Stories of horticulture and garden-making are often bound up with stories of empires. From the global trade in plants and the economic imperative behind botanic gardens to the acquired status and symbolism of certain plants and the realities of human exploitation, this series will explore the myriad ways in which economic and political power has influenced the seemingly commonplace activities of gardeners.
This January 8-part online series from The Gardens Trust picks up themes and ideas from the Gardens and Empires conference presented in June 2025 by English Heritage and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in association with the British Library. Some of the speakers from the conference will be expanding on the topics they presented, and additional researchers have been invited to share their perspectives. The series will focus on European empires and will examine their global impact and influence on plants and gardening. We will explore issues from the perspective of both the coloniser and the colonized, of individuals and institutions, of the past and continuing legacies today – and will see both the triumphs and cruelties inherent in the stories around empires, plants and gardening.
This ticket link is for the series of 8 talks at £56 or you may purchase a ticket for individual talks, costing £8. (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 8 for £42). There will be an opportunity for Q & A after each session. Ticket holders can join each session live and/or view a recording for up to 2 weeks afterwards. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session.
The second lecture takes place January 27. The Hope Botanic Gardens in Kingston, Jamaica were founded in 1873 as a sugar experimentation station. Built on the grounds of the former Hope Plantation, they quickly developed into the primary botanic gardens on the island. Hope was the headquarters of both the Jamaican Botanical Department and the new Department of Agriculture from 1908, acting as an outpost of Kew in Jamaica.
Walter Jekyll praised Hope as ‘a botanical garden made beautiful’ in his Guide to Hope Gardens (1904), signalling that the gardens were also worthy of the tourist gaze. In the ‘New Jamaica’ of the 1890s, the gardens became part of a picturesque vision of the island as a tropical paradise for prospective visitors. Based on archival accounts held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, this talk will examine how the role of botanic gardens in the burgeoning Caribbean tourism industry intersected with legacies of enslavement in these colonial spaces.
Dr. Heather Craddock is an environmental historian and Collections Researcher at The National Archives. Her PhD explored colonial histories of Caribbean botanic gardens in the archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and her current research focuses on histories of plants, gardens, forests, and occasionally animals. She co-curated an exhibition on the history of forest conservation and deforestation, entitled ‘Uprooted’, at Kew Gardens in 2023 and has taught English Literature and Environmental Humanities at Brunel University and the University of Roehampton.
This session will be chaired by Dr Caroline Cornish of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
