The heritage of Ness Botanic Gardens: a timeline

Arthur Kilpin Bulley buys farmland in Ness to develop into a house and gardens.

1904

Arthur Kilpin Bulley sponsors George Forrest to search North-West Yunnan, in China, for plants for his own garden and to commercialise.

He establishes ‘Bees Seeds’ in the grounds of Mickwell Brow.

Bees Seeds becomes Bees Ltd.

Bees Ltd moves to an 11,000 acre site at Sealand near Chester.

Josiah Hope appointed Head Gardener.

Death of Arthur Kilpin Bulley.

Agnes Lois Bulley gifts Ness Gardens to the University of Liverpool.

Keith Vincent appointed Head Gardener.

The University of Liverpool appoints Ken Hulme as Director of the gardens.

The Friends of Ness Gardens charity is established on 19 September 1962 with the purpose of supporting and furthering the work of Ness Botanic Gardens.

The Friends of Ness Gardens support the first significant project in the gardens since Bulley’s time with the construction of the Main Terrace Walls.

Ken Hulme retires as Director of the gardens.

The gardens known as Ness Gardens since approximately 1950, becomes Ness Botanic Gardens, University of Liverpool Environmental and Horticultural Research Station.

The Horsfall Rushby Visitor Centre opens.

BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time Summer Garden Party is hosted at Ness for the first time. This was repeated again in the summer of 2013 and then once again in 2017 for the show’s 70th anniversary.

Aesculus wangii, a rare Vietnamese tree, flowers at Ness for the first time outside of its native country.

The Friends of Ness Gardens charity disbands after nearly 57 years of amazing support through revenue raised and donated.

Life in a garden never stops – so the work continues as the herbaceous borders are redesigned and plants new to Ness are introduced.

Ness turns 125 years old as a site and celebrates 75 years of Ness as a University botanic garden.