The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) – the Botanics – is a place which is very special to everyone in the capital.
This autumn the world-leading institution is marking a distinct moment in the Garden’s history with the opening of the newly redeveloped A-listed Palm Houses on 2 October.
This is part of the Edinburgh Biomes programme, and is hailed as the most ambitious restoration scheme in the history of the Botanics. As well as plants to see, there is a new visitor experience with films and other multimedia and multisensory digital tours. And watch out for the ladybirds! Almost 1,000 ladybirds have been introduced in the Palm Houses to help protect the plants from any other insects.
The oasis of calm in Inverleith has been completely refurbished with all 5,750 panes of glass replaced either with new ones, or created with bespoke templates. In the domes which tower over the Garden all of the glass has been laminated and the panes on the upright walls have been toughened to help resist weather damage from expected storms.
Inside, the Palm Houses were emptied of more than 800 specimens before the restoration could begin, offering each one its own space to live and breathe. A noted specimen is the towering stone gate palm which stands more than eight metres tall. It is believed to be the tallest of its kind in cultivation outside China.
A young sabal palm, the 10-year-old offshoot of one of the Garden’s oldest and most celebrated plants, the Sabal mexicana, estimated to be around 200 years old when it was felled in 2021, has been planted in the Palm Houses. Some of the specimens are endangered in the wild and were meticulously cared for during the construction phase.
But the most striking feature is that the Palm Houses are no longer split into temperate and tropical zones. The central partition was removed and the space is now one temperate climate zone. The original houses were built in 1834 and in 1858, and the Temperate Palm House was (and is) one of the tallest traditional Palm Houses in the world.
In 1834 the Tropical Palm House was built for £1,500 but the most recent 21st century project cost considerably more – and took five years to complete. More than £10.6m was raised from philanthropic fundraising and a separate public appeal which raised around £250,000.
Professor Julia Knights, Regius Keeper at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, said: “We’re so excited about visitors coming through the doors again this Friday, and what we’ve done is an incredible restoration.
“As you can see, all 5,750 panes of glass have been replaced with climate resilient glass. All 600 square metres of wrought ironwork has been restored, and 500 square metres of sandstone has also been restored.
“We’ve opened up the tropical palm house and the temperate palm house for the very first time to make one vast cathedral-like space of plants, palms, ferns, and fronds.”
RBGE has a herbarium of more than three million specimens, and a living collection of 13,500 plant species.
Although entry to the Palm Houses is ticketed the remainder of the Garden is free to access.
Tickets can be purchased on the website with allocated time slots regularly available throughout each day.
Everyone who wishes to go and see the impressive new space is encouraged to book ahead online.
rbge.org.uk/palm-houses
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