Botany Manor: Chapter 1 Guide

Botany Manor is all about exploring the titular mansion, home to keen botanist Arabella Greene, and growing her wonderfully exotic plants that she has discovered and studied in great detail. Altogether in the roughly 5-hour playthrough consisting of 5 chapters, there are 12 different plants to discover and grow. For each plant, it is your task to figure out, with the clues provided, how to grow them. This game is in effect a puzzle game, and some of the plants are certainly a puzzler. That’s why a 5-part guide for Botany Manor has been put together, so if you ever do find yourself lost or stuck, we can help you on your way.

In this first guide, you’ll be introduced to the mechanics of Botany Manor and learn how to grow your first plant: the Windmill Wort.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out our review of Botany Manor, which is now available on PC, Xbox consoles, and Nintendo Switch for $24.99.

To see more of this walkthrough for Botany Manor, take a look at these other guides:

• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5

Botany Manor Chapter 1 – A Fresh Start

When you first start a new game of Botany Manor, you begin in the manor’s Conservatory. The first thing you need to do is go around to the left of the table in the middle of the room. To the left is a workbench, where you should find a letter and parcel.

You start in the Greenhouse of Botany Manor.

The letter and parcel introduces you to the goal of Botany Manor: to fill in the Herbarium with all the plants you discover and grow. The Herbarium can be opened up anytime throughout the game and is extremely useful. It will keep track of what you have discovered and what you still need to do. There is also a map if you ever get lost in the manor or grounds.

The first step in Botany Manor is to read the letter and open the parcel to get the Herbarium.

Read the letter, then have a quick first look at the Herbarium before putting it away. You’ll be using it very soon.

With the game’s objective set in stone, it’s time to begin with the first plant. The first chapter of Botany Manor will officially begin once you go through the double doors.

When you first enter the Conservatory, notice how smoggy it is.

The Smoggy Conservatory

You will enter the Conservatory, which is full of smog. This room introduces you to the mechanics of Botany Manor, serving as a tutorial: how to pot a plant seed, how to gather clues, how to work out how to grow a plant, and then the actual growing of the plant. It’s really very straightforward.

The first plant you have to grow in Botany Manor is called Windmill Wort. It’s also the only plant you get to grow in Chapter 1.

First, take a look around the room, familiarize yourself with the new surroundings. To the left, you’ll notice a potting bench. This is where you pot your plants.

To your left is the potting bench.

The Potting Bench

Potting benches are found all around the manor and grounds. Usually, a potting bench symbolizes that you’re in an area where you need to grow a plant. Every potting bench is exactly the same, and you can access all the seeds you’ve found so far at each one. Each potting bench has the same tools and layout; the seeds, a saucer to put a pot on, a sack of soil, a watering can, a compost tray, and a shelf below with extra pots. 

Learn how to pot a plant at the potting bench. You’ll be doing this throughout the game.

Before you can even think about potting a plant, you first need the seeds. Seed packets for the 12 plants are scattered all over the manor. On the potting bench, you’ll notice a bag of seeds. These are for the Windmill Wort. Pick these up and they’ll be added to the potting bench ready to be planted. Also, the Herbarium will be updated with an illustration of the plant’s seed. This is useful for keeping track of whether you have found the seeds for the plant.

The seeds for the Windmill Wort are on the potting bench, with instructions on how to pot next to it.

Next to the seeds you collected, you’ll notice a bit of paper. Pick this up. It’s instructions on how to correctly pot a plant. You can pick up documents, read books, and examine posters throughout the manor. However, you cannot keep them or store them on you. If you want to read them again, you’ll have to go back to their location and examine them. These contain important information on how to grow plants, so retain their information or remember where they are so you can go back to refer to them.

You can pick up items such as these potting instructions to help you play the game and solve puzzles on how to grow plants.

How to Pot a Plant

Since you’re at the potting bench and you have the seeds, you might as well learn how to pot a plant now, with the Windmill Wort as your first one. It’s very easy.

First, make sure you have a pot positioned on the saucer. By default, there should be, but if there isn’t, there are lots of spare pots on the bottom shelf of the bench. 

Next, select the sack of soil to fill the pot with soil. With that done, you can now add the Windmill Wort seed. Select the seed from the drawer and it will place itself in the middle of the soil. 

The final stage of preparing a plant for potting is watering it. Simply select the watering can, and with the seed now watered, it will magically sprout!

If you ever want to discard a plant, you can dispose of it with the compost tray. Just pick up the plant and select the tray and the pot will empty.

How to Grow a Plant

Potting a plant is only the beginning. The goal is to make the plant fully grow and bloom, and for that, you have to do a series of tasks.

The Windmill Wort in the Conservatory is a good place to start. At the moment, you have no clue how to grow it. To find out, you need to explore your surroundings and examine any clues you find. These clues, when put together, will give you all the answers you need to grow the plant in question. Note that as you play the game and have multiple plants you’re working on at the same time, you’ll have to figure out which plant the clues are referring to, not mistaking it for another. It’s easy to do.

The Herbarium

First, let’s take a look at the Herbarium, specifically the page for the Windmill Wort. At this stage, it looks pretty blank, but there is some handy information. Aside from the name of the plant, you have some notes that talks about the plant, giving clues as to what you might need to do to make it grow. For the Windmill Wort, it talks about the smoggy air in the Conservatory, and how you need to research its temperature requirements. This means that you have to do something in the room relating to the temperature to make it grow.

