Botanic Garden

Oxford Botanic Gardens are often asked how a botanic garden differs from other types of gardens. Botanic gardens are collections of plants that are grown for purposes other than purely aesthetic reasons – but in Oxford Botanic Garden we do try to arrange the plants in attractive, sympathetic and exciting ways. Many gardeners come here to seek inspiration. In the beds and borders you may find new plants that would be perfect in your garden at home and partly for this reason we strive to label clearly every plant in the Garden. Plants are grown in this Garden to support our teaching programmes, for research scientists in this University and elsewhere and as part of plant conservation projects. Furthermore this Garden is a national reference collection of 7,000 different types of plant, making it the most compact yet diverse collection of plants in the World – there is even more biological diversity here than there is in tropical rain forests and other biodiversity hotspots. The Garden consists of three sections. The Glasshouses contain plants that need protection from the extremes of the British weather. The area outside the Walled Garden contains classic garden features such as a Water Garden and Rock Garden as well as the innovative Black Border and Autumn Borders. Within the Walled Garden plants are grouped in a number of different ways such as by country of origin, botanic family or economic use.

Botanic Garden

All episodes

Title	Description	People	Date
Organisms Reading and Reference list	Reading and Reference list for Organisms lecture series.	Tim Walker	9 May, 2013
Organisms Lecture 4: The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation 2020	Fourth and final lecture in Professor Tim Walker's Organisms series in which he looks at how we can conserve the world's vital plants on a global scale.	Tim Walker	7 May, 2013
Organisms Lecture 3: What have Plants done for us?	Third lecture in Professor Tim Walker's Organisms lecture series in which he looks at what plants have contributed to human existence.	Tim Walker	7 May, 2013
Organisms Lecture 2: Biological Pollination	Second lecture in Professor Tim Walker's Organisms lecture series in which he looks at biological pollination - how bees and other insects pollinate plants.	Tim Walker	7 May, 2013
Organisms Lecture 1: Its all about seeds	First lecture in Professor Tim Walker's Organisms lecture series in which he looks at seeds and their imporance to organisms.	Tim Walker	7 May, 2013
Plants and People: Cotton, Sugar and Quinine	A lecture given by Timothy Walker to biology undergraduates as part of the Plants and People Course in which the close relationship between these three plants and human history are examined.	Timothy Walker	26 February, 2013
Plant conservation 4: there is no technical obstacle to the conservation of every plant species.	The fourth in a series of four lectures on the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) given to third year biology undergraduates. This lecture looks at how, despite recent advances, there are still gaps in our knowledge about plant conservation.	Timothy Walker	20 February, 2013
Plant Conservation 3: repairing the damage	The third in a series of four lectures on the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) given to third year biology undergraduates. This lecture looks at how we can restore plant communities to biological health.	Timothy Walker	20 February, 2013
Plant Conservation 2: protecting plant species	The second in a series of four lectures on the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) given to third year biology undergraduates. This lecture looks at how threatened species can be protected.	Timothy Walker	20 February, 2013
Plant Conservation 1: conservation conventions, strategies and policies	First in a series of four lectures on the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) given to third year biology undergraduates. This lecture looks at the events leading to the creation of the GSPC.	Timothy Walker	20 February, 2013
21. Thank you and goodbye	Thank you for exploring the Botanic Garden with our group of plant loving chemists.	Alison Foster	18 October, 2012
20. Pigments from plants	One small part of the plant kingdom makes a different type of pigment to all the rest.	Alison Foster	18 October, 2012
19. Plants in extreme environments	How plants manage to photosynthesise in extreme environments.	Alison Parkin	18 October, 2012
18. Why are plants green?	Why chlorophyll and hence plants, looks green.	Alison Parkin	18 October, 2012
17. Ancient pigments	How chemistry can change the colour of dye molecules from plants.	James McCullagh	18 October, 2012
16. Nitrogen fixation	Hear about natures natural nitrogen fixers.	Kylie Vincent	18 October, 2012
15. Nitrogen uptake by plants	Why nitrogen is important to plants and the communities of microorganisms living in the soil.	Kylie Vincent	18 October, 2012
14. The caramel tree	Why the Katsura tree smells of caramel and how analytical techniques have solved the problem of what is responsible for the smell.	James McCullagh	18 October, 2012
13. New medicines from plants	Many modern medicines are derived from plants.	Alison Foster	18 October, 2012
12. Healing molecules or poisonous plants?	The notorious history of healing molecules. Many molecules from plants can be used as medicines but are also toxic if the dose is too large.	Diane Lim	18 October, 2012
11. The machine inside plants	The photosynthetic machinery inside plants is explained.	Alison Parkin	18 October, 2012
10. Colourful vegetables	Pigments from plants are different colours depending on the chemical environment they are in.	Elizabeth Rayment	18 October, 2012
09. The hottest plant in the world	How chillis and a euphorbia are helping to produce new painkillers.	Ed Anderson	18 October, 2012
08. The chemistry of decaffeination	How chemistry impacts on decaffeination of the world's second most popular drink.	Gem Toes	18 October, 2012
07. The many tastes of ginger	Ginger contains a cocktail of different molecules. The different molecules in dried, cooked and fresh ginger lead to different flavours.	Ed Anderson	18 October, 2012

Botanic Garden

Related

Series in this collection

Biology - Organisms Lectures

Plants and People

Plant Conservation

Botanic Garden Chemistry Audio Tour

Botanic Garden Audio trail

Botanic Garden

All episodes