This rich and beautiful guide from best-selling garden writer Ambra Edwards explores the most magnificent botanic havens from every continent across the world.

There has never been a better time to celebrate botanic gardens. From Brooklyn and San Francisco, to Colombia and Brazil; Oxford and Kew, to Cape Town and Mauritius; Norway and Germany, to Sydney and Thailand, discover surprising diversity, superb vistas, and some of the most intriguing plants you can imagine.

As centers for research, conservation, and education, these expansive collections are integral to our understanding of the true power of plants.

But they also hold some of the most beautiful species on earth – including ferns, trees, cacti, orchids, and more – expertly cared for and presented as a feast for the senses, delighting thousands of visitors each year.

Ambra Edwards introduces the gardens, bringing them to life on the page, and uncovers their history, collections, and scientific influence. This is a celebration of the wonder that is contained within the world’s greatest botanic gardens.

Ambra Edwards is an award-winning journalist and garden historian, and author of the bestselling book Head Gardeners (2017), voted Book of the Year by the Garden Media Guild in 2017, The Plant Hunter’s Atlas (2021), The Story of the English Garden (2018) and The Story of Gardening (2020), written with Penelope Hobhouse.

Botanic Gardens: an evolution
Padua Botanical Garden
Hortus Botanicus Leiden
Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanic Garden
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden
Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
Singapore Botanic Gardens
Cibodas Botanical Garden
Missouri Botanical Garden
Hanbury Botanical Gardens
New York Botanical Garden
The Huntington Desert Garden
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
Weihenstephan Trials Garden
Nong Nooch Tropical Garden
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
Viera y Clavijo Botanical Garden
National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawai‘i
Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne
Belize Botanic Gardens
S.ller Botanic Garden
Troms. Arctic-Alpine Botanical Garden
Nezahat G.kyigit Botanic Garden
Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca
Select bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements