10 facts you didn't know about the Botanic Lights

This year's Botanic Lights adventure follows in the footsteps of intrepid plant-hunters through the centuries, however, while the event is loved by many, not everyone knows the unusual facts behind the event.

Botanic Lights event at Botanic Gardens at Greg Macvean

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Heather Jackson, Director of Enterprise at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, said: “There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes at the Garden of which people are not aware of. We want to share some of the unusual and intriguing details and encourage people to come along to this year’s event to find out more.”

Think you know the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh? Think again. Here’s our top 10 of things you probably didn’t know about Botanic Lights

1. Over 800 lighting fixtures, 80% of which are LED, are involved in this year’s Botanic Lights event

2. For the first time, pressure and Kinect sensors have been installed, creating an all new way for the audience to interact with the light, putting them in control

3. 10 originally composed pieces of music have been specifically created by Claire McKenzie for Botanic Lights

4. Built in 1774 as a family home, Inverleith House became an art gallery in 1960. Typically, a focal point of the Garden, Inverleith House transforms into a spectacle of light and wonder during Botanic Lights.

5.The Botanic Garden works across many geographical locations, including the Middle East, the Himalaya, South America and South East Asia – attributed areas in the Garden can be seen bathed in extraordinary light and colour displays this month

6. The Redwood Grove is home to giant redwoods, a type of conifer from California and is the largest tree in the world. Explore the Garden giants in all their glory at Botanic Lights

7. It takes over 1,000 hours for lighting technicians to install all of the lights throughout the Gardens

8. The Pond, which always makes for a Botanic Lights highlight is also thriving with aquatic life from minnows and sticklebacks to frogs, toads and newts

9. Planthunter George Forrest (1873-1932), sometimes referred to as the ‘Indiana Jones’ of the plant world, worked for RBGE in the early part of the last century. His work is remembered today at the Botanics’ Chinese Hillside, which during Botanic Lights will be brought to life in a way that visitors have never experienced before

10. This year’s Botanic Lights show is the Garden’s most ambitious yet. It aims to tell the story of RBGE’s important research and conservation work and each ticket sold will help to fund these projects further.