Cool gardens: All-year-round holiday memories in Edgbaston
A gem for gardeners to visit is Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ Mediterranean House, where it feels like a summer holiday all year.
For more on the gardens, you’ll find my post on the early autumn borders and on the tropical house. The extensive glasshouses were my favourites and I decided to cover each one individually – perfect inspiration. You’ll find more on the Subtropical House.
The Mediterranean House was built in 1884 and has retained its Victorian conservatory or orangery style, typical of early glasshouses popular with prosperous families in the 19th Century.
Birmingham Botanical Gardens Mediterranean House – Education
There’s an emphasis on education and pointing out the importance of plants from each region to us. The central beds are planted with citrus varieties including lemon, orange, lime, satsuma and the citron with fruits the size of a rugby ball.
This house also contains shrubs, including a dwarf pomegranate (Punica granatum var nana), carob-bean (Ceratonia siliqua), whose seeds were used to weigh gold in carats.
The plants on the raised benches contain traditional glasshouse ornamentals, including many varieties of Pelargoniums (pot geraniums), Coleus, and chrysanthemums in the autumn.
Birmingham Botanical Gardens Mediterranean House – Opening hours
- The gardens are at Westbourne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 3TR, open every day, except Christmas Day and Boxing Day, from 10am.
- From October to March: Doors close at 5pm, last entry 4.30pm.
- Christmas Eve: doors close at 3pm.
- April to September: Doors close at 6pm on weekdays and 7pm at weekends, last entry 30 minutes before closing.
For more information and special events, visit www.birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk.
Lovely blog post! The central beds sound like they’d be beautiful in person. Great to see an emphasis on educating people about different plants too. Thanks for sharing!