A new season begins for families at Oxford’s Botanic Garden
Wednesday 27th September 2017
Things are looking blooming splendid at Science Oxford this weekend as we celebrate everything that is fabulous about seeds. In partnership with University of Oxford’s Botanic Garden, we’re hosting a very special workshop where budding botanists aged 5-9 can explore the glasshouses and borders of the Garden to learn all about plant seeds and pods. They will be able to dissect flowers, make seed bird feeders to take home and find out how and why seeds germinate.
Oxford Botanic Garden Seed Pods
The workshop will offer a glimpse behind the scenes of Britain’s oldest Botanic Garden, which is nearly 400 years old. After a tour of the Garden, children will hear stories of how seeds travel around the world and meet the biggest seed on the planet, the Coco de Mer, a rare species of palm tree native to the Seychelles. Then they’ll carry out some green-fingered experiments and help the Garden team to prepare seeds for winter storage.
Coco de Mer – the world’s biggest seed
Luiza Patorksi, our programme manager, says: “This is going to be a really lovely workshop – there’s lots of exploring and collecting to be done – it’s a great opportunity to introduce children to nature and especially botany. We’re sure that everyone will have a great time.”
She added: “And there’s the bonus that each workshop booking includes an accompanying adult and you can stay all day in the Botanic Garden if you want to. The staff at the Garden have been so welcoming and we’re all looking forward to Saturday.”
Visitors to the site can enjoy the beginning of the autumn colour in the trees, as well as the bright and shining berries many of them are laden with at the moment. Unlike most of our flowerbeds at home, many of the borders are still full of flowers so there is plenty to see. The Glasshouses are full of exciting oddities – the Victoria cruziana giant waterlily is currently in flower in the Lily House, and if you head to the Conservatory you can marvel at Citrus medica or ‘Buddha’s Hand’, the fruit of which takes on a bizarrely anatomical shape!
There are still a few tickets left for the afternoon sessions of the Splendid Seeds workshop.
Book your tickets here.
