house was opened and over that it being sunny day they were dancing and flying around.

 

It seems each week 100 new pupae are placed in the emerging case- they are attached to bamboo canes with glue! Some of the pupae may hatch on the same day, whilst others take a week or so.

 

STAR PLANTS

 

Colourful plants can be found in all corners of the gardens. A few are highlighted as  plant of the month . In addition there are some plants in the collection that stand out because of their historical association with the gardens, the people that collected them or their botanical interest:

 

CEDRUS DEODARA (HIMALAYAN CEDAR)

The view from the terrace is dominated by two fine specimens of the Himalayan cedar planted near the fountain. Distinguished by their fresh green needles on descending branches the seeds of these trees were given to the gardens in the 1840's by James Watt the younger, then resident at Aston Hall, the son of James Watt the engineer who developed the steam power that drove the industrial revolution.

DICKSONIA X LATHAMII

Described in the Gardeners' Chronicle of 1885 as 'this very noble fern which appears to be of hybrid origin, was raised by Mr W. B. Latham, Curator at Birmingham, after whom we have named it'. It is a hybrid between the familiar Dicksonia antarctica found in many gardens and the rare and difficult to cultivate Dicksoina arborescens from the Island of St. Helena. The original plant is unique and still grows in garden's sub-tropical house more than 100 years after the chance hybrid occurred.

DAVIDIA INVOLUCRATA (THE HANDKERCHIEF TREE)

This magnificent tree is in the Wilson Walk, and is the highlight of the gardens when in flower in late May and early June. Ernest Henry Wilson studied here in the 1890's before becoming one of the most successful plant hunters and being re-christened 'Chinese' Wilson in recognition of his four long expeditions to China. The seed of this tree was the main object of his first trip to China for the famous Veitch nurseries.

LILIUM REGALE (REGAL LILY)

If the handkerchief tree is arguably Wilson's most famous tree introduction, the regal lily is certainly his most important bulb. It is beautiful, reasonably easy to grow and will flower in two years from seed. It took two attempts to successfully introduce it to cultivation and nearly cost Wilson his life after he was caught in an avalanche and severely injured. He acquired the lily and an injured leg that gave him his characteristic 'lily limp'. Drifts of the lily can be found in the Alpine yard, Pinetum and cottage gardens.

CAMELLIA SINENSIS (TEA)

Camellia sinensis. It is not a particularly showy plant, nor quite hardy in the British Isles. It is grown in sub-tropical house. Many of the plants in garden's heated houses are grown to show visitors these economic plants that we all depend on.

WOLLEMIA NOBILIS (WOLLEMI PINE)

Once in a while a spectacular find is made, a tree new to science from the age of the dinosaurs. In 1994 in a canyon just north of Sydney in Australia a few specimens of a conifer closely related to the monkey puzzle were discovered. Wollemia nobilis is named after the park where it was discovered. Since 1994 less than 100 have been found in the wild in locations that are closely guarded secrets. They are now available commercially, the money goes towards safeguarding the wild populations.

During our visit, we were told many interesting things like: How do bananas and pineapples grow? Why is white chocolate white, but milk chocolate brown? Why do cactus plants look so strange? What is a Tenrec?

 

At Birmingham Botanical Gardens, the experience was like an authentic rainforest adventure! We walked straight from experiencing hot and humid tropical conditions into a desert climate and observed the changes to plants due to the seasons.

 

There are many schools which bring their pupils here for trip for them to study the tropical seeds, food products and tribal artefacts to learn about the fascinating rainforest environment have them become detectives and solve cryptic clues that lead to some of the most interesting and astounding plants have them learn about and handle garden's unique and exotic animal collection have them hunt for pond creatures and minibeasts in the extensive, beautiful gardens and lot of other exciting stuff.

There are expertly-taught, cross-curricular teaching sessions tailor-made to pupils' age group in which the experts share their knowledge and experience of the gardens, gained over 185 years. Teaching sessions take place in the dedicated classrooms inside the 'Birmingham Botanical Gardens' , in the glasshouses or out in the gardens.

 

QUALITY BADGE

The Gardens are recognised as a centre of excellence and have been awarded a Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge in recognition of their high-quality education service.

GROWING SCHOOLS GARDEN AWARD

Birmingham Botanical Gardens are awarded a Growing Schools Garden Award in recognition by the Department for Education that gardens:

– Exemplify good practice, including risk management, in children's learning in the natural environment.

– Provide access to gardens that offer a range of plant displays and opportunities for learning outside the classroom.

 -Are host to teacher training and educators to develop outside classrooms for learning.

 

The Gardens looked lovely, with many trees and shrubs changing colour. We could see yellow, orange, red and purple all around. The carpets of fallen leaves looked highly decorative.

We were told that clearing leaves (to clear pathways) is a very time consuming but vital job. Garden management is looking for ways to make this job easier, by investigating the purchase of a leaf suction machine that will pump leaves straight into the trailer. The large fan, which picks up the leaves, will also shred them, helping them break down to compost faster.

Gardeners and volunteers get busy lifting tender plants and placing them in a frost-free area in the Nursery. When these plants are lifted it is important to put them in a fairly light, free draining material, as dense compost could get too wet and cause rotting.

We could see the staff already raking up leaves as they fall and put them in the compost bays. It seems that last year's composted leaves will be spread on the precious bulbs in the Winter Border. Other compost made from grass cuttings, the old bedding and general green waste will also be distributed around the Garden, adding vital nutrients and humus back into the soil.

Overall, my trip to Birmingham Botanical Gardens was knowledgeable and exposure to these gardens definitely widened my horizons and made me feel really close to nature. I learnt about rainforest plants, their by-products and I could relate what I learnt last year in my Biology to a real environment. It was like wonder of nature.

 

Source:

http://www.birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk/