The Victorian Palm Houses at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh have reopened to visitors after five years of restoration, STV News reports. The £20m refurbishment, more than £10.6m of it raised from donors including the National Lottery Heritage Fund, upgraded over 5,000 panes of glass in buildings that first opened in the 1800s to house the garden’s tropical collections.
Inside are more than 600 scientifically important plant species, with a further 3,000 plants planned for the garden’s research glasshouses. Among those on show are the Three Kings vine from New Zealand, the critically endangered catkin yew, and a lion plant from Chile that was planted to mark the reopening.
The plants are already settling back in. The garden’s David Knott told STV the team was relieved to see new growth starting, adding: “It’s important for people to see plants and our work here.” For a garden whose work centres on species at risk of extinction, having its best-known buildings open again puts that work back in front of the public.
Source: STV News