Restored glasshouses give Edinburgh’s rare plants a safer home

Rare plants have a restored home in Edinburgh, where the Royal Botanic Garden’s Palm Houses are reopening after five years of work. The challenge is practical: storms have killed plants.

Restorers repaired the historic ironwork and fitted more than 5,000 specially designed glass panes to withstand a changing climate. Before work began, gardeners moved 800 specimens out, finding temporary space for most in other glasshouses.

The collection includes the Norfolk Island tree fern, whose habitat has shrunk in the wild. Inside, protection also comes on a much smaller scale: around 1,000 ladybirds have been introduced to help control insects that could damage plants.

The wider job remains unfinished. The garden’s Front Range glasshouses are still closed for restoration, and caring for threatened plants here cannot replace protecting their natural habitats.

But visitors can once again get close to this living collection. Among the new planting is a young sabal palm grown from one of the garden’s oldest specimens: a small continuation of care passed between generations.

Sources

• The Guardian
• Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh — restoration work and plant moves
• Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh — the living collection and visiting