History of the Gardens
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A brief History of the GardensVentnor Botanic Garden is one of the youngest botanic gardens in Britain. Commenced in 1970 as the Steephill Pleasure Gardens the potential of the site was soon recognised by the Late Sir Harold Hillier, the internationally famous plantsman of Winchester. With great assistance from his nurseries the task of planning and developing was undertaken with a wealth of plant material being introduced to the 22 acre site. The limiting factors of the site, shallow alkaline soil and salt laden winds from the south and west were dealt with by a careful selection of plants. Within two years the plantings had created enough interest for the garden to be officially opened on the Isle of Wight and for the alteration of the name to Ventnor Botanic Garden. In 1972 His Excellency Earl Mountbatten, then Governor of the Isle
of Wight, performed the opening ceremony. A fruitful decade of planting
then commenced, which lead to the international recognition of the
garden.
Simon Goodenough took post as Curator in August 1986, unfortunately far from taking an upturn in fortune the garden continued to be blighted by climatic vagaries. The winter of 1986/7 was the hardest that had been recorded on the Island for 150 years when nearly 40% of the garden was killed, a most inauspicious start for the new Curator.
Planning and redevelopment of the garden has been undertaken since 1989, apart from the obvious older specimens that survived the storm, the vast majority of the plantings date only from 1989/90. The garden should be viewed in this light as a new garden. Initial efforts were once again setback in January 1990 when another storm felled a large number of trees; in total nearly 500 trees were lost as a result of the two storms. top of page |
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The
garden site was at one time a Royal National Hospital for diseases
of the chest and for 80 years it was a major factor in Isle of Wight
life at Ventnor. But with the discovery of an effective treatment
for tuberculosis the hospital became redundant and soon deteriorated
beyond repair. It was demolished in 1969. 
The garden lies in the heart of the famous 'Undercliff' where it
is protected from the north and east by the chalk downs. A rainfall
of 790mm (31 ins) and a climate more akin to the Mediterranean seaboard
enable a wide variety of plants considered too tender for much of
mainland Britain to be grown. Although frosts are recorded they
are usually of short duration and not great severity, the moderating
influence of the sea being most noticeable.
During
the first ten years of the garden’s life the winters were exceptionally
mild and hardly a frost was recorded. Many tender plants flourished
and the garden developed a reputation for notable specimens of great
rarity. However, the 1980's provided a very different scenario to
these early successes. Firstly, a series of hard winters killed
many of the tender plants and left gaping holes in the plantings.
Worse
was to come in the shape of the infamous storm of October 1987.
This virtually destroyed the garden and for the next two years most
of the effort was put into clearing up.
