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Woman and girl in Western Australia Garden at Eden Project

Plants and nature at Eden

Eden is home to a vast collection of incredible plants. On your visit you can explore wild lands and natural landscapes, verdant rainforests, Mediterranean hillsides, North American prairies and Wild Chile. Meet the world’s crops and discover stories from the people who grow them. And get loads of inspirational ideas for your own garden.

At Eden you can find out how both wild and cultivated lands support us and discover ideas on how to conserve the wild places in balance with sustainably cropping the land. Outdoors at Eden, these landscapes sit alongside striking contemporary gardens that will give you fresh ideas for colour-themed borders, year-round interest, natural low-impact materials and ways to attract wildlife. 

Plants and nature content

Did you know?

Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on the planet, with some species growing more than 90cm IN ONE DAY!

A world of plants in a day

You'll encounter a fabulous array of plants at Eden. We have one of the largest living displays of ethnobotanical plants in the world.

Dig deeper and you'll discover the fascinating stories of our crucial relationship with plants – past, present and future. Plants are our lifeblood. From blue jeans to coffee beans, plants feed us, clothe us and heal us. They colour the fabric of our lives and, along with animals, fungi and the microbial world, supply us with clean water, fertile soil, rich biodiversity, a stable climate and the very air we breathe – our life support system.

Inspiration for tackling climate change

On your journey through our global gardens, you'll discover how people are better understanding, conserving and cropping plants for a more sustainable future.

You'll be inspired to take action on climate change and biodiversity loss by spending time in our Biome, where you'll discover how rainforests act as nature's fridge and cool the Earth. It's astounding to think that a piece of rainforest the size of our Rainforest Biome is destroyed every 11 seconds.

Plants and nature at Eden 2 ambient video

Why plants are important

In more detail...

Rainforest Biome at Eden Project

Rainforest Biome

Explore our enormous indoor rainforest. Trek through the humid tropics via SE Asia, West Africa and South America.

Tulips growing in Mediterranean Biome at Eden Project

Mediterranean Biome

Experience sights, scents and stories from the Mediterranean, California, South Africa and Western Australia.

Dahlias growing in Outdoor Gardens at Eden Project

Outdoor Gardens

Our vast Outdoor Gardens are home to over 20 plant-based exhibits, colourful seasonal borders, art installations and play areas.

Discover the crops we grow at the Eden Project

A visit to the Eden Project will take you on a journey of discovering where our food, medicine and other resources come from. Wander down the slopes of our Outdoor Gardens and through our Biomes and you will find stories of wild places and cultivated crops and discover how we need both to support the health of people and planet. Our Outdoor Gardens, Rainforest and Mediterranean Biomes have large areas dedicated to crops that grow in different climates around the world. Highlights include our Global Gardens allotment, Citrus Grove and Rainforest Market.

Explore some of the crops you can see growing in our gardens below:

Crops at Eden

Sugar cane

Sugar

Sugar cane sticks were first chewed for their sugary sap 10,000 years ago. Today we eat about 3kg a week each!

Three cacao pods growing on a tree

Cacao

This plant is the source of chocolate! Cacao pods come in many shapes, sizes and colours.

Coffee plant

Arabica coffee

Arabica coffee dominates the world market and is regarded by most people as producing the highest quality beans.

Tea plant

Tea

There are about 3,000 different types of tea. The flavour depends on where they grow and the type of bush.

Vanilla plant

Vanilla

This popular ice cream flavour is the second most expensive spice after saffron.

Chilli peppers

Chilli pepper

Like tomatoes, potatoes and tobacco, chillies are members of the nightshade family and come in many shapes.

Bananas growing from tree

Wild banana

Cultivated around the tropics, there are about 1,000 types of banana.

Baobab leaves

Baobab

Baobab trees can live for over 3,000 years. When they die, they rot inside and suddenly collapse!

Citron fruit on tree

Citron

No, the fruits of this tree aren’t lemons on steroids, although they are from the citrus family!

grapes growing on a vine

Grape vine

We grow several varieties of grape in a vineyard surrounding The Rites of Dionysus sculpture at the centre of our Mediterranean Biome.

Olives growing on a tree

Olive

Olive trees can survive in arid conditions for an incredibly long time – some examples are 2,000 years old.

Oil palm trees

Oil palm

Palm oil is used in over 60% of our supermarket products from ice cream and crisps to soaps and lipstick.

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Portrait of gardener Helen Lannon holding broom

Meet one of our gardeners

Helen Lannon loves not only getting her hands dirty, but also helping others connect with the living world around them.
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Rainforest leaves being watered in the Rainforet Biome at the Eden Project

Our mission

We celebrate plants and the natural world, reconnect people with them and work to regenerate damaged landscapes.
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Support our mission for positive change

By joining as a Member or making a donation, you’ll help to support our transformational projects in the UK and around the world.
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Woman and child walking along path through brightly coloured Western Australia garden in the Mediterranean Biome

Enjoy an audio tour

Download the Candide app to listen to an exclusive audio tour of the Eden Project with our gardeners, and to use its special ID feature to identify plants.
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