A Dear Green Place: The Glasgow Botanic Gardens

One of my favorite activities upon landing in Scotland (or anywhere, really) is to get out and do something that’s free, doesn’t require a booking, and involves green spaces. That first day is always a struggle with jet-lag and tiredness from the scads of logistics navigating to a different corner of the world — who needs another appointment?

You’re spoiled for choice in Glasgow’s West End between magnificent Kelvingrove Park and the Botanic Gardens, the subject of this post. Kelvingrove is big and obvious and the site of most of my initial ramblings whenever I’d visit Glasgow, but on my most recent trip to Scotland’s largest city I ventured to new lands for a glimpse of the Botanic Gardens about which I’d heard so many good things.

I knew next to nothing about Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens when I stumbled through its wrought-iron gates on a beautiful, sunny evening.

It’s shocking how quickly I found myself inside a sparkling emerald, cut off from the noise of the city. I followed paved and dirt paths beneath old, spreading trees harboring wild garlic and meditative souls seeking inner and outer sunlight.

A slice of the city has long been allotted to the Royal Botanic Institution of Glasgow, but the Botanic Gardens that I wandered through were founded in 1842 to host concerts and events. I hadn’t come to the gardens for any particular reason other than to stay awake and soak in some of Glasgow’s vibrant energy, and as I walked I was struck by the beauty of the gardens and the sheer number of people quietly and respectfully enjoying this aspect of their city.

Imagine my surprise when, through the trees and setting sun, I spied an enormous building made almost entirely out of glass. The Kibble Palace was built in the 19th-century with a curving, wrought iron frame, enormous glass panels, ornate wrought iron columns, and a masonry foundation. This stunning building was originally to be a home but was moved to the Botanic Gardens in 1873 where it served as a greenhouse before it became permanently used for the cultivation of temperate plants.

For the curious, the Botanic Gardens are home to a variety of temperate and tropical plants, the UK’s national collection of tree ferns, and a world rose garden, though none of this was known to me at the time of my visit and the lack of knowledge did nothing to detract from my enjoyment of the gardens.

As I followed paths deeper into the gardens I came upon the River Kelvin and the northern border of the park. The Kelvin is peaceful here, and you can follow a path along the river into Kelvingrove Park, which I can’t recommend enough. I paused on the boardwalk bridge and snapped up the last of the day’s orange light.

I don’t know how Scotland does it with their urban green spaces, but they are wonderfully transportive. That within the frenetic gray of modernity there yet remains an emerald kernel ought to give us all hope.