Oxford Botanic Garden

The garden was founded in 1621 by Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby, who donated £5,000 to establish a physic garden for the furtherance of learning and the glorification of God's works. The site selected on the banks of the River Cherwell previously served as a Jewish cemetery until 1290, and extensive filling was required to raise the land above the flood-plain.

Designed by Nicholas Stone, the ornate Danby Gate was built between 1632 and 1633. It serves as an early example of the Baroque style in Oxford, featuring a design inspired by an illustration in Serlio's book of archways, rather than the Palladian style popularized by Inigo Jones.

Following damage sustained during the English Civil War, the Danby Gate underwent a major restoration around 1653, carried out by the sculptor William Bird of Oxford. This work notably included updated statuary portraying Charles I and the then-reigning monarch, Charles II.

The garden's first head gardener, Jacob Bobart, published a comprehensive catalogue of 1,600 plants under his care in 1648. This document, titled 'Catalogus plantarum horti medici Oxoniensis', was later revised in 1658 by a collaborative group that included his son, Jacob Bobart the Younger.

The oldest surviving structure within the garden's glasshouses is the tropical lily tank, built in 1851 by Professor Charles Daubeny. The house later became notable for the hybrid Nymphaea × daubenyana, which was named in the professor's honour in 1874.

In 1983, the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens selected the Oxford Botanic Garden to maintain the national collection of Euphorbia. This collection remains significant for its propagation of rare species like Euphorbia stygiana to prevent their extinction.

The traditional English herbaceous border was first laid out in 1946. It is designed to showcase herbaceous perennials, which die back to a rootstock during winter and provide a seasonal display ranging from early tulips to late-flowering perennials.