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

Lecture 5 will be held on February 17. From petty banter to agricultural concerns, the battle rhetoric imbued with the full force of colonial violence dominated the discourse on nineteenth-century weeds in North America. The colonial implications of displacing people and forcing compliance in human and plant subjects was often used when debating the value and strength of plant species. In doing so, subjective prejudice cast a shadow on botanical science in which man-made nationalities were mapped out onto nature. Using colonial language, Susan Fenimore Cooper (1813-1894), William Darlington (1782-1863), George Lawson (1827-1895), and Edward Waller Claypole (1835-1901), among others, advocated for a North American resistance against European weeds. Addressing their writings, this lecture will present how authors wrote about European weeds in North America and analyse their links to colonial warfare rhetoric. In doing so, we can critically interrogate the ideological binding of native plants with native people alongside foreign plants and settlers in North America.

Kimberly M. Glassman is a Research Associate of Botanical Collections at the Fitzwilliam Museum; a postdoctoral position with the Collections-Connections-Community Initiative at the University of Cambridge. Kim investigates transatlantic 18th and 19th century botanical histories by drawing connections between correspondence archives, botanical artwork and herbarium specimens in the UK and North America. Her current research focuses on the aesthetics of plant disease. Kim has previously focused on highlighting Indigenous knowledge and women’s voices within 19th century Floras based on archival research at Kew Gardens. Kim is a postdoctoral associate of Newnham College, Cambridge and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London.

This session will be chaired by Dr Caroline Cornish of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Image: Jules Breton (1827–1906), The Weeders, 1868, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, public domain