Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh

Highlights of Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden

From the gardens, you can experience a magnificent view of the city, including the prominently visible Edinburgh Castle and grounds. The 10 majestic glasshouses are  guest favorites, as they hold over 3,000 plants from various parts of the world, with each providing a specific climate, such as a dry desert or humid tropics. There are also numerous other features to investigate, including an Arboretum, Health Garden, Rock Garden, Chinese Hillside, Woodland Garden, the Rhododendron Collection and the Pond. The Edible Gardening Project Market Garden provides hand-picked fruits, vegetables, salad leaves and edible flowers featured in the onsite Terrace Café menu items. The menu changes often to allow chefs to utilize available crops, and any ingredients that haven’t been grown onsite are carefully selected from local sources located within 100 miles of the garden.

Glasshouses Of Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden

The original 2 Victorian Palm Houses were built in 1834 and 1858, and a 1967 initiative added 6 more zones to the collection. The final 2 clear-span glasshouses were added in 1978. In the Ferns and Fossils house, you'll be surrounded by a thicket of tall tree ferns that typically thrive in Australasia cloud forests. Smaller, fragile species of ferns grow in the shelter of these. The Montane Tropics House is one of the 2 more modern clear-span, high-altitude glasshouses designed for Southeast Asian plants. This particular glasshouse represents the area between Indonesia and Borneo, which is quite mountainous. You'll find an impressively large display of Vireya rhododendrons as well as carnivorous plants, like the Venus flytrap and cobra lily. The remaining glasshouses include the Plants and People, Rainforest Riches, Tropical Palm, Lowland Tropics Temperate Lands and Orchids and Cycads Houses.

Good to know about Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden

You can find the gardens located just a mile from the city centre at the intersection of Inverleith Place and Arboretum Place. The onsite restaurants offer you the opportunity to dine outdoors in the garden or take a break and head inside. The options range from coffee and light snacks to gourmet 3-course dinners. No trip is complete without a stop at The Edinburgh Botanics and Garden Shops where you can find garden-inspired jewelry, books and homeware, as well as exotic seeds and bulbs. While you're in the area, you may want to check out Calton Hill, which offers wonderful views and historic neoclassical monuments, or you may be able to catch a show at the Edinburgh Playhouse.