Celebrate Sir Hans Sloane's 350th Birthday on April 16th

Available now here - more soon


"Welcome to Chelsea Physic Garden

Situated in the heart of London, this 'Secret Garden' is a centre of education, beauty and relaxation. Founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, it continues to research the properties, origins and conservation of over 5000 plant species.

Friends of the Garden have privileged access on weekdays throughout the year and on Sundays and Bank Holidays between April and October.
For the general public, our 2010 Opening times.

To celebrate the 350th Birthday of Sir Hans Sloane, the Garden will be not be charging admission fees on Friday 16th April 2010.
More details about Our Local Hero, Sloane."

Founded by Sir Hans Sloane - The British Museum

The Passionate Planters

Image: Cedars of Lebanon planted at Chelsea Physic Garden in 1683; watercolour by Fuge.

How Britain Became a Nation of Gardeners.
Delightful and informative article from THE LADY.
Link

“I found the Gardener’s Dictionary , first published in 1731 by Philip Miller, and was most surprised to find just how many plants had been introduced into Britain in the 18th century. There was a network – of English merchants, American farmer John Bartram and famous Age of Enlightenment figures, such as Carl Linnaeus, Benjamin Franklin, Hans Sloane and Joseph Banks – which stretched across the world, importing and selling plants by the thousand.”

It was their stories that inspired her to write her gem of a book, The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession . It was on a mission on behalf of the great botantist Carl Linnaeus, that Daniel Solander arrived on our shores in 1760 and wrote back: “The English are all more or less gardeners.”

Wulf explains that this came with the spread of the British Empire, which brought access to plants as never before.