Stuck for a day out? Come to the Gardens!

We hope you saw the coverage of the Gardens hosting the Queen’s Baton Relay for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games last month.

It was a spectacular occasion. We were able to showcase this wonderful heritage site to media from all over the world, and we also welcomed dozens of VIPs and guests who enjoyed the buzz of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The gardening team and volunteers always work hard, but they pulled out all the stops to ensure every corner of our 15 acres looked spectacular for the relay event.

If you visit us this month, you can still enjoy the vibrant bedding scheme on the Loudon Terrace, which have a blue, green and yellow colour scheme – the colours of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Continuing the Games theme, we have also created a wonderful Commonwealth trail for visitors as part of the city’s celebrations. There are two trails: one with 54 national flowering and shrub plants and another with 54 national crops of the Commonwealth.

Grown inside the display glasshouses and relevant garden areas, they include Mozambique chilli plants and Tuvalu’s peachy plumeria flowers, plus watermelons from Sierra Leone and Samoan ginger roots, as well as more unusual plants such as the pigeon pea flower from The Bahamas.

With the school summer holidays underway, why not get your children to find as many of these plants as possible? We also have other activities for your young ones to enjoy while they are here. Afterwards, you can reward them for their hard work with some time in our playground and even an ice cream from the café.

We’re really proud of the herbaceous border looks this summer – it is a riot of colour. We’re holding a guided tour of the herbaceous border on Thursday, August 25, where you can learn all about how to plant a spectacular display. Tours are included in your ticket price, so just turn up at reception at 1 pm if you’d like to join one of our expert gardeners for the hour-long tour.

Another must-see this summer is the Butterfly House, which is packed with beautiful specimens from all over the world, while the grass garden is starting to fill out nicely with its jungle-like foliage and colour. Think grasses are boring? A visit to our grass garden should change your mind!

If you haven’t visited the Gardens before – or you’ve not been for a while – we’d love to welcome you. You might not realise we are an independent educational charity without regular public funding. Instead, our income is from generous public donations, grants, conferences, weddings, and other events.

We love to see your photos and videos, too, so if you do visit us, please keep posting them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and let us know what you have enjoyed on your visit here. We look forward to seeing you all this month.

 

Want to visit the gardens with your family? Check out the top 5 things to do with your family in Birmingham Botanical Gardens.