 |  | |  | |||
|  | | ||||
| ||||||
| | | | | | |
 |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
 | |||||
 | |||||
The Botanic Garden welcomes alumni to the Garden itself and also to the Harcourt Arboretum at Nuneham Courtenay. This web site provides information and news. We hope you will visit. The Friends support the Garden developments and its very active education programmes. Membership includes a newsletter and free entry to the Garden and Arboretum and also to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Wakehurst Place, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh (and its other gardens), the National Garden of Wales and Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Recent developments Although the Botanic Garden is the oldest in Britain and retains its original 17th century walls, it continues to develop with much replanting, redesign within the glasshouses and new ideas. It looks better than ever and its education programmes for local schoolchildren and adults are highly successful. The Harcourt Arboretum at Nuneham Courtenay is much less well known. Acquired when the University bought the Nuneham Park estate, the House and Park ( laid out by Capability Brown and others) are largely let. but the it has been part of the Botanic Garden since 1963. The historic Arboretum, originally created for the Harcourt family in by William Sawrey Gilpin in 1835, and the adjacent meadows are being restored and improved according to a landscape plan by the distinguished landscape architect (and alumnus) Kim Wilkie. The Friends have very recently completed an appeal for the greater part of the purchase price of the 50 acres of Palmers Leys, part of the original Park next to the Arboretum. Over recent months there has been further restoration of Palmers Leys at the Arboretum according to the extended landscape plan by Kim Wilkie with new fencing, 13,500 trees and re-sown meadow. There have been large changes at the Botanic garden. The very popular and successful vegetable garden is now four times the size of last year. Next will be a new double mixed border designed by Kim Wilkie to run diagonally from near the river, across the lower garden and aligned on Merton tower. There will be exciting new planting. The Alumni Weekend 2009 The Garden will be open free to holders of the Alumni card. See also alumni weekend programme. Supporting the Garden and Arboretum Alumni have made major contributions to the success of restoration and development by donations, legacies and membership of the Friends. Other Oxford Gardens and Collections Much is going on in other Oxford Gardens. Together they are an exceptional collection of historic and attractive design and horticulture.They are well worth visiting and revisiting. The University Parks is looking better than it has ever done with replanting and improvements in landscaping. Twelve college gardens are listed by English Heritage as being of special historical interest, four Grade I, one II* and seven Grade II. Others are also of considerable interest. Whilst access to some areas is restricted to college members, much can be seen in college open hours (and perhaps by persuading college porters). The University has remarkable herbaria and an outstanding botanical art and library in the Department of Plant Sciences (much of it originally collected in the Botanic Garden. These collections are accessible to those with a special interest. In addition, other University libraries, the Ashmolean and several college libraries have important collections of botanical art.
| |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
 | |||||
| | | | | |
