The Palm House

Belfast Botanic Gardens is a public park in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Belfast (Béal Feirste in Irish) is a city in the United Kingdom. ... Dieu et mon droit (Royal motto) (French for God and my right)2 Northern Irelands location within the UK Main language English Other recognised languages Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain MP Area  - Total Ranked...

Occupying 28 acres of south Belfast, the gardens are popular with office workers, students and tourists. They are located on Stranmillis Road in Belfast's university area, with Queen's University nearby. The Ulster Museum is located at the main entrance. The Queens University of Belfast (QUB) is a university in Belfast, Northern Ireland; the Irish translation of the name is Ollscoil na Banríona, Béal Feirste. ... The Ulster Museum is located in the Botanical Gardens in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and has around 8,000 square metres of public display space, featuring material from the collections of Fine and Applied Art, Archaeology, Ethnography, Treasures from the Spanish Armada, Local History, Numismatics, Industrial Archaeology, Botany, Zoology and Geology. ...

While the consumption of alcohol is banned within the park, groups of young people drinking are common during the summer months. The opening scene of Colin Bateman's Divorcing Jack finds the protagonist Dan Starkey with a crate of Harp in the gardens. Northern Irish novelist screenwriter and former journalist. ... Harp Lager is a part of the Guinness Group in Ireland. ...

History

Opened in 1828 as the private Royal Belfast Botanical Gardens. They became a public park in 1895 when the Belfast Corporation bought the gardens from the Belfast Botanical and Horticultural Society. The Belfast Corporation was the predecessor of Belfast City Council, the present owner. Belfast City Council is the largest local council serving the largest city in Northern Ireland which has a population of 277,391. ...

The Palm House

The gardens' most notable feature is the Palm House. The foundation stone was laid by the Marquess of Donegall in 1839 and work was completed in 1840. It is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear cast iron glasshouse in the world. Designed by Charles Lanyon and built by Richard Turner, Belfast's Palm House predates the glasshouses at Kew and the Irish National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin. Turner went on to build both of these glasshouses. The Palm House consists of two wings, the cool wing and the tropical wing which contains the dome. Lanyon altered his original plans to increase the height of the dome, allowing for much taller plants. In the past these have included an 11 metre tall Globe Spear Lily. The lily, which is native to Australia, finally bloomed in March 2005 after a 23 year wait. The Palm House also features a 400 year old Xanthorrhoea. George Hamilton Chichester, 3rd Marquess of Donegall, KP, GCH (February 10, 1797) - (October 20, 1883) was an Irish nobleman. ... Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but can mean any of a group of iron-based alloys containing more than 2% carbon (alloys with less carbon are carbon steel by definition). ... A greenhouse in Saint Paul, Minnesota. ... Portrait of Charles Lanyon Sir Charles Lanyon (1813 to 1889) was an English architect of the 19th Century. ... Richard Turner (1798-1881) was an Irish iron-founder and manufacturer of glasshouses, born in Dublin. ... The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to simply as Kew Gardens, are extensive gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond upon Thames and Kew in southwest London, England. ... The Irish National Botanic Gardens are located in Glasnevin, 5km north-west of Dublin city centre, Ireland. ... Glasnevin is a residential neighbourhood on the Northside of the city of Dublin and south of the Ballymun area. ... Species Lilium amabile Lilium auratum - Japanese golden rayed lily Lilium bulbiferum - Orange lily Lilium canadense - Canada lily Lilium candidum - Madonna lily Lilium chalcedonicum – Turkscap lily Lilium concolor Lilium henryi - Tiger lily, Henrys lily Lilium humboldtii - Humboldts lily Lilium lancifolium - Tiger lily Lilium longiflorum - Easter lily Lilium martagon - Martagon... Species - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Xanthorrhoea is a genus of flowering plants native to Australia, the sole genus in family Xanthorrhoeaceae. ...

The gardens also contain another glasshouse, the Tropical Ravine House. Built by head gardener Charles McKimm in 1889, it features a unique design. A sunken ravine runs the length of the building, with a balcony at each side for viewing. The most popular attraction is the Dombeya, which flowers every February. Genera Abelmoschus - Okra Abutilon - Abutilon Adansonia – Baobab Alcea - Hollyhock Althaea - Marsh mallow Bombax – Silk-cotton tree Callirhoe - Poppy mallow Ceiba – Kapok Chiranthodendron – Mexican Hand Tree Cola - Kola nut Corchorus - Jute Durio – Durian Fremontodendron – Flannelbush Gaya – Gaya Gossypium - Cotton plant Hibiscus - Hibiscus Hoheria – Lacebark Kosteletzkya - Saltmarsh mallow Lavatera - Tree mallow or...

The Palm House and the Tropical Ravine House were symbols of Belfast's growing industrial might and prosperity in the Victorian era and attracted over 10,000 visitors a day. Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Accession to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian era of Great Britain is considered the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ...

Other features

The gardens also feature one of the longest herbaceous borders in the British Isles. The is also a rose garden built in 1932 and various species of tree, including the hornbeam-oak. A statue of Lord Kelvin stands at the Stranmillis Road entrance. A herb (pronounced hurb in Commonwealth English and urb in American English) is a plant grown for culinary, medicinal, or in some cases even spiritual value. ... The British Isles consist of Great Britain, Ireland and a number of much smaller surrounding islands. ... Species See List of Quercus species The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of several hundred species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus, and some related genera, notably Cyclobalanopsis and Lithocarpus. ... The Right Honourable William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, GCVO, OM, PC, PRS (26 June 1824–17 December 1907) was a Irish-Scottish mathematical physicist and engineer, an outstanding leader in the physical sciences of the 19th century. ...

Concerts

Concerts and music festivals are held at the Stranmillis Embankment end of the gardens. Each year in August the Tennents ViTal event is held. Past performers have included Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand, The Coral, The Streets and The White Stripes. A music festival is a festival that presents a number of musical performances usually tied together through a theme or genre. ... Tennents is a popular Scottish lager brewed at the Wellpark Brewery (EST.1556) in Glasgow. ... For a list of the monarchs of the Spanish kingdom of León, see List of Leonese monarchs. ... Franz Ferdinand is a British indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. ... The Coral are a British band formed in 1996 in Hoylake in the Wirral near Liverpool. ... Mike Skinner Mike Skinner (born November 27, 1978), also known as The Streets, is a rapper and musician from West Heath, Birmingham, England. ... The White Stripes is a minimalist blues-rock duo from Detroit, composed of Jack White on guitar and lead vocals, and Meg White on drums. ...

On August 26, 1997 U2 played their first Belfast concert in over a decade as part of the Popmart Tour. 40,000 fans attended, with thousands more lining the perimeter fence and watching from rooftops on Ridgeway Street. Local band Ash and Howard B were the support acts. August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ... 1997 (MCMXCVII in Roman) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... U2 is an Irish rock band featuring Bono (Paul David Hewson) on vocals, guitar and harmonica, The Edge (David Howell Evans) on guitar, keyboards and vocals, Adam Clayton on bass, and Larry Mullen, Jr. ... U2s Popmart Tour ran between 1997 and 1998 in support of their album Pop. ... Ash are a band which originated from Downpatrick (Northern Ireland) in 1992. ... Howard Bernstein (born March 2, 1966 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a musician and producer who has worked with artists such as Björk, U2, and Tricky. ...

External links

• Belfast City Council
• Tennent's Vital