University of Oxford Botanic Garden

About this experience

The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in Great Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. The garden was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal research. Today it contains over 5,000 different plant species on 1.8 ha (4+1⁄2 acres). It is one of the most diverse yet compact collections of plants in the world and includes representatives from over 90% of the higher plant families.

The Garden comprises three sections:

• the Walled Garden, surrounded by the original seventeenth-century stonework and home to the Garden's oldest tree; an English yew, Taxus baccata
  


• the Glasshouses, which allow the cultivation of plants needing protection from the extremes of British weather


• the Lower garden


• the area between the Walled Garden and the River Cherwell

A satellite site, the Harcourt Arboretum, is located six miles (9.7 km) south of Oxford.