Birmingham Botanical Gardens: nearly two centuries of glasshouses and greenery

A mile from the city centre, on Westbourne Road in Edgbaston, lies what the charity that runs it calls Birmingham's Garden: its green and generous heart. Birmingham Botanical Gardens has been delighting visitors for almost two centuries.

It began in 1829, when local business and professional men formed the Birmingham Botanical and Horticultural Society, under the presidency of the Earl of Dartmouth, to create a botanic garden. They chose Holly Bank, an 18-acre farm on Lord Calthorpe's Edgbaston estate, and asked John Claudius Loudon, a leading garden planner and horticultural writer, to draw up a plan. Loudon's grand design for a vast conservatory was rejected as too expensive, but much of his layout survives. The gardens opened to society members on 11 June 1832.

The glasshouses are the stars. The Tropical House dates from 1852 and was rebuilt in 1990 to 1991, the Palm House dates from 1871, and the south range from 1884. Today there are four Victorian glasshouses, tropical, subtropical, Mediterranean and arid, with plants ranging from rice and cocoa to orchids, citrus and cacti. The site is on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest at Grade II*.

Outdoors there is plenty to explore too: alpine gardens, bog and fern gardens, a Japanese garden, a pinetum and an adventure playground. The gardens say they hold more than 30,000 plants. Since 1993 they have also been home to the British National Bonsai Collection, whose oldest specimen, the Omiya tree, is a Chinese juniper around 250 years old, given by the Japanese city of Omiya in 1995.

The gardens remain an independent charity that receives no regular public funding, relying on tickets, its cafe, its shop and individual giving. Exciting change lies ahead: the Growing Our Green Heritage project, made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, is preparing the gardens for a transformation, and the charity says every visit helps support it.

Whether you come for the glasshouses on a grey day, the bonsai or a family picnic on the lawns, it is a peaceful escape barely a mile from the city's busy streets.

Opening times, tickets and events are listed on the Birmingham Botanical Gardens website.