New Year Fun Run 2020

Registration for this event has now closed.

On Thursday 2^nd January at 11am and until 1pm there will be a 5k fun run around the paths of the University Botanic Garden to get yourself in shape for the New Year. The event caters for all ages and ambitions, just walk or break the record! Your reward, as well as a good time, will include seasonal refreshments in the education centre at the end of the run.

As of today (1st Jan) the weather on the 2nd is expected to be cool and largely cloudy, with a fresh wind from the south west.

Best wishes for the festive season,

The Friends’ Committee.

Summer holiday rock search!

The holidays are nearly here. Come on down and try our Summer Holiday Rock Search. There are map sheets, clipboards and pencils at Reception. And this time the rocks stay where you find them - no need to re-hide! The theme is birds, bees, and butterflies.
Normal entrance charges to the Garden apply. But we're very sorry no dogs are allowed in the Garden.

Between Mon 1st July and Fri 30th August, Monday to Friday only, the Garden will remain open until 8.30pm.

Friends plant sale Saturday 25th May from 11am.

Come along and buy some plants as well as enjoying other events in the Garden as part of Plant Power Day. Free entry and lots of activities for the whole family.

Plant of the Month April 2019

Corylopsis spicata (Winter hazel)

Family:  Hamamelidaceae
Origin: Japan
Location: Asian Plants
Accession: 1975

Corylopsis spicata is in the Witch Hazel family, a deciduous shrub up to 2m in height and 3m wide, native to Japan. The racemes of bell-shaped scented pale yellow flowers with red anthers are borne on bare stems in late winter and early spring. The alternate, broadly ovate, leaves are bristled with toothed edges, blue-green underneath and bright-green above. Leaf buds change from dark-red to dark green as the leaves emerge. It prefers moist, well-drained, acid soil and a sheltered site with partial shade.

In the Garden at the moment.

In the temperate glasshouse

Rhododendron in the temperate glasshouse

Aloe succotrina in the temperate glasshouse

Silver stemmed bramble beside the pond.

Plant of the Month March 2019

Pinus pumila (Dwarf Siberian Pine)

Family: Pinaceae
Origin: NE Asia
Location: Beside Native Plants
Accession: 1971

Pinus pumila is a coniferous evergreen shrub ranging from 1–3m in height. The leaves are needle-like, formed in bundles of five and are 4–6cm long. The cones are 2.5-4.5cm long, with large nut-like seeds. It is a native of north-eastern Asia, its range including eastern Siberia, north-east Mongolia, north-east China, northern Japan and Korea. It can be found along mountain chains, where it forms uninterrupted hard-to-pass thickets, and alongside the Okhotsk and Bering Seas and Pacific coast. It grows very slowly, especially in harsh conditions, and can live up to 300 and even 1000 years. It is often grown in ornamental parks and gardens

  

Plant of the month February 2019

Hedera cypria (Cyprus ivy)

Family: Araliaceae

Origin: Europe

Location: Mediterranean Area

Accession: 1988

An attractive and vigorous species of ivy, with thick, dark green, triangular leaves marked with silvery veins, endemic to the island of Cyprus. It grows up to 20m high by means of aerial adventitious roots or makes a good ground cover. Ivies have enormous value to wildlife, providing year-round shelter for many creatures including birds, small mammals and invertebrates. In flower, they provide an invaluable late source of nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinators. Ivy fruits are much appreciated by birds in late winter when other food sources are scarce.

Plant of the Month January 2019

Aloe arborescens (Candelabra aloe)

Family:  Aloeaceae
Origin: Temperate South Africa
Location: Temperate glasshouse
Accession: 1976

This species of aloe reaches 2-3m in height, with many rosettes of blue-green fleshy leaves with soft teeth running along their edges. Tall orange-red racemes of flowers, full of nectar, rise from the rosettes attracting butterflies, birds and bees in the cold winter months. It grows on rocky outcrops in its native South Africa and has been used to fence livestock enclosures. The succulent leaves contain a pulp that is known to soothe the skin, especially from burning and redness, and has many other medicinal uses.

Fun Run 2019

This year's New Year 5k fun run was the largest so far with over 120 attending. The morning was crispy cold and bathed in sunshine. This year's winning time was 17' 51", but for many this was just an opportunity to have an enjoyable walk with friends and family. The run is now a fixture and for the first time we had regular visitors to the Garden while the run was on.