The Oxford Botanic Garden on Rose Lane, just across the High Street from Magdalen College, is the oldest botanic garden in Britain, established in 1621 on the site of an old Jewish cemetery. It occupies a walled garden beside the River Cherwell, with glasshouses containing tropical, desert, and aquatic plants, and formal outdoor beds arranged by plant families, regions, and uses. Over 5,000 species grow in what is a relatively compact space.
The walled garden is at its best in late spring and summer, when the herbaceous borders are at their peak and the rose garden is in flower. The glasshouses — which include a lily house, a palm house, and a hot desert house — are open year round and worth visiting even in winter. J.R.R. Tolkien reportedly had a favourite tree in the garden, a black pine he visited regularly, and the garden still has the original planted in his memory. A small admission fee applies.