01/09/2026
🌿From You to the Zoo🌿
If you’re planning a bit of autumn gardening, dividing plants, moving shrubs or even removing a healthy young tree, we’d love you to think of us before it heads elsewhere.
We have lots of new enclosures to plant, and we’re looking for trees, shrubs and plants that can help us create more natural spaces for the animals in our care.
Planting isn’t just about making the zoo look lovely. 🌱
Trees, shrubs and plants can provide:
🌳 Shelter and hiding places
🐦 Nesting sites and natural nesting materials
🍎 Leaves, flowers and fruit for animals to browse and forage
🦋 Valuable habitat for native wildlife around the zoo
And if you’re one of those people who LOVES growing things but has officially run out of room in the garden… we’d be very happy to put those green fingers to work! We’re also always interested in hearing from people who may like to volunteer and help us care for the planting around the zoo.
🌳 TREES WE’RE LOOKING FOR
Acers • Willow • Oak • Horse Chestnut • Ash • Hawthorn • Hazel • Beech • Birch • Silver Birch • Holly • Cherry/Prunus • Apple & Crab Apple • Pear • Plum and other fruit trees • Blackthorn • Elder • Elm • Maple • Rowan
🌿 SHRUBS
Fatsia • Buddleia • Hydrangea • Pittosporum • Bamboo • Sarcococca • Mahonia • Ceanothus • Lilac • Spiraea • Sambucus • Alder • Rhododendron • Cornus • Cotoneaster • Salix
🌸 CLIMBERS
Clematis • Jasmine • Honeysuckle • Roses • Ivy
🌱 PLANTS
Hosta • Brunnera • Fuchsia • Ferns • Grasses • Heuchera • Agapanthus • Crocosmia • Red Hot Pokers • Hemerocallis/Day Lilies • Phormiums • Cordylines • H**e • Hardy Geraniums • Salvias
⚠️ PLEASE NOTE
We cannot accept general garden waste, dead trees or plants, cut branches/prunings, invasive species, or the following plants as they are toxic or otherwise unsuitable for our animals:
Yew • Leylandii • Laurel • Privet • Box • Laburnum
If you have something suitable that you think could find a new home at Fife Zoo, please get in touch with us. 💚
And please share this post with the gardeners in your life — somewhere out there we suspect there’s a very happy hydrangea that has absolutely outgrown its welcome. 🌿🦓🐒