Plants

Wakehurst has an extraordinary living collection of exotic trees and woodland plants sprawled over 500 acres.

Moss growing on Rock Walk, Wakehurst

Roam our magnificent living plant collection

Our collections at Wakehurst are planted to a 'woodland' principle, rather than an 'arboretum' and have been especially curated to accentuate the stunning, rural natural landscape. 

They are connected to form a Woodlands of the World walk. 

What is a living plant collection?

A living collection is what sets a botanic garden apart from a park or public garden. 

It is a group of plants grown especially for research, conservation, education purposes or ornamental display.

To help our visitors understand and learn from this work, we accurately identify and document the plants at Wakehurst. 

Read about our Living Collections

The collections at Wakehurst

Westwood Valley Collection

A collection of Asiatic woodland plants.

Horsebridge Wood Collection

A collection of North American trees.

Coates Wood Collection

A collection of southern hemisphere trees.

National Betula Collection

The national collection of Betula (birch).

National Nothofagus Collection

The national collection of Nothofagus (Southern beeches).

The Rhododendron Collection

A varied collection of Rhododendron species