Daily Archives: March 5, 2023

This is the fourth lecture in a six-week series of lectures which will look at the history and development of garden technology from Medieval times right up to the present day. The ‘technology’ of gardening has developed enormously over the past centuries due to mechanization, automation, advances in science – and we can now grow plants without soil, we have automated watering systems for our greenhouses and we can watch while the robot mower, controlled from our smartphones, trims our lawns to perfection. But although we may approach them differently, the tasks and challenges that face gardeners today are much the same as they were back in Tudor times and earlier: preparing the soil, planting, protecting, composting, propagating and so on and so on. The rise in the organic movement over the past few decades has reminded us that the gardeners of old knew at least as much about gardening and working in harmony with nature as we do now, so how have new technologies developed and progressed our gardening knowledge, practice, and techniques?

The Gardens Trust has engaged a series of expert speakers to examine this question, including the renowned garden writer and designer, Noel Kingsbury, National Trust curator James Rothwell, expert on lawnmowers through the ages Keith Wootton, as well as regular Gardens Trust lecturers Jill Francis and our very own David Marsh; who will take a different technology in turn – tools, fertilizers, pest control, glasshouses, lawnmowers and plant breeding – and explore their history and development in relation to gardening. Tickets £24 or £5 each. Register through Eventbrite HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week.

Since Roman times, people have longed to grow fruits and flowering plants from climates warmer than their own. It is from their resulting endeavors that the humble greenhouse of today emerged, bringing with it the ability to experience horticultural and culinary delights from across the globe. This talk on March 14 with James Rothwell will look at the history of the glasshouse in Britain, from the 17th-century orangery at Ham House to the 1920s greenhouse at Mr Straw’s House in Nottinghamshire. It will also look at the supporting acts that are garden sheds and at how innovations in glasshouse technology have informed building design today beyond the garden, including central heating systems, railway stations and even skyscrapers.

James Rothwell studied architectural and landscape history at the Courtauld Institute of Art, specializing in the Red Books of Humphry Repton. He has been a curator with the National Trust for nearly thirty years. During that time, he has been responsible for a number of estates with important glasshouses, notably Quarry Bank in Cheshire where he oversaw the acquisition and restoration of the kitchen garden, including a range of glass with an early curvilinear iron showhouse.