The Japanese Gardens

With a hint of the orient, the Japanese Gardens will transport you to a tranquil oasis as you walk over bridges and take a seat on the benches, enjoying the views around you. Take a peaceful stroll through gardens brought to life with an interesting array of trees, shrubs, and perennial planting, ranging from candelabra primulas to echinacea, and from tree ferns to acers.

The Lakeside Border

The Lakeside Border runs alongside the zoo’s inner lake. This garden was designed to enhance the natural lake landscape, highlighting nature’s inherent beauty. Featuring more than 80 varieties of plants including grasses and perennials as well as an impressive range of succulents during the summer and autumn months.

The Tiered Border

You’ll find this garden at one end of the inner lake. Its tiered border showcases a large variety of dahlias and tender exotics putting on a beautiful display of colour and life.

The Station Bed

Growing not far from our train station, this garden bed is a tropical delight to all the senses. Enjoy a variety of tropical plants on display from late spring all the way through to late autumn.

The Tropical Border

At the centre of the zoo, you’ll find this corner of tropical border garden. Topping off the inner lake, is this showcase of different tropical styled planting including some hardy varients.

The Rose Gardens

Our Rose gardens are located around the ticket office exit, and originally created to celebrate the late queen’s diamond and platinum Jubilees. These majestic gardens are full of scented roses named after the royal family, complimented with Geranium Rozanne. The roses around the delightful peacock fountain are amongst the oldest in the zoo.

The Courtyard Garden

Tucked behind the Elephant Fountain you’ll find a peaceful courtyard with Bay trees, Fatsias, Hosta, Agapanthus and beautiful box hedging.

The Conservation Garden

Found at the entrance of the educational Wild Hub, this garden is a horticulture celebration! Showcasing a wide variety of conservation features that can be used in any garden, including planting, a stag beetle habitat, insect houses, and a small pond. Come along and see how you can help conservation by creating a similarly beautiful garden in your own home.

The Salvia & Rare Plant Collections

Throughout all our gardens, you’ll find 150 different varieties of Salvia. From tender to hardy, in full sun or shade, our Salvia grows! We are delighted to have over 50 rare Salvias for which we are careful plant guardians. You can discover many of these rare variants in the Salvia bed build between the otters and the playground. We also grow other rare plants throughout our gardens. Our rare plant collection is one of the many examples of Beale’s commitment to conservation – caring for the rich diversity and genetic heritage of both native and cultivated plants. We work in partnership with other organisations such as Plant Heritage to make sure plants are exchanged, researched and saved.

The Trees

Our zoo is home to a fine collection of trees. Both native and ornamental, towering and small, deciduous, and evergreen, they create a haven around the zoo for outdoor enthusiasts. Our collection has grown over the years and will only continue to do so as new trees are planted. This allows us to keep the landscape alive and thriving while supporting the ecosystems within it. Nature lovers, be sure to tick these specimen trees off your list: Swamp Cyprus (Taxodium distichum), River Birch (Betula nigra), Indian Bean Tree (Catalpa bignonioides), Flowering Cherry (Prunus pink perfection), Monkey Puzzle (Araucaria araucana).