Garden Blog

Too often become desensitised with the Garden at Ventnor.  Seeing it every day we don’t have the opportunity to compare it with other gardens open to the public.  We casually walk past our plants; nearly every month has something flowering for the first time at...

John’s Blog

The weekend just past saw VBG in full flight – Shakespeare in The New Zealand, Healing Festival in the Meadow, Commodore’s dinner in the cafe, and Art in the Echium. The full car park was a welcome sight. As some of you are aware, the development of a cafe...

Daily Garden tours

Every day, tours of the Garden and behind the scenes at VBG. What’s at the end of The Tunnel? Every day we have a menu of different free tours guided by VBG staff and volunteers.  Take the journey through The Tunnel to the towering cliff.  Have a first hand...

John’s Blog

It is one week since the signing of a 125 year lease for the Ventnor Botanic Garden (VBG) from the IOW Council to a Community Interest Company (C.I.C.).  We burned up most of the runway negotiating the lease and the transfer, so we had to introduce our initial changes...

Garden Blog

Two unusual half hardy shrubs from Chile are currently in flower in the Garden. Podanthus ovatifolius, or Mitique, from Camino a El Melado is one of those unusual things, a shrubby member of the Compositae family.  It is very unusual in cultivation in the UK, a...