Another important part of the page is the list of clues. These are clues that you have found that have helped you work out how to grow the plant. You need to add these clues to the slots on the page. Once all the correct clues have been filled in, they will be permanently added to the page. If you have added all the clues but they don’t blend with the page, a clue must be wrong. All clues for the plant must be filled in before they can merge with the page.

This is what a page for a plant looks like in the Herbarium.

All clues for each chapter can be found at the end of the Herbarium’s chapter. This is a good way to keep track of all the clues in a chapter and see which ones are missing. Although the book doesn’t tell you what clue is missing, it does tell you what room or part of the manor you can find it.

The final thing of note for the page is an illustration of the plant and its seed. They start off blank, with just a silhouette, but once you collect the seeds and successfully grow the plant, the pictures will be filled in. There will also be a note telling you what room you can find the seed packet in.

Explore the Conservatory for Clues

With the Windmill Wort now planted and ready to go, it’s time to find out how to grow it, which means searching the Conservatory. For this first plant, you only have to search the Conservatory, and there are only 3 clues, which makes things much easier.

Look to the right of the potting bench. You’ll see a big machine. This is used to adjust the temperature in the room. Make a note of this, as you’ll need to use it very soon.

See the big machine near the potting bench? You’ll be needing it soon.

Go around the room from the right of the temperature adjuster. To the left, you’ll come across some items of interest sitting atop the workbench. These are a newspaper and postcard. Pick up the newspaper to examine it. Also, read the postcard. Turn the postcard over to read it. You’ll discover some important information about the plant you’re trying to grow. The Windmill Wort only grows in Sicily, and only at certain temperatures, and has air purifying qualities. It also mentions helping with the smog in the Conservatory.

After you examine the postcard, you’ll be prompted to open up the Herbarium and add the postcard as your first clue for the Windmill Wort. It’s generally a good idea to add the right clue to the right plant page as you discover clues, rather than leaving them until later. You might forget what the clue was for, and with so many plants and clues, you can get muddled and end up with clues in the wrong places.

So far, we’ve only found one clue for the Windmill Wort, and according to the Herbarium, there’s two more to find. Plus, we still don’t know what temperature the plant needs to grow at.

The Last Two Clues

Notice that to the right of the newspaper and postcard, there’s another machine. This is the heat vent. There’s also a saucer, just like the one situated on the potting bench where the pot goes. Look out for these saucers throughout the game, as this is where a plant needs to go to grow. In this case, the Windmill Wort has to be placed on the saucer in front of the heat vent. Retrieve the Windmill Wort and place it on this saucer, so it’s ready when the right moment comes.

Place the Windmill Wort on the saucer by the heat vent. This is where it will grow.

Next, look to your right. Nearby should be a blackboard, which has two important documents posted on it. The first is a chart with a list of locations and types of flowers. Note that Sicily is listed. However, we don’t know what type of flower the Windmill Wort is. You can find that out by looking at the poster next to the chart. You’ll see 4 flowers. The Windmill Wort is on there, and is stated to be a Volcanic Flower. With this new information, return to the chart. Looking at Sicily and Volcanic Flowers, it states that the ideal soil temperature needs to be 60 degrees Celsius. Make sure that you select both documents on the blackboard so they are added as clues to your Herbarium.

Now you have the final two clues, add them to the Windmill Wort page to finalize the clues. You now have everything you need to grow the Windmill Wort!

Growing the Windmill Wort

Here’s exactly what you need to do to grow the plant. Go over to the temperature adjuster and turn the wheel until the dial says 60 degrees Celsius. Next, go to the Windmill Wort at the heat vent. Press the button to open the heat vent – and the magic happens! Not only will the Windmill Wort bloom into life, but the Conservatory smog will clear, so that you can now see outside. The Herbarium will also automatically open up and fill in the illustration of the flower.

Congratulations! You have grown the Windmill Wort and your very first plant in Botany Manor!

All Clues for Windmill Wort (3): Postcard, Temperature Chart, Wildflowers

Opening the Entrance Garden Gates

So you’ve grown your first plant. Now what? Now you need to leave the Conservatory through the doors and go outside. Follow the path until you reach a bigger path that goes two ways. If you go left, you come across the Entrance Garden gates of Botany Manor. You cannot open them as they are locked. Therefore, turn around and make your way along the path until you find the manor’s Gatehouse. You’ll find yourself coming back to this particular location throughout the game.

At the Gatehouse, look to the right. Although there are a few things of interest you can examine, the main things to look out for are letters and keys. In this instance, there is a key to the Entrance Garden sitting in a basket. Pick it up and take it back to the gates to unlock them.

This is a big area. Take a look around if you wish. You may come across more gates and doors in the gardens, but these will be locked. You’ll have to progress through the game to access more areas. If you want to crack on with the game and start the second chapter, head straight to the manor up the steps and go through the archway. You’ll see another potting bench. (To the left of the potting bench is a side room, which has a letter on a table, but it isn’t a clue for any plants.) To the right is a door. Open it and go through to begin Chapter 2 of Botany Manor. 

This is where Chapter 1 of Botany Manor ends, and the first part of this five-part guide for the complete walkthrough.