Botanic Gardens of Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom

The Botanic Gardens of Belfast opened in 1828 as the private Royal Belfast Botanical Gardens. It continued as a private park for many years, only opening to members of the public on Sundays prior to 1895. Then it became a public park in 1895 when the Belfast Corporation bought the gardens from the Belfast Botanical and Horticultural Society.

Occupying 28 acres (110,000 m2) of south Belfast, the gardens are popular with office workers, students and tourists. The gardens' most notable feature is the Palm House conservatory. It was completed in 1840. It is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear cast iron glasshouses in the world. The Palm House consists of two wings, the cool wing and the tropical wing. Lanyon altered his original plans to increase the height of the latter wing's dome, allowing for much taller plants. In the past these have included an 11 metre tall globe spear lily. The lily, which is native to Australia, finally bloomed in 2005 after a 23-year wait. The Palm House also features a 400-year-old Xanthorrhoea.

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User Reviews

stuart marshall (17 months ago)
A bit early in the year for the gardens to be in their full glory but it was still a nice place to be on a crisp sunny morning. Even though it opens early the tropical ravine and palm hot house don't open till 10am.

Ian Stewart (18 months ago)
Well worth a visit. Some lovely flowerbeds so well kept. There is always a nice range of exotic plants and cacti in the glasshouse. Don't forget to visit the tropical ravine opposite it's been recently renovated. Then there's the Ulster Museum here also no problem spending a day here. Enjoy

Chris W (18 months ago)
Grass very nice. soil good consistency. nobody knows you're looking at them if you have sunglasses on which is a bonus. wee ice-cream van comes when it's sunny. Love it. Will be back.

Manjunath S (19 months ago)
Really blissful ..you can have a good walk here. of course when the weather is good.. You can see a wide variety of flowers.. well maintained. The Ulster museum at one corner for the park is definitely worth a visit...& there is no entry fee.

Laura Praill (20 months ago)
The botanic gardens are beautiful! Very well kept. I enjoyed the greenhouses too, such a variety of lovely plants. I can tell a lot of care goes in to looking after them. I wish there were some animals in the tropical house. Nice for an afternoon stroll.

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