What makes a botanical garden

There are a great deal of Universities that commonly organize and host plant science education through botanical gardens. These are perfect for anyone who just wants to pay a visit and learn a thing or two — and even more valuable to those who want to start a career in horticulture.

If you love brilliant yellow flowers, you can find 10 more houseplants with yellow flowers in my article here. Another critical role of botanical gardens and plant research programs is to create and maintain properly documented collections of the plants they display.

Botanic gardens are living museums, and when you go to a museum, you want to know what is in front of you. Now, as far as the content on a botanical labels goes, you may see a few slight variations from garden to garden or even plant-type to plant-type.

These variations might range anywhere from one simple common name i. An assemblage of plants selected for desirable characteristics that are maintained during propagation.

More generally, a cultivar is the most basic classification category of cultivated plants in the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. By having accurate botanical labels, a botanical garden can inspire guests to also become interested in collecting, propagating, and making conservation efforts for various types of plants — particularly plants and plant families that they learn need the most cultivation and protection.

Botanical gardens are slowly but surely doing their part to make the world a better and Greener place…. If you want to create your own botanical labels for plants in your garden, you can learn more here.

You can find some garden tea party ideas in this article. Today cultivation and preservation, as well as botanical displays and carefully-selected plant collections is what sets a botanic garden apart. In , Botanic Gardens Conservation Internationals defines a botanic garden having met a list of criteria, either in part of whole, such as:. Just like Kew, all modern botanic gardens have a role in plant science, conservation and inspiring the public to appreciate the vital role of plants and fungi to life on Earth.

The origin of botanic gardens and the title of first or oldest is a highly contested title amongst the oldest European gardens. These gardens include Pisa built in , Padua and Florence in Others argue that the first true botanic garden to have both ornamental and scientific value was Leidencreated in Others say that the garden created by Pope Nicholas IV in the 13th century is the first.

There may have been earlier gardens that resemble modern botanic gardens in purpose such as the 4th century BCE garden of Aristotle at the Lyceum in Athens. It is here that Aristotle collected plants sent to him by Alexander the Great. Theophrastus used the observations he made in the garden to write Historia Plantarum.

My favourite origin story suggests that Spanish Conquistadores during the conquest of Aztec Mexico in were inspired by the extensive gardens of Moctezuma at Huaxtepec created in The idea being that this extensive medicinal garden inspired Renaissance gardens in Europe.

The history of botanic gardens can show a type of progression in role, starting with the physic gardens of the 16th and 17th century, each era reflecting the concerns of its age. While any garden can be called a botanic garden, many people view American Public Gardens Association Institutional Membership as validation that they are operating with best practices.

There are, some generally accepted criteria for defining the terms 'botanic gardens' or 'botanical gardens' that American Public Gardens Association asks our members to follow:. While the Association cannot directly assist or fund aspiring public gardens, our member Longwood Gardens' Fellows Program put together this Guide and Toolkit to help. Skip to main content. You are here Home.