We’re thrilled to announce that Birmingham Botanical Gardens has been awarded £188,000 from the National Lottery Cultural Recovery Fund for Heritage.

The award – the largest that we have received for 22 years – is announced this morning (October 9, 2020) by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as part of its £1.57 billion Here For Culture campaign that is supporting performing arts, heritage sites, independent cinemas, music venues and museums across the country.

We are one of 445 heritage organisations across the country set to receive the financial boost from the government, sharing £103 million to help restart vital reconstruction work and maintenance on heritage sites, keeping venues open, and supporting those working in the sector.

We closed our doors on March 24 when the country was put into lockdown, reopening 12 weeks later in June, and despite a healthy number of visitors returning to the Gardens since then, we have received no revenue income from schools, events, weddings, or conferences.

Elizabeth Frostick, Development Director, said the £188,000 grant covers the next six months, helping to secure the short-term future of the Gardens, which have been welcoming visitors since 1832. It will also support its partnership work with the National Trust to produce a masterplan and a more sustainable future business plan for the Gardens.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have been awarded this grant from the Cultural Recovery Fund for Heritage,” she said. “The award, which we won following a rigorous competitive process, gives us much welcome breathing space after losing most of our income over the past few months and gives us the funds for vital work, including the upgrading of our digital systems.”

Martyn Liberson, Chairman of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens trustees, added: “This is a hugely significant and most welcome funding stream for the Gardens, which will help us to keep investing in its future. Because we rely solely on revenue from our visitors, members, and charitable donations, this grant enables us to focus on recovery as we redouble our efforts to secure the gardens for future generations.”

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “As a nation, it is essential that we preserve our heritage and celebrate and learn from our past. This massive support package will protect our shared heritage for future generations, save jobs, and help us prepare for a cultural bounceback post-Covid.”

Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of the National Lottery Heritage Fund said: “It is absolutely right that investing in heritage should be a priority during this crisis and this support by Government is crucial.  Heritage creates jobs and economic prosperity, is a major driver for tourism and makes our towns, cities, and rural areas better places to live.  All of this is so important for our wellbeing and will be particularly vital when we start to emerge from this incredibly difficult time.

“Our heritage is still facing a perilous future – we are not out of the woods yet.  But this hugely welcome funding from Government, and the money we continue to invest from the National Lottery, has undoubtedly stopped heritage and the organisations that care for it being permanently lost.”

Earlier this year, the Gardens was awarded £47,500 from the National Lottery Heritage Emergency Fund to help it meet its running costs after the National Lottery made £50million available to those most in need across the heritage sector.

During the lockdown, the charity also raised £1,265, taking part in the 2.6 Challenge in April, the online campaign to support UK charities, with more than 30 donations from supporters.

We’re proud of the Gardens’ long and rich history and are fascinated when we have the privilege of seeing first-hand a glimpse into our visitors’ minds from days long gone.

 

This charming picture postcard, sent to one of our trustees, is one of those times when you see a parallel with today’s events.

Sent by a couple named Gert and Fred to a friend or relation named Lizzie in the summer of 1919, this postcard serves as a poignant reminder that however, we may feel at a given time in history, there is always hope. 

July 1919 is eight months after the end of the devastating First World War and a time when the globe was in the grip of Spanish Flu, which claimed millions of lives.

While there were no UK-wide or regional lockdowns, like those we are living through at the moment, the government imposed some restrictions, such as closing dance halls, cinemas, theatres, and churches for months. Some people wore anti-germ masks and there were public health campaigns, too, to help minimise infection rates – and, of course, conspiracy theories and false information abounded.

You can’t help but wonder if Gert, Fred, and Lizzie felt how we are feeling now about Covid-19. Just like today, the Gardens provided a wonderfully tranquil place where visitors could free their minds, enjoy the advantages of fresh air and a good walk in inspiring surroundings.

Gert and Fred clearly enjoyed their day out at the Gardens – and this summer, more than any, we’ve loved seeing friends and families enjoy the safe space of the Gardens, taking long and lazy picnics on the lawn (just like our writers here) and enjoying live music from our historic bandstand, which continued through August and September.

As the weather cools, you might be wrapped up a little more and you might not linger so long on the lawn with a basket of goodies, but as this charming picture postcard from 101 years ago shows, the Gardens remain a beautiful space that can raise anyone’s spirits.

The change from summer to autumn comes quickly, doesn’t it? While we’re enjoying some beautiful days, the nip in the air is unmistakable.

