Garden Museum, London

You can learn about more than 400 years of English gardening by visiting London’s Garden Museum (Lambeth Palace Rd., London, SE1 7LB, U.K.; phone +44 20 7401 8865, www.gardenmuseum.org.uk). 

Opened in 1977, the museum is housed in the formerly abandoned church St Mary-at-Lambeth, the burial place of 17th-century royal gardener John Tradescant the elder and his botanist son, John the younger. Its permanent gardening collection of 6,000 items includes tools, literature, artworks and ephemera. The museum also organizes three temporary gardening exhibits each year and hosts 30 gardening talks. 

Open 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun.-Fri., and to 4 p.m. Sat. Entry, £10 (near $13).