This year is a special year for the Palm House, as we mark 130 years since it very first opened in our own little corner of Sefton Park. The Palm House has had its fair share of tricky times over the years, which you can read about in the History section of our website, but what’s overwhelmingly consistent throughout, is the love and affection held by its local community.

For this reason, perhaps a more significant milestone to mark in 2026 is 25 years since the Palm House reopened in 2001, following years of dereliction since the 1980s. The reason it was able to reopen? A community campaign to ‘Save the Palm House’ led by a group of people whose grit, determination and commitment to the cause raised money and attracted much-needed funding to allow the building to open its doors once more.

Thinking of all the work that went into getting the Palm House open again, and its impact and development over the past 25 years into a thriving events and community space, you can imagine our joy at recently becoming the only RHS Partner Garden in Liverpool.

The display and preservation of plants in the Palm House is of course one of its key purposes and main reasons for being. It opened in 1896 as an ‘indoor garden’, home to key pieces of Liverpool’s Botanical Collection and provided a ‘window to the world’ for its many Victorian visitors, and our plants are still a key priority for us. We have some of the best people looking after them and were really proud of our Head Gardner, Botanical Horticulturalist Colin Hughes, when he recently welcomed BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time to the Palm House. It’s only right that Colin gets recognition for the incredible work and care he gives to our plants, and you can listen to the programme for yourself here.

As well as celebrating these fantastic achievements, we are also marking this milestone year with a new supporters’ campaign and a special events programme which includes a programme of talks, late summer openings and a special exhibition at Liverpool’s Central Library, telling the story of the campaign to save the Palm House. We’re also hosting our first ever garden display with community organisations, schools and colleges and a Grow Your Own Harvest Festival; a traditional vegetable competition where people can bring what they have grown at home or in their allotments and enter competitions.

Information about all these celebratory events will be available in the What’s On section of the website, and you can also find out more about the supporters’ campaign, which is the perfect opportunity to continue the legacy of Palm House community action.

You can root for our future by becoming a supporter with an annual membership, sponsoring a bench or planter, or by simply donating the change in your pocket when you visit, or online. We also have a brand new café, with all profits going towards our Charitable Trust, so drop in for a cuppa in one of the most unique backdrops in Liverpool.

All this support, however big or small, can help us to directly protect the Palm House, nurture our unique botanical collection, keep admission free, and enable our community events to continue to help people flourish.

Kate Johnson

CEO, the Palm House