ADVERTISING FEATURE Clockwise from left: The Glasshouse, Regius Keeper Simon Milne with colleagues at the 350th anniversary launch, Leith Walk (the Garden’s third site) with its Glasshouses and plantings to the rear, Robert Sibbald (RBGE co-founder), the first site of RBGE located near the Palace of Holyroodhouse, John Hope (after whom the John Hope Gateway is named)
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As it marks its 350th birthday, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh unveils a year-long programme of events
landscaped Garden growing rare and exotic species; an internationally renowned scientific institution; a popular visitor attraction for Edinburgh residents and tourists; and a centre for historically important archive materials.
The Botanics works in partnership with more than 35 countries on research and horticulture projects and its scientists discover and describe an average of one plant species new to science every week. Each year, its four Gardens in Scotland – Edinburgh, Benmore, Dawyck and Logan – attract over one million visitors and its education programmes reach 12,000 students around the globe.
The global challenges of the climate crisis and
biodiversity loss will provide the focus of the organisation’s effort for years to come.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is marking its 350th anniversary by undertaking a year-long programme of events and activities to celebrate its historic collections, its national and international achievements and to highlight the growing need to protect the world’s plants.
The Garden has just revealed a packed programme
of events for 2020, from a research expedition to Papua New Guinea to a big birthday party for the public in June.
The story began in 1670 when two intrepid doctors, Andrew Balfour and Robert Sibbald, established a physic garden near the Palace of Holyroodhouse to study and supply plants for medicinal purposes. The Garden prospered and, in 1675, moved to a larger site at Trinity Hospital, where Waverley Station now stands. In 1763, under the leadership of John Hope and
with an endowment from the Crown and Royal status, the Garden moved from the Old Town to Leith Walk. It remained there until 1820, when the Garden began the move to its current site in Inverleith.
Today, the Botanics is one of the world’s leading botanic gardens. It has many faces: a beautifully
30 THE LIST 1 Feb–31 Mar 2020