Elegant gloves are not exactly what Botanical Garden visitors expect to find here. But for me, it was a Godsend, as the day I admired the 72 acres, still filled with lots of blooming flowers, was sunny, but windy and chilly. I stopped my leisure walks to warm up at the spacious gift store, filled with lovely books, plants, heirloom seed packages, and yes, gloves, shawls, and mittens.
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Edinburgh’s Botanical Garden and its 13,302 plant species are totally free to visit, only the glasshouses charge a small fee to admire the tropical section.
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One of Edinburgh's three Hop-on-Hop-off buses stops conveniently at the cities’ fantastic Botanical Garden. Local buses #23 and #27 stop here too.
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I was lucky to find still colorful blooming plants at the end of October on the extended grounds. Not to mention those tropical beauties, growing in attractive heritage glasshouses.
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The Glasshouse visit is a particular highlight, starting at the Victorian Temperate Palm House dating back to 1858 and one of the tallest traditional palm houses ever built. The Garden's 10 magnificent Glasshouses each has a different climatic zone, from steamy tropics to arid desert, and are home to 3,000 exotic plants from around the world - including a 200-year-old palm tree.
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Enjoy the serenity of the Chinese Hillside, explore the world-famous Rock Garden or stroll amongst the awe-inspiring Giant Redwood trees in the Woodland Garden.
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