Westbourne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 3TR
t 0121 454 1860
www.birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk/the-glasshouses/
The Collection
The gardens are 6 hectares (15 acres) in size with a Tropical House, Subtropical House, Mediterranean House, and Arid House. The whole site contains around 7,000 accessions and it is an independent educational charity.
The Arid House has a collection of 80 species of cacti, succulents and caudiciforms, excluding non-succulent arid plants from other families. There is a mature Opuntia elatior (see photograph) which at 4m may be the largest specimen in the UK and is around 50 years old.
There has been an outdoor display for more than 30 years in the summer on the Loudon terrace containing Pachycereus pringlei, Opuntia stricta, Cleistocactus strausii, Aloe buettneri, Aloe polyphylla, and Agave attenuata, to mention just a few. The first of these was kindly donated by Winterbourne Botanic Garden to which it had been donated by BCSS chairman Ian Thwaites. The outdoor display was planted by Eddie Adams (Horticulturist) with the help of Nigel Hopes and Wyl Durrant (Horticulturists), Ben Taylor (apprentice) and Joshua Tranter (volunteer).
Nearest BCSS Branch
Birmingham: www.birmingham.bcss.org.uk
Meetings are held at Winterbourne. Please see the Branch website for meeting dates and programme.
The gardens host the Branch’s annual Autumn Show in early October (see the branch website).
A Member’s View
A sizeable botanical garden with lots to see and well worth a visit if you are in Birmingham, particularly if combined with a trip to Winterbourne.