Edinburgh Zoo

Horticultural Top Ten

1. At the north side of the penguin lawn you will find a row three sycamores.  These are the local subspecies Acer pseudoplatanus ‘corstorphinensis’ and were planted in 1920 as a memorial to those who fell during WW1.  The original tree was blown down in 1989, although a daughter tree stands in the grounds of Corstorphine parish church. Click on the link to find out more about the Corstorphine Sycamore.
2. The Society holds a collection of rare conifers as part of the Conifer Conservation Programme.  These trees have been grown from seed collected in the wild, the location of each mother tree being logged by satellite navigation so that in the future their descendants can be planted in the same location. Click on the link to find out more about the Conifer Conservation Programme.
3. There are four trees listed as heritage trees by the Edinburgh City Council within the Edinburgh Zoo grounds.  These are an Atlantic Cedar, a Himalayan Cedar and two impressive Sycamores. 
4. The Society holds several plant species listed as threatened or vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
5. The unique aspect of the Zoo, a south facing slope, helps us to grow a range of tender plants you might be surprised to see. In the red ruffed lemur enclosure you will find Windmill Palms.  There are bananas growing at the side of the new rhino enclosure, in the garden at the rear of the Mansion House beside a large Bay Laurel and a Canary Island Date Palm. These plants are wrapped in straw every winter.
6.  In the Physics Garden you will find many medicinal plants planted out in the shape of a human body, with information as to their uses. Many of these plants are poisonous.
7. The discipline of Zoo horticulture is relatively recent and Edinburgh Zoo was one of the founders of the Zoo Plant Group.  The field of habitat creation is unique to Zoos.  Horticulture can be part of the wider conservation of both plant and animals—you can’t have one without the other. To this end, the Society is a member of the Botanic Garden Conservation International (BGCI) organisation, and hopes to participate in an effort to conserve native plants.
8. The site of the Edinburgh Zoo was once a nursery owned by Thomas Blaikie, a famous plantsman. There is a small memorial to him to the west of the pygmy hippo enclosure.  The well-known apple varieties ‘John Downie’ and ‘James Grieve’ were both raised on the site by the nurserymen they are named after.
9. There are over 1,000 trees on the Edinburgh Zoo site.  Each tree is tagged and catalogued so they can be monitored.
10. There are several greenhouses, not open to the public, where we grow plants for the Zoo, including collections of fuchsia and begonia cultivars.

Registered charity number: SC004064

Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park are owned by The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

Edinburgh | Scotland | United Kingdom | EH12 6TS

Tel: 0131 334 9171 | Fax: 0131 314 0384 | Email: info@rzss.org.uk

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