St Andrews Botanic Gardens

The Original Botanic Garden was founded by the University of St. Andrews in 1889 in the precincts of St. Mary's College by a group of enthusiasts led by Dr John Wilson. The original garden was about 0.1ha (0.25 acres) in size and consisted of 78 regularly-shaped beds laid out according to the Bentham and Hooker plant classification.

By 1960 the garden covered 2.8ha (7.8 acres). In addition, plants were grown in a variety of soil and climatic conditions in other parts of the University.The present Botanic Garden of 7.5ha (18.5 acres) was created from two fields in the early 1960s to cater for expansion of the collection and release the town centre lands for other purposes.

The Garden is recognised and registered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and botanical and horticultural research is carried out there.