Glebe Road, Oadby, Leicester LE2 2LD
t 0116 271 2933
www2.le.ac.uk/institution/botanic-garden
The Collection
Begun in 1921 and at its present site in Oadby since 1947, the gardens currently comprise 16 acres surrounding four halls of residence. There are formal gardens, including beds planted according to botanical families, woodlands (and an arboretum), meadows, a water garden and ponds, and collections of fuchsias and aubrietias. Besides all this, there are of course a number of glasshouses.
One of these, next to Beaumont House on the north side of the gardens, was converted to a desert house in the mid 1970s and now hosts an array of large cacti and succulents planted in open beds with a meandering path through the middle.
Species include a number of tall cereoids, mammillarias, Thelocactus, Echinocereus grusonii, large agaves, and the occasional smaller specimens such as stapeliads.
The BCSS recently funded the development and production of three information panels, as well as botanical labels, for the desert house. The local Branch has provided much support to the collection.
Nearest BCSS Branch
Leicester: www.leicester.bcss.org.uk
Meetings are held in Braunstone, Leicester. Please see the Branch website for meeting dates and programme.