For the gardening team, it means adding a few more layers of clothing and bringing out the waterproofs in readiness for the ongoing seasonal task of sweeping and collecting the leaves that shower down from the trees on to the lawns and borders.

 

 

We’ll collect hundreds of bags-worth of leaves over the next few weeks, which will be rotted down to make the perfect leaf mould in about 12-24 months. If you haven’t made leaf mould from leaves in your own garden, it’s definitely worth it and it takes minimal effort. Adding leaf mould to your soil enriches it, helps to maintain a crumbly texture and improves water retention.   

We’ll also be giving the lawns their final mowing of the year, making sure the grass is healthy and strong to withstand winter.

As we say goodbye to summer, we’ll be removing all the summer bedding from the terrace and car park and will be replacing them with polyanthus and spring bulbs, and we’ll be taking out the cacti and other heat-loving succulents from the terrace and storing them in the nursery until next summer. We’ll also be planting hundreds of hyacinth and narcissi in pots, ready for a bright and colourful spring display in the Mediterranean House.

 

 

There’s still plenty of rich colour and texture to enjoy around the Gardens in October. The dahlias are still blooming beautifully on the terrace – and will do until the first of the frosts touches them – while the nerines and cyclamen look stunning on display in the Hartley House in the Alan King Alpine Garden.

You can’t beat acers for autumn leaf colour and we’d encourage you to come and admire the A. palmatum ‘Dissectum’ in the Rock Garden and A. ‘October Glory’ on the main lawn, Liquidambar styraciflua (sweet gum) on the American bank, and the 200-year-old copper beech next to aviary.

The Grass Garden also comes into its own at this time of year, especially in the low autumn light, with its ornamental seed heads and late flowering.

 

Elsewhere, there’s a lot going on in the Gardens: we’ll start planting up the Urban Garden, so it’ll soon be finished and will hopefully provide anyone with small outdoor spaces with lots of inspiration. We’re also excited to see the restoration start on our beautiful and historic bandstand, which will bring it back to its original 1874 glory. We’ll post photos on our social media platforms, so keep checking Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates.

On the colder days, it’s always lovely to warm up in the glasshouses and see what we’re growing in there. And don’t forget a visit to the gift shop, which has a whole host of lovely, botanical-inspired gifts and cards (you can visit the gift shop at any time – you don’t have to be a paying visitor. Do take advantage of that and stock up on some lovely items).

Enjoy October and we’ll see you soon.

The restoration of our historic bandstand is due to begin next month after a 12-month campaign to raise £138,000.

The local landmark, which nestles in our Grade II* listed 15-acre grounds, is in a poor state of repair and requires extensive work, including roof repairs and reinstating some original features, by conservation specialists.

We launched our Taking A Stand! fundraising campaign last year to secure the amount needed to bring the bandstand to its original 1874 glory so that it can be used as an all-weather outdoor space for school groups and be a platform for music and other events.

The project has since received a substantial donation from The Peter Sowerby Foundation, and generous support from the Garfield Weston Foundation, GJW Turner Trust, 29th May 1961 Trust, Feeney Trust and Grimmitt Trust – as well as money from members of the public.

Now, with just £7,500 needed to reach the target, work is due to start on the historic bandstand at the beginning of October.

Liz Frostick, Development Director, said safeguarding the historic feature, which was where Neville Chamberlain gave his first public speech as Prime Minister in 1937 and later used as an air raid shelter in the Second World War, will also improve the access for visitors, and enhance its educational and social value. 

She said: “We are thrilled that the project has the support of a number of prestigious national and local trusts and individual supporters and are especially grateful for the major donation from the Peter Sowerby Foundation, without whom this project would not have been possible. In recognition of this generous donation, it will be called The Peter Sowerby Bandstand.

“We are one of the UK’s most historically important botanic gardens and as a charity, we receive no regular public funding, so we must rely on the generosity of public donations, grants and income we can generate, which has obviously been very difficult this year. Every pound we receive takes us closer to our target.”

The Gardens has appointed Donald Insall Associates Ltd as conservation architects, Reynolds Conservation Ltd for conservation works and PMP Consultants as cost consultants. 

If you’d like to donate to the bandstand fundraiser, please visit our JustGiving page or you can make a cash or cheque donation at the Gardens in one of the donation boxes or it can be given to a member of staff.

