Tony Schilling Asian Heath Garden

The Asian Heath Garden is full of fascinating trees and shrubs from China, Japan and Korea.

Our evolving collection includes some lovely birches (Betula), hazels (Corylus) and rhododendrons.

Kew Science has an active conservation programme in central Asian Kyrgyzstan, a country with amazing wild flowers. We’re using beds in the Asian Heath Garden to explore how we turn Kyrgyzstan’s meadow plant communities into garden design.

Find the Tony Schilling Asian Heath Garden at marker 18 on our Map of Wakehurst

Bright red leaves in the Tony Schilling Asian Heath Garden — Tony Schilling Asian Heath Garden at Wakehurst © RBG Kew

A group of plant beds under a blue sky — Kyrgyzstan Trial Beds in the Tony Schilling Asian Heath Garden, Visual Air © RBG Kew

A specimen of Sorbus Coloneura — Sorbus Coloneura, Wakehurst, RBG Kew

A little bit of history

Tony Schilling, a former Wakehurst curator, was renowned for his Himalayan plant hunting. The Asian Heath Garden was one of Wakehurst’s first wild landscapes and we’re now planning its next chapter. Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are full of wonderful garden plants: irises, fox-tail Lilies, wild apples, pears and figs. Look out for new arrivals and trial beds as plants arrive from these countries.

Designed landscapes

This is one of our designed landscapes, where Wakehurst begins to get dramatic and wild. In these areas, we use wild collected plants arranged by country. The system is called phytogeographic planting – offering a chance to travel the world in the heart of Sussex.