Planting and Flowers

York Museum Gardens is home to an incredible collection of plants and flowers.

As a Gold Award and Platinum Award winner of Yorkshire in Bloom, the gardens are highly regarded in the region.

The botanical collection is spread across a number of themed borders.

Prairie Border

With the colonisation of North America, the native flora of the American prairie disappeared as it was turned into agricultural land. This border features plants from the prairies that were introduced and cultivated in Europe and are much used in gardens today.

Fern Garden

Stones from the abbey church are used to create a fabulous fern garden with a stunning collection of native and non-native ferns. Trees include Gingko Biloba and the Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis). This garden also has 300 million year old fossils of plants from the Yorkshire Museum.

Tempest Anderson Bed

The Tempest Anderson bed was named after a member of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society who was a pioneer in volcano photography and worked as an ophthalmic surgeon at York Hospital. This flower bed is situated next to the Yorkshire Museum and as it is south-facing, it can be very hot and dry so we need to choose sun-loving resilient plants for this bed. Plants that are doing well include, Anthemis tinctoria ‘E.C. Buxton’, Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’, Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’, Lavatera ‘Barnsley Baby’ and our Yucca’s. Despite these plants being sun-lovers, the prolonged dry periods of recent years has meant that we have to mulch the bed to try and reduce the loss of moisture during these periods. The border works hard flowering from April to late October to provide visitors and pollinators with interest for most of the year.

Bulb Bank

Thousands of colourful daffodils are flowering on this bank in spring and provide a fantastic display with the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey as a backdrop. The area is kept as a meadow with grasses and wildflowers in summer to provide an excellent habitat for insects, bees, and bugs.

Rock Garden

Built in tribute to the Backhouse family, Victorian nurserymen and plant hunters whose nursery once lay across the River Ouse, this area was created in the 1980s by students from Askham Bryan College using alpines and dwarf conifers among blocks of limestone pavement.

Butterfly Border

This border is planted with a well balanced mix of trees, shrubs and perennials to provide nectar for butterflies, bees, moths and other insects. Butterflies and moths pollinate plants and provide food for birds and bats. The border also contains plants for butterflies to hibernate on.

East Asia Border

This border echoes elements of Chinese and Japanese garden culture. Many of the plants and trees are chosen and positioned with great care and have a symbolic meaning.

Story Telling

Planted with herbs, shrubs and cottage plants, this sheltered spot is a tranquil meeting space for schools, families and children.