Oxford Botanical Gardens

Autumn brings vibrant colours and glasshouse wonders.

The Autumn Border in the Lower Garden runs the length of the Garden’s boundary with Christ Church Meadow. 

The planting is designed to be at its peak in September and October, relying on strong colour contrasts of both foliage and flowers.

Special pruning techniques are employed on shrubs to promote large foliage, and on perennials to produce an extended flowering display. 

During the autumn months the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) in the Walled Garden glows with a vivid brick-red colour, resembling a flaming torch.

Known only in fossil records until the 1940s, the dawn redwood is often described as a ‘living fossil’.

It is the only living member of the genus Metasequoia, although the fossil record shows us that it was distributed through North America and Eurasia up to 100 million years ago.

Today, the dawn redwood is restricted to the border of two Chinese provinces and Chongqing in Central China, but it is a popular addition to many parks and gardens in Europe and America.

Despite this, it is still internationally recognised as endangered.

The Glasshouses are full of exciting oddities to fascinate their visitors. 

In the Conservatory you can marvel at Citrus medica (‘Buddha’s Hand’), the fruit of which have a bizarrely anatomical shape! 

Harcourt Arboretum

The Arboretum glows with colour through autumn.

The Acer Glade is awash with vivid reds and rich golds, in Lime Wood the leaves create a rich yellow canopy and flutter gently to the ground, while in Bluebell Wood the bracken is a rich copper. 

Along Holly Walk you’ll find bright berries amongst the greenery.

The Arboretum is home to a number of dawn redwoods (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) which during the autumn months glow with a vivid brick-red colour, resembling a flaming torch.

Known only in fossil records until the 1940s, the dawn redwood is often described as a ‘living fossil’.

It is the only living member of the genus Metasequoia, although the fossil record shows us that it was distributed through North America and Eurasia up to 100 million years ago.

Today, the dawn redwood is restricted to the border of two Chinese provinces and Chongqing in Central China, but it is a popular addition to many parks and gardens in Europe and America.

Despite this, it is still internationally recognised as endangered.

Keep an eye out for their stately oaks which turn a golden brown, and other eye-catching colour from trees such as Taxodium distichum (swamp cypress) and Larix x eurolepis (hybrid larch).

Palmer’s Leys is also worth visiting, the native planting shines a merry yellow on sunny days.

Harcourt Arboretum in Nuneham Courtenay, Oxford, has received initial support and development funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop a new Visitor and Learning Centre.

Made possible by National Lottery players, the project aims to unlock the site’s unique natural heritage, landscape and collection of threatened trees.