Boston Flora

Tag: London Parks & Gardens

  • Tuesday, November 4, 1:00 pm Eastern – Unraveling the Tale of London’s Mulberry Tree Heritage, Online

    Although mulberry trees were introduced to Britain by the Romans in the 1st century AD, England’s legacy of ancient mulberries stems from a failed attempt by King James I in the 17th century to create an English silk industry. This London Parks & Gardens online talk on November 4 will delve into the history, cultural and social associations of these ancient trees exploring some of their stories and connections to local surroundings. Notable examples of the mulberry tree can be found in the grounds of Charlton House, Sayes Court Park, Ham House, Tower of London, Hogarth’s House, Charterhouse and Middle Temple.

    Peter Coles is Author of Mulberry , a global cultural history of the mulberry tree and co-founder of Morus Londinium. He is an Europa Nostra 2021 Heritage Awards winner documenting, preserving and raising awareness of London’s mulberry tree heritage.

    £8.00. Register online at https://londongardenstrust.org/lecture-details/?event=ONLINE-Unravelling-Tale

  • December 9, 1:00 pm Eastern – Rewilding Arcadia, Online

    Jason Debney is the Coordinator of the Thames Landscape Strategy – a not-for-profit partnership to conserve and enhance the remarkable Arcadian Thames between Weybridge and Kew. Jason has raised £23m for works on the ground much of which has been delivered through local volunteer action. The new initiative – Rewilding Arcadia – explores ways in which nature-based solutions can be used to manage the functioning floodplain that includes protected parks, gardens and open spaces. What is wet now is going to get a lot wetter; places that for centuries have been managed as dry environments are going to have to change to embrace flood water – the Thames is reclaiming its floodplain back and at the moment no one is ready for this change! This online talk is sponsored by London Parks & Gardens on December 9, at 1 pm Eastern, and the recording will be available for one week following the lecture. £8.00 Register at https://londongardenstrust.org/lecture-details/?event=Rewilding-Arcadia

  • Monday, February 5, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Eastern – The Gardens and Green Spaces of Early Modern London, Online

    London today is one of the greenest cities in the world but was it always so? This London Parks & Gardens Trust online talk on February 5 at 1 pm will explore the origins and changing uses of the city’s gardens and green spaces - parks, churchyards, commercial gardens as well as private gardens – during the 16th to 18th centuries,  to show they were not just places to hunt, grow food or bury the dead but places of  elaborate displays of wealth and status for the rich, a source of pleasure and recreation for the less well-to-do, and a place of very hard work for the garden laborers who toiled in them.

    Dr David Marsh researches, lectures and writes on any and all aspects of garden history, and helps organise the Garden History seminar at London University’s Institute of Historical Research. He is a trustee of the Gardens Trust and is the founder and inspiration behind their  extensive on-line lecture program. For the last ten years he has also written a weekly garden history blog for them which you can find at  thegardenstrust.blog – he has written over 400 posts so far! £5.00 The ticket entitles you to attend the online lecture as well as accessing a recording of the event for a week after. Register at https://bookwhen.com/londongardenstrust#focus=ev-smpl-20240205180000

  • Monday, January 8, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Eastern – A Gardening Year at Grim’s Dyke

    Take a tour through the seasons and through history at Grim’s Dyke, former home of the famous Victorian librettist and wit WS Gilbert and Victorian painter Frederick Goodhall. Named after the ancient earthwork that wends its way through the grounds, this lovely Arts & Crafts mansion situated high on Harrow Weald is now a hotel with grade II listed gardens. In this talk discover a taste of the estate history, an insight into the lives of the former residents and the current trials and tribulations of the gardeners in their bid to upkeep and restore this wonderful place.  

    Helenka Jurgielewicz has been Head Gardener at Grim’s Dyke Hotel for 15 years. She grew up in Yorkshire and undertook her horticultural training at Capel Manor NCH, RHS Wisley and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew where she secured her Diploma of  Horticulture ( Hons). Former jobs include Conservation work in Mauritius – island restoration planting. TV Horticultural researcher for BBC ‘Year at Kew’ series. Archaeologist – rescue archaeology excavator for York Archaelogy Trust, latterly Museum of London amongst many others. 

    The online talk, sponsored by London Parks & Gardens, takes place January 8 at 1 pm Eastern. £5.00. Register HERE

  • Monday, December 11, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm GMT – The Early Life of Alexander McKenzie: The 19th Century Horticulturist and Landscape Designer, Online

    Alexander McKenzie’s first knowledge of horticulture, nature and forestry came from his love of the woods and vales in Nairn, Scotland where he was born. His love of nature never left him, and at the time of his death, he was still working closely with nature as the Superintendent of Epping Forest. McKenzie’s early career started at Learney Estate in Scotland, before commencing his more formal studies under his fellow Scot, Robert Marnock, at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Regents Park, London. As he established himself in a rich and varied career, McKenzie was both the owner of a garden nursery in Brighton and an entrant in the competition to design a new landscaped park for the site of the Alexandra Palace.

    Lisa White has worked as an Accountant for most of her life. After studying horticulture on a part-time basis (RHS Level 2 and 3 Diplomas), she then embarked on a change of career. Following her completion of a full-time BA (Hons) degree in Garden Design, she now holds a Master’s Degree in Garden and Landscape History and is currently continuing her research of Alexander McKenzie for her PhD with the University of Sheffield.

    This is an online lecture which will take place on Zoom. The Zoom link for the lecture can be found in your confirmation email, and will be sent out again on the day of the lecture. Register with London Parks & Gardens HERE.

  • Tuesday, January 10, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – The Doctor’s Garden: Medicine, Science and Horticulture in Britain, Online

    Dr Clare Hickman is Reader in Environmental and Medical History at Newcastle University where her work focuses on the interconnections between landscape, health and sensory experience. As Britain grew into an ever-expanding empire during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, new and exotic botanical specimens began to arrive within the nation’s public and private spaces. Gardens became sites not just of leisure, sport, and aesthetic enjoyment, but also of scientific inquiry and knowledge dissemination. Medical practitioners used their botanical training to capitalize on the growing fashion for botanical collecting and agricultural experimentation in institutional, semi-public, and private gardens across Britain. Dr. Hickman highlights the role of these medical practitioners in the changing use of gardens in the late Georgian period, marked by a fluidity among the ideas of farm, laboratory, museum, and garden. Placing these activities within a wider framework of fashionable, scientific, and economic interests of the time, historian Clare Hickman argues that gardens shifted from predominately static places of enjoyment to key gathering places for improvement, knowledge sharing, and scientific exploration.

    This London Parks & Gardens online lecture on January 10 will focus on the topic of her book – which shares a title with this lecture and highlights the role of these medical practitioners in the changing use of gardens in the late Georgian period, marked by a fluidity among the ideas of farm, laboratory, museum, and garden. £5.00 – Register HERE