To make a donation by post, make cheques payable to “Birmingham Botanical Gardens ” and attach a covering letter with your contact details. Cheques can be sent to Finance Manager, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Bandstand Appeal, Westbourne Road, Edgbaston, B15 3TR. UK taxpayer can ask their donation to be subject to GIFT AID, which boosts the donation by 25%, thanks to Government funding.

Meet our two trainee gardeners, Lewis Belcher and Cat Watton, who have joined us for the next 12 months to learn from our experienced horticultural team.

Cat, aged 32 from Stirchley, gained her traineeship through the WRAG Scheme (Work and Retrain As a Gardener Scheme), which provides paid, part-time, practical horticultural training for 12 months, while Lewis’s traineeship is via the Historic and Botanic Garden Traineeship Scheme (HBGTP), which offers salaried and fully-funded one-year placements for trainees.

Twenty-six-year-old Lewis, from Kings Norton, began his scheme last year, but it has since been extended for 12 months, thanks to the generous support of the HBGTP traineeship because the pandemic led to nationwide closures of attractions.

He said: “I was studying and volunteering on site and when I saw the opportunity of a traineeship arose, I realised I had to go there.

“After a bit of research online, I soon realised that that was exactly the sort of scheme I was interested in doing. At the beginning, I was a bit scared because of the competition in the interview process, but when I finally got the placement I was over the moon.

“I need to get more experience as possible working with different colleagues and in different gardens. I hope I’ll eventually get into a senior position in horticulture, so having the opportunity to teach and manage a team.” 

Cat, who is a trained landscape architect who has decided to move into the world of horticulture, said she recognised that she had the rare opportunity to gain a placement in a garden that offers such a botanical and horticultural variety.

“It’s great to be immersed in a place with so much history and tradition,” she said. “I was really lucky to find a placement in Birmingham and the level of variety at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens really makes me willing to work and study very hard.”

Head gardener Wayne Williams said: “It’s really important to us to attract new horticultural talent as we strive to maintain and improve these 188-year-old gardens. We have an incredibly experienced, yet small team of gardeners here and we’re all keen to help our trainees learn new skills so that they can thrive in their chosen career path. We’re excited that Cat and Lewis are working with us.”

Would you like to be a volunteer at Birmingham Botanical Gardens? Click here to find out more about the volunteering opportunities we have available at the Gardens.

After three months of construction work, the building of the Urban Garden – a new area of the Gardens – is finished, thanks to JG Landscaping and Wilson Associates Garden Design.

The next stage is the planting; our gardening team is getting ready to start filling the planters and borders to create seasonal displays.

We’re looking forward to unveiling this new space, so keep an eye out for more news on this project, which is being developed with the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens who also raised the funds needed too.

The £40,000 scheme is being supported by a grant of £10,000 from the Calthorpe Residents Society. This is part of the Birmingham City Council’s Local Innovation Fund which was given to the Residents’ Society for the development of a community hub at the Gardens. A further donation of £7,000 has been made by The Property For Kids Trust.

Thousands of pounds worth of materials have also been secured by award-winning garden designer Martyn Wilson, of Wilson Associates Garden Design, from donors including London Stone.

As we slowly start to head into autumn, the gardening team will be doing all it can to ensure the last flowers of summer continue to bloom for as long as possible and that the later specimens are ready to make their grand appearance.

If you visit this month, you’ll still be able to enjoy the cacti and succulents on the Terrace. They’re looking splendid this year and the display is impressive – we’ll be tidying up the area, too, so the beds they are planted in look their best.

Have you seen our roses this year? The Rose Garden is also having a spectacular year, with the flowers continuing to flush – the scent is heady and the colours look beautiful. Deadheading is crucial to keeping roses going, so we’ll be checking the shrubs regularly to make sure we can enjoy as many roses as possible until the end of the month.

The dahlias on the Terrace are also enjoying their warm spot this year. If you visit this month, keep an eye on Dahlia imperialis (the tree dahlia), which is located close to the entrance of the Subtropical House. This stunning species flowers later in the year, so we’re looking forward to the late burst of colour.

Another of our big tasks for September is working on the new Urban Garden. As you may know, we’re transforming the site of a former Hampton Court Flower Show garden into a space that has four distinct areas that will demonstrate what can be achieved in a small space.

The project is being developed with the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens, which has developed and raised funds for the project, which will also be used for demonstrations and activities.

Our task for this month is to carry on working on the hard and soft landscaping. It’s coming along nicely and we’re looking forward to unveiling it to visitors, once it is completed.

