A new Alpine House was opened at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on 23 May 2013. The building is the first in a British botanic garden dedicated to growing alpines in the ‘naturalistic’ setting of tufa, which forms a natural rock face for the plants to grow on. This has been shown to improve the quality and survivability of plant material compared with the traditional way of growing plants in clay pots, as shown in the adjacent Alpine House built in 1975.

The new House will enable a wider range of species to be grown that are in decline in habitats around the world. Visitors will have year-round, free, access to an educational facility that will provide a new platform from which to raise awareness about interconnected environmental issues, such as conservation of montane habitats and climate change.

The project has been realised with funding from the Scottish Government, Biffa Award, Garfield Weston Foundation, Scottish Rock Garden Club and Alpine Garden Society, as well as donations from individuals and trusts. It is a major advancement in explaining research and conservation work at RBGE on these small, hardy plants, which can be indicators of change induced by global warming. For 140 years, RBGE has pioneered the growing of wild-collected alpines and is respected around the world for its living collection. However, severe restrictions on space mean that most of the alpine plants held in the Botanic Garden have never been on public display.

The tufa used throughout the new Alpine House was recycled from a road-building project in southern Germany. Plants have been inserted into bore holes drilled into the soft rock. These are filled with special cultivating medium, mixed with gravel and sand, which is packed around the roots of the young plants. The living wall will develop over time as more specimens are added and become established; its colonists will provide a constantly changing spectacle as different species come into flower and fruit and extend new foliage across the seasons.