Kew’s new Carbon Garden aims to explain the basics about the carbon cycle and the role of plants in carbon capture. The online London Parks & Gardens talk on October 21 will cover the thinking and design behind this garden, and what Kew hopes visitors will take away from it. Speaker Dr Raoul Curtis-Machin is the newly appointed Executive Director of Gardens at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, having previously served as the Director of Horticulture and Visitor Experience at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. Book this talk and five more at https://londongardenstrust.org/lecture-booking/?event=Season-Ticket-Winter
With sleepy villages dotted throughout rolling hills, honey-hued buildings embellished with fairy lights, roaring fires in cozy pubs and sparkling trees adorning picture-perfect towns, the Cotswolds is a magical place to spend the run-up to the holidays. The Royal Oak Foundation’s memorable tour on December 1 – 7 meanders through a stunning cluster of Cotswolds favorites to the southern tip of this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the UNESCO World Heritage city of Bath, where the delightful Christmas Market and twinkling Georgian streets await.
We also weave our way across the lovely landscapes of another AONB, the Chilterns, to explore the stunning Tudor mansion of Grey’s Court and château inspired Waddesdon Manor, both sumptuously dressed for a classic country house Christmas. We enjoy plenty more seasonal delights, from the enchanting illuminations trail at Kew Gardens to a Victorian-style carol singing performance in celebration of enduring yuletide traditions. $4,995 per person. For complete information visit https://www.royal-oak.org/britain-tours-2024/christmastime/
Andrew Croft, Director, CBA Studios, a landscape, environmental and heritage practice, will present an online talk on Tuesday, April 18 entitled “Everything in Balance”: Planning and its Role in Protecting Historic Gardens, with particular reference to the royal Botanic Gardens, Kew World Heritage Site The program is sponsored by London Historic Parks & Gardens Trust.
The talk is an overview of how the English planning system treats historic designed landscapes in terms of development within and around them. He will explore how change can harm or affect designed landscapes, particularly in terms of change around a site, and how the balance between potential harm and potential benefit is addressed in the planning system. This will highlight key considerations for people looking to influence development in and around historic gardens, supporting individuals and groups who wish to encourage appropriate consideration of designed landscapes by developers and local planning authorities. He will draw on a range of case studies, but with a particular focus on recent developments and proposals around Kew Gardens.
Andrew is consultant with extensive experience working on high profile conservation, destination and development projects. He has served as an expert witness at a number of planning inquiries relating to development around heritage sites, including parks and gardens. He has particular expertise in delivering complex projects for highly sensitive and significant places including many World Heritage Sites in the UK and internationally. Five pound fee. Register at londongardenstrust.org
Netflix has set out to entertain all the flower arrangers and travelers who despair they will ever be able to visit the Chelsea Flower Show again, The Big Flower Fight is a new show where ten pairs of florists, sculptors, and garden designers face off to see who can build the biggest, boldest garden sculptures. Flower designer Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht judges each week with a different expert judge joining him. Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht runs Wild Bloom, creating bespoke arrangements, and his creations have featured in publications like Martha Stewart Weddings, Traditional Home Magazine, and The Knot. The winners will get to display an original design at Kew Gardens. The contestants are the mixed bag you would expect in a competition show – the young ladies studying floristry at University, a pair of artists who don’t know much about plants but have a vision, a charming estate gardener from I swear medieval England and his son, wedding flower arrangers from the US, landscape architects who are more about the architecture and less about the flowers, etc. If you love The Great British Baking Show, you will enjoy this eight episode season. The trailer may be viewed at https://www.netflix.com/title/81046153
Thanks to Garden Club of the Back Bay Past President Jackie Blombach for sharing this link allowing us to tour nine spectacular gardens in Great Britain, France, and the United States online and in the safety of our homes. The beautiful magazine Gardens Illustrated compiled the list, which includes favorites like Kew Gardens and Hidcote. Visit https://www.gardensillustrated.com/gardens/gardens-to-visit/virtual-garden-tours-best/
Enjoy the world’s greatest flower show, the Chelsea Flower Show, on members-only day with Tower Hill Botanic Garden. Additional highlights include a city tour of London, Kew Gardens, Kensington Palace, the Savill Garden and Wisley Garden. May 18-25, 2017, cost $3999 per person, double occupancy, including airfare. Bring your most imaginative clothing! Image from www.visitlondon.com. For more information visit: https://gateway.gocollette.com/link/770029
Charles Jencks, architectural theorist, landscape architect, and designer, has become a leading figure in British landscape architecture. His landscape work is inspired by fractals, genetics, chaos theory, waves and solitons. These themes are expressed in his award-winning design, the Landform Ueda at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, Scotland, and expanded in his own private landscape, the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, at Portrack House, near Dumfries. Also a furniture designer and sculptor, Jencks completed the DNA Sculpture in London’s Kew Gardens in 2003. Jencks will speak about his design process as it applies to landscapes. See photo below of his “Life Mounds” at Jupiter Artland.
Fee: $20 Arnold Arboretum member, $25 nonmember. Presented by the Arnold Arboretum and Trinity Church in Boston. For more information, or to register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu, or call 617-384-5277.
