Reimagining modern botanic gardens: From nature-culture-science hubs to healing physic gardens
image: The physic garden in the world's oldest botanic garden, Orto Botanico di Padova, Italy. Today, I argue, the entire botanic garden should be a "physic" or healing garden, offering far more than a collection of medicinal plants.
Credit: Entwisle, Tim
Date: April 17, 2026
Melbourne, Australia: Building on the long-standing identity of botanic gardens as integrated hubs of nature, culture and science, a new scientific perspective published in Biological Diversity reimagines these iconic institutions as modern physic gardens—dynamic healing places for both human well-being and planetary ecological restoration. Authored by Tim Entwisle of the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and the University of Melbourne, the study calls for elevating health and healing as a core mission of modern botanic gardens, a vision inspired by the 16th-century Orto Botanico di Padova, the world’s first botanic garden founded as a medicinal physic garden.
Entwisle’s work, shaped by observations of community solace and recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic, argues that botanic gardens offer far more than medicinal plant collections. As urban oases of complex biodiversity, they deliver significant psychological and physical health benefits to urban populations, with their diverse landscapes enhancing nature’s positive impacts on human well-being. Beyond human health, the research frames botanic gardens as ecological care providers: their Plant Rescue and Care Units operate as “plant ICUs” with “plant ambulances” deployed to rescue species post-disasters, while conservation triage and climate adaptation strategies mirror medical approaches—targeting root causes of ecological decline, mitigating harm, and building resilience when full restoration is impossible. ”
The study emphasizes that modern physic gardens retain their core pillars of nature, culture and science: they blend wild and cultivated landscapes, host cultural events and art that expand audience engagement, and embed scientific research and conservation into every operation, from collection management to education. Entwisle notes that botanic gardens should be recognized as essential to public health systems, alongside hospitals, and as peer institutions to leading museums, galleries and universities.
Rejecting a narrow return to historical medicinal garden designs, the research posits that the entirety of modern botanic gardens—their collections, landscapes, and programs—constitutes a holistic healing space. This reimagining positions botanic gardens as critical solutions to dual crises of human disconnection from nature and planetary ecological decline, leveraging their unique role to foster health for people and the planet.
Original Source
Entwisle, Tim. 2024. “A Healing Place: Reimagining the Modern Botanic Garden as a Physic Garden.” Biological Diversity 1(1): 9–12.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bod2.12001
Keywords
botanic gardens, culture, healing, health, nature, physic garden, science
About the Author
Tim Entwisle, eminent Australian botanist and ecologist, holds an honorary professorship at the School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne, and is a key figure at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV). A leading expert in freshwater phycology and conservation horticulture, he reimagines modern botanic gardens as holistic healing physic gardens, integrating nature, culture, science with planetary conservation and human health, and has spearheaded RBGV’s climate adaptation and plant rescue initiatives globally.
About the Journal
Biological Diversity (ISSN: 2994-4139) is a new open-access, high-impact, English-language journal, devoted to advancing biodiversity conservation, enhancing ecosystem services, and promoting the sustainable use of resources under global change. It features innovative research addressing the global biodiversity crisis.