Slessor Gardens

Dundee has maintained trading partnerships throughout the world to this day. In the early 1800s ports in the Baltic Sea were regularly receiving vessels from Dundee. Such ports included Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Riga, Danzig at St Petersburg. This garden takes inspiration from the colours and textures of the Baltic and Northern European regions.

Planting within this garden includes:

• Betula Pendula (Silver Birch)
• Sorbus Aucuparia (Rowan)
• Corylus Colurna (Hazel)
• Pinus Mugo Mops (Dwarf Mountain Pine)
• Buxus Sempervirens (Common Box)
• Luzula Nivea (Snow Rush)
• Luzula Sulvatica (Great Wood Rush)
• Digitalis Alba (Foxglove)
• Dryopteris Filix-mas (Male Fern)
• Hedera Helix Hibernica (Atlantic Ivy)
• Asplenium Scolopendrium (Hart's Tongue Fern)

Dundee has exported materials to trading partners throughout the globe.

Records demonstrate as early as 1830 that ships were regularly bound for the Caribbean islands including Jamaica and Haiti - carrying with them a diverse range of cargo that included unusual items such as hard soap, nails, thread, twine and even rum, beer and ales.

This garden sits on the site of the former Earl Grey Dock which was infilled during the early 1960s to enable the construction of the Tay Road Bridge.

The planting selected for this garden has sought to reflect the feel of a tropical garden within the limitations offered by the Scottish climate.

Plants include:

• Lonicera Tellmanniana (Tellmann's Honeysuckle)
• Phormium Tenax (New Zealand Flax)
• Photinia Red Robin (Christmas Berry "Red Robin")
• Aucuba Crotonifolia (Spotted Laurel)
• Cotinus Royal Purple (Royal Purple Smoke Tree)
• Acanthus Spinosus (Armed Bear's Breech)
• Pachsandra Green Carpet (Japanese Spurge Green Carpet)
• Cosmos Chocolate

Dundee has exported materials to trading partners throughout the globe. Perhaps most famously it was the capital of the Jute Industry- the first bales of Jute are said to have arrived in Dundee in 1820 and started an industry which was to employ over 50,000 people and leave its mark on the City with many large mill buildings that can still be seen today. The History of the Jute Industry can be viewed at the Verdant Works Museum in West Henderson's Wynd.

This garden sits on the site of the former Earl Grey Dock which was infilled during the early 1960's to enable the construction of the Tay Road Bridge.

The design of this garden has been structured to echo the formality of gardens found on the Indian sub-continent, with seating reflective of the Jute bales that once passed through this location in great numbers.

Planting within this garden includes:

• Taxus Baccata (English Yew)
• Heuchera Greenfinch
• Skimmia Kew Green
• Phormiun Tenax Purpureum (New Zealand Flax)
• Agapanthus White
• Spiraea Little Princess
• Gold Red Tagetes
• Phormium Black Beauty

Additional plants from Asia and other regions of the world can also be found within the University of Dundee's Botanic Garden - open to the public throughout the year on Riverside Drive near Dundee Airport.

Dundee has exported materials to trading partners throughout the globe.

Records demonstrate that in 1830 ships were regularly bound for the United States and Canada, exporting cargoes that included thread, twine, yarn, stationery items, stockings and even snuff-boxes and confectionery.

Dundee maintains links to this day, including through the Town Twinning arrangement with Alexandria in Virginia.

Planting within the garden includes:

• Stipa Gigantea (Golden Oats / Giant Feather Grass)
• Miscanthus Sinensis Gracillimus
• Echinacea Purpurea (Purple Cone Flower / Black Samson)
• Liatris Spicata (Button Snakewort)
• Salvia Ostfriesland (Balkan Clary 'Ostfriesland')
• Origanum Herrenhausen (Oregano)
• Sedum Matrona (Stonecrop)

Additional plants from America and other regions of the world can also be found within the University of Dundee's Botanic Garden - open to the public throughout the year on Riverside Drive near Dundee Airport.

