One of the first British attempts at mimicking these near-mythical Chinese gardens came in 1738 with the construction of a building and garden at Stowe House in the English county of Buckinghamshire. Lord Anson created gardens at Shugborough Hall in the county of Staffordshire in 1747 that included a Chinese-style house and bridge.

Jane Kilpatrick, an Oxford-educated freelance historian and garden writer, describes the early introduction of Chinese plants into the UK in two books:

Gifts from the Gardens of China: The Introduction of Traditional Chinese Garden Plants to Britain 1698-1862 and Fathers of Botany: The Discovery of Chinese Plants by European Missionaries.

Tony Kirkham, head of arboretum, gardens and horticulture services at Kew, said many of the 14,000 trees at the botanic gardens originated in China, including Britain's first maidenhair tree, or ginkgo, which was planted at Kew in 1762 after it was sourced by Princess Augusta, the person who funded the pagoda.