I was on family chauffeuring "duties" on Tuesday afternoon and had a spare couple of hours so to while away time I decided to visit Birmingham Botanical Gardens in Edgbaston. I haven't been since we took D and E when they were small. The site covers 15 acres and was founded in 1829.
There were lots of Spring flowers blooming in the gardens - daffodils, crocuses, primulas, camelias and rhodendron.
There is a part of the Gardens designed, I believe, mainly for children called The Kingdom of the Green Man. The area contains a playground and the Green Man's House Teulon Cottage surrounded by a lovely cottage and herb garden.
Nearby are the Historic Gardens featuring a Roman, Medieval and Tudor Garden. Unfortunately, the area was very shady so the only photo that really turned out was this one of a statue.
More colourful flowers as I wandered around.
The Rock Garden and Pool were very picturesque and the quietest part of the gardens.
The Growing Schools Garden formed part of the "Story of Horticulture" section
Aviaries
There are four glasshouses - Tropical, Sub-tropical, Mediterranean and Arid
There was an excellent collection of colourful foliage plants in the Mediterranean Glasshouse
The Sub-tropical house including a section on carnivorous plants
You can see the Japanese Garden through this window.
A small courtyard houses some trees from the National Bonsai Collection
There was a good selection of sculptures scattered throughout the gardens
I mentioned a few posts ago that I was determined to buy some Echinops plants for the garden this year to encourage pollinators and I was really pleased to find them on sale in the shop. I bought two :)