Inspiration for this garden came from the features of the natural world that surround us and inspire us. The multi-tonal pathway and alignment of the planting beds has been arranged to be reflective of geological strata.

Dundee has a long history of scientific exploration, innovation and education in the field of Natural Sciences. You can find out more:

• Mills Observatory
• The D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum
• Dundee Science Centre
• Discovery Point
• The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum
• University of Dundee's Botanic Garden

Planting within this Garden Includes:

• Festuca Glauca (Blue Fescue)
• French Marigold Cream
• Sedum Purple Emperor
• Hebe Green Globe
• Hebe Albicans Red Edge
• Berberis Atropurpurea Nana (Japanese Barberry)
• Alchemilla Mollis (Lady's Mantle)
• Buxus Sempervirens (Common Box)

Dundee is playing its part at the forefront of medical technologies and over 4,000 people in Dundee are employed in life science research, including scientists from over 60 different countries. Current research topics include cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neuroscience.

Ninewells Hospital is also one of the largest teaching hospitals in the UK, consistently rated within the top 5 medical schools in the UK and the best in Scotland.

Planting within this garden includes:

• Lavandula Hidcote (Lavender)
• Eupatorium Purpureum (Grass Root)
• Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary)
• Taxus Baccata (Yew)
• Geranium Macrorrhizum Album (Rock Cranesbill)
• Sambucus Black Lace (Common Elder)
• Ginkgo Biloba (Maidenhair)
• Salvia Offinalis Purpurascens (Purple Sage)
• Verbascum Chaixii Album (White Nettle-Leaved Mullein)

The Edible Garden celebrates the region's rich agricultural production and excellent growing conditions.

The arrangement of the garden is based on the typically formal arrangement found in orchards. With the apple trees all being of a Scottish heritage variety and other planting including herbs and soft fruits.

This garden was delivered with the assistance of Dundee Urban Orchard - a community based city-wide art project that has delivered a number of small scale orchards within Dundee. Urban orchards can be found at the Dundee Science Centre, the Camperdown Wildlife Centre and 22 other city sites.

Planting within this garden includes:

Scottish Heritage Apple Trees:

• James Grieve (dessert)
• Lass O'Gowrie (dual purpose)
• Port Allen Russet (dessert)
• Stirling Castle (culinary)
• Coul Blush (dessert)

Golden Hornet (Crab Apple Tree)

Herb Boxes:

• Rosemary
• Chives
• Thyme
• Calamint
• Lemon Balm
• Fennel
• Valerian
• Hyssop

Soft Fruits:

• Blackcurrant (Ben Lomond, Ben Sarek and Ben Hope varieties)
• Raspberries
• Strawberries

Dundee is a City with a rich literary heritage though perhaps best known for its publishing activities. The City and its surrounding area has also been both home and a source of inspiration to many authors and poets, including: A.L Kennedy; Kate Atkinson; Rosamunde Pilcher; Mary Shelley; Neil Forsyth; Don Paterson and Bill Duncan.

The city has also celebrated the text of William Topaz McGonagall's famously bad poem that described the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster by inscribing it into the waterfront footpath near the remains of that bridge. McGonagall, who was born in Edinburgh, was once awarded the unenviable accolade as Britain's worst poet!

Planting within this garden includes:

• Hosta - Devon Green
• Agapanthus - White Hybrid
• Glyceria Maxima Variegata (variegated reed sweet-grass)
• Digitalis Alba (White Flowered Foxglove)
• Cornus Kousa Chinensis (Chinese Dogwood)
• Betula Utilis Jacquemonte (Himalayan Birch)
• Skimma Kew Green
• Ophiopogon Nigrescens (Black Mondo)

The V&A Dundee Community Garden has been co-designed by members of the public, supported by a professional design team and V&A Dundee. A design process that started in March 2016 has brought together local people with local design studio Kennedytwaddle, environmental designer Linsey McIntosh and landscape architect Glen Macfarlane to explore how design can support positive mental health.

Construction of the garden commenced in Spring 2017 and was formally opened on 29th September 2017

For further information visit V&A Dundee's website.