The stools of pollarded willow are a focal point in the Winter Garden Credit: Marcus Harper, Harper Garden Imagery
In the last decade, annual visitor numbers to the Eastern region's only botanic garden have more than doubled, and in November passed 200,000 for the first time in the Garden's 165-year history. Tim Upson, Curator and Acting Director, said: "We are thrilled to be sharing this beautiful Garden with so many visitors each year. We have been working hard to offer lots of interest through the seasons. At the moment, for example, there are lots of richly-scented, winter-flowering shrubs in the Winter Garden, and the tropical rainforests and arid lands of the Glasshouse Range are a perfect spot to warm up after a winter's stroll. I'm also looking forward to seeing how the new bulb belt has thickened up after its first year. We'll start to see snowdrops in February, followed by wild daffodils and naturalised tulips and lilies, creating a circular walk around the western half of the Garden." The extraordinarily dry spring and Indian summer of early autumn will undoubtedly have contributed to the record visitor numbers, but the completion of the award-winning Sainsbury Laboratory earlier this year has also allowed the Garden to make some significant improvements for visitors, including opening a beautiful new Garden Café and staffing the ticket offices year round. Not only does the Garden today attract record visitor numbers, but the audience profile has diversified significantly since the long-distant days when only University-nominated key-holders were allowed in on Sundays and perambulators were not permitted in the Garden! Today, the Garden welcomes more than 9,000 school children every year to discover the incredible diversity of the plant kingdom, and runs family festivals and events through the holidays.
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