We hope we can see as many of you as possible in the next few weeks – we can’t think of a more beautiful place to come and relax.

With so much happening in the world right now, it’s normal to feel anxious or worried. 

To help alleviate these feelings, spending time in nature could be the answer. Research has found that spending time outdoors could help with mental health problems including anxiety and depression. This could be due to the combination of regular physical activity and social contact with being outside in nature. 

In the current circumstances, we want to make the most of the time we can get outdoors after months of being confined to the same living space. With plenty of green open space, Birmingham Botanical Gardens is the perfect place to take some time out for yourself. 

 

 

One way we can promote positive mental health is through practising mindfulness. 

What is mindfulness? 

Mindfulness is the quality of being present and fully engaged with whatever we’re doing at that moment – free from distractions or judgement, whilst being aware of our thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in them. 

It sounds straightforward, but more often than not our thoughts wander and we lose touch with our body and what we are feeling. This then leads us to engage in obsessive thoughts about something that just happened or worrying about the future – and then we start to feel anxious. 

When we are mindful of our actions, we pay more attention to what we are doing. It’s the opposite of going through the motions, as instead, you are tuned into your senses, noticing your thoughts and emotions. 

No matter how far we drift away though, mindfulness is right there to get us back to where we are in the present. 

Mindfulness is a quality that every human being already possesses, it’s not something you have to conjure up, you just have to learn how to access it. 

How to be more mindful just by walking and breathing 

We can practice mindfulness in a range of different ways. Nearly every task we perform each day can be completed more mindfully — whether it’s brushing our teeth, eating lunch, talking with friends or exercising. 

Two ways in which we can practice mindfulness is through mindful walking and breathing. As two tasks we involuntarily complete each day, we tend to do these without much thought but both are equally powerful tools for managing our mental health. 

Mindful walking 

In everyday life, walking is usually an established and habituated action that requires very little concentration, which is why it’s almost become autonomous, and it’s easy to slip into a semi-conscious state of walking where the legs are moving but the mind is thinking about something different altogether. 

Walking meditation is a way to practice moving without a goal or intention. Mindful walking simply means walking while being aware while walking. Noticing each footstep as it hits the ground and feeling your breath as you breathe while you walk. 

With so much space to explore, the Gardens is a great place to wander around while you practise mindful walking. 

 

 

As you begin to walk around the Gardens, notice how the body feels. Just take a moment to observe and notice it. Start to notice what you see going on around you – where are you in the Gardens? Can you smell any flowers? Notice the colours and shapes around you. 

Let these sensations pass through your mind without any judgement. Just let everything be as it is while you walk mindfully. 

When you find your mind wandering bring your attention back to each footstep as it makes contact with the ground. Bring your attention to your breath and carry on walking. 

Mindful breathing 

There is a good reason why we often hear people say, “just breathe.” 

Mindful breathing is a very basic yet powerful mindfulness meditation practice – studies have shown that the ability to focus attention on your breath can actually help you deal with everyday stress, anxiety and emotional ups and downs. 

The most simplistic way to practice mindful breathing is by simply focusing your attention on your breathing—to its natural rhythm and flow and the way it feels on each inhale and exhale. 

Focusing on the breath is particularly helpful because it serves as an anchor–something you can turn your attention to at any time if you start to feel stressed or carried away by negative emotions. 

You can practice mindful breathing while standing, but ideally, you’ll be sitting in a comfortable position – there are benches around the Gardens for you to sit on, as well as the lawn. 

As you notice your breath, keep your back upright, but not too tight. Hands resting wherever they’re comfortable. Relax any areas of tightness or tension and just breathe. 

Notice and relax your body. 

Tune into your breath. Feel the natural flow of breath—in, out. You don’t need to do anything to your breath. Not long, not short, just natural. Notice where you feel your breath in your body. 

As you do this, you may notice your mind wandering and you may start thinking about other things. Just notice that your mind has wandered and then gently redirect your attention right back to the breathing. 

Stay here for five to seven minutes. Notice your breath, in silence. 

Visiting the Gardens 

With acres of open space and less external distractions, Birmingham Botanical Gardens is an ideal location to practice mindful walking and breathing. 

 

 

The Gardens are open to all visitors, but please note that tickets must be pre-booked ahead of your visit. This is to ensure we are able to monitor the number of visitors entering the Gardens at any one time. 

Tickets can be booked via our website, click here to read our reopening FAQs.