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A Classic Yet Contemporary Garden

Gardening at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden is seen as a process rather than a product. During the last four centuries it has been essential that successive generations of gardeners have ensured that the Garden has been used by the University and other visitors. As a direct result of this, the Garden has evolved and changed since Sir Henry Danvers gave the money to set up the first physic garden in Great Britain. We see ourselves as custodians of the Garden for a finite period in its history. At the end of that time period we shall hand the Garden on to the next generation.

Today, people of all ages and backgrounds use the Garden. Undergraduates studying biological sciences and related subjects at the University of Oxford visit the Garden to learn about many aspects of plant biology. Over 6,500 school children visit the Garden each year as part of our Schools Education Programme. Many of these children visit our glasshouses, such as the Palm House, where they find cocoa, oranges, bananas and coconuts, and the Cactus House where they can escape to the desert. Through-life-learning at the Garden ensures that adults as well as children can benefit from the Garden's Education Programme. Each year more than 5,000 adults attend courses and tours at the Garden to learn more about botany, horticulture and gardening.

As a botanic garden we are committed to the successful implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and we are working with other botanic gardens around the World to ensure that we maintain the World's biological diversity. Euphorbia stygiana is one of the rarest plants in the collection and is part of our National Plant Collection of Euphorbias. We have propagated this plant and distributed it to gardens throughout the UK and Ireland to ensure that even if this plant disappears from its original habitat it is still alive and well in cultivation.

Finally many gardeners come to our Garden to seek inspiration. In the beds and borders throughout the Garden you may find new plants that would be perfect in your garden at home and partly for this reason we strive to label every plant in the Garden clearly and accurately.