The gates of this year’s 2-for-1 Gardens may be closed at the moment, but that doesn’t mean the gardens have gone quiet. There’s plenty to be done for gardeners’ protecting and nurturing important species from around the world in superb botanical gardens here in the UK. We have rounded up a selection of five virtual garden tours giving you a peek into the plant care taking place during this period of lockdown.
Botanical garden tours
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Rock Garden Supervisor, Thomas Freeth takes you on a tour behind the scenes in the Rock Garden at Kew Gardens, to show you the important work still happening during lockdown protecting rare and threatened plant species.
You can see more virtual tours filmed during lockdown on the official Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew YouTube page.
Eden Project
Skilled Horticulturist, Lucie Oldale has been single-handedly caring for the Rainforest Biome at the Eden Project during lockdown, as well as looking after the resident partridges. See what Lucie has been up to in the world’s largest indoor captive rainforest in this virtual biome tour.
You can see more virtual tours and videos from Eden Project on their on the official YouTube page.
Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh
The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh are this year celebrating their 350th year anniversary and at this time would normally be exhibiting at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. In this video they celebrate the glorious meconopsis flower – star of our May issue cover!
Enjoy more spring highlights and video tours from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on their website rgbe.org.uk
Ness Botanic Gardens
Head Gardener, Phil Kay, has been filming regular short videos exploring beautiful plants and interesting specimens around the grounds at Ness Botanic Gardens, as part of a Virtual Explorer Series. In this video Phil provides a two-minute snapshot of the Mediterranean Bank.
See more videos at Ness Botanic Gardens on their YouTube channel.
University of Bristol Botanic Garden
The gardener at Bristol Botanic Gardens looks at the magnificent Nelumbo nucifera (sacred lotus) and its fascinating leaf structure in this short video, part of a series of videos for those missing visiting the gardens at this time, all available on the @brisbotanicgdn Instagram account.
Order May issue with 2-for-1 Card & Guide 2020
We can’t wait for the gates to re-open so we can start to visit these gardens again. Make sure you have a copy of our May issue with 2-for-1 Gardens to Visit Card & Guide 2020-21 available to order online to make great savings at 461 spectacular gardens taking part in the scheme this year.
See more virtual garden tours
