The Birmingham Botanical Gardens are the only provincial botanic gardens in Britain still owned and administered by a private society. This profusely illustrated book describes their 175-year history since the founding of the Birmingham Botanical and Horticultural Society in 1829. Earlier botanic gardens were mostly begun for the teaching of botany to medical students and were founded by universities. In the first half of the nineteenth century many new gardens were opened in London and the provinces run by private societies in order to grow and display the numerous new plants then being introduced to Britain, and to disseminate horticultural knowledge among the middle class. The societies were run by knowledgeable amateurs, mostly industrialists and professional men, and the gardens were open only to subscribers. The Birmingham Botanic Gardens were laid out by John Claudius Loudon, the eminent landscape architect and writer, who prepared a plan for the sixteen acre site in Edgbaston, two miles from the centre of the town. The Gardens were opened in 1832. Much of Loudon's design remains to this day. This book should appeal to anyone with an interest in the history of botanical gardens and horticulture, as well as in the rich and varied story of one of Birmingham's best loved institutions.