Boston Flora

Tag: Royal Botanic Garden

  • Tuesday, January 27, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Kew in Jamaica: Colonial Botany and the Tourist Gaze at the Hope Botanical Gardens, Online

    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.

  • Tuesday, November 28, 12:00 noon – 1:15 pm Eastern – The Bridge Between Horticulture and the Environment, Online

    Horticulture is going through a revolution, as our fragile environment becomes increasingly in need of our care. The observation and analysis that is so embedded in this process, and the craftsmanship of tending for a garden, are perfect gateways to thinking about the neglected and overused places beyond the garden. Dan Pearson, whose painterly-natural landscapes are renowned in Britain and beyond, will demonstrate how landscape design can be the medium that brings together the worlds of nature, agriculture, and garden. This NDAL webinar will take place November 28 at noon, but the session will be recorded and available to registrants for 3 months following the live presentation. $42. Register at https://learning.ndal.org/courses/bridge-horticulture-environment

    Dan Pearson is a British landscape designer, horticulturist, writer, and gardener. He trained in horticulture at RHS Gardens’ Wisley, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Since 2014 he has been a Garden Advisor to the National Trust at Sissinghurst Castle. In 2013 Dan was the subject of an exhibition at The Garden Museum, London, Green Fuse: The Work of Dan Pearson, and was awarded an OBE in 2022 for services to horticulture. Dan’s books include Spirit: Garden Inspiration (Fuel Publishing, 2011) and Home Ground: Sanctuary in the City (Conran, 2011), and his most recent: Tokachi Millennium Forest: Pioneering a New Way of Gardening With Nature (Filbert Press, 2021). He is a Contributing Editor to Gardens Illustrated magazine and writes his own weekly blog, “Dig Delve.” 

  • Friday, April 13, 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Fifty Shades of Green: Tales from the Hothouse

    Alluring suitors with a pungent rotten odor, promising nectar for the exchange of goods, or going at it alone, plants have evolved interesting strategies to ensure their continued existence. In this bawdy botanical review at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University on April 13 from 7:30 – 8:30, Terry Huang delves into the sex lives of plants, dramatically explaining the challenges of courtship and consummation for those rooted in place. From mutualistic partnerships to deceit-filled ones that would rival the most twisted romance, his vivid pollination stories reveal the ingenious ways flowers deal with one of life’s (most) important needs. Sex. (Adult content: Rated PG) Fee $5 Arboretum member, $10 nonmember. Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

    Terry Huang earned a Bachelor of Science in Plant Biology at the University of Washington and a Master of Science in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and University of Edinburgh. He enjoys sharing his passion for plants with anyone who will listen. He performed Fifty Shades of Green at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017.

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  • Monday, December 4, 6:00 pm – Sissinghurst: Revitalizing Vita Sackville West’s Garden

    Monday, December 4, 6:00 pm – Sissinghurst: Revitalizing Vita Sackville West’s Garden

    Landscape designer Troy Scott Smith’s passion for the natural world developed during his childhood spent in the Yorkshire countryside. He began his gardening career in 1987 creating gardens in both the United Kingdom and France, and joined the National Trust in 1990. Apart from one year as the Curator for The Royal Horticultural Society, he has been caring for Trust gardens ever since. Troy spent seven years as Head Gardener at The Courts in Wiltshire and another seven at Bodnant Garden in Wales, where he led a 3.4 million pound restoration. Head Gardener at Sissinghurst Castle since 2013, Troy and his team of seven full-time gardeners are working to revitalize and maintain the beauty and romance of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson’s exquisite garden.

    Troy has also worked with the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney and Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, co-designing the Floral Colour spectrum at the latter. An avid photographer, Troy was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society garden photographer of the year prize in 2003. He also writes regularly for garden magazines and daily newspapers, and presents of NBC’s Gardeners’ World.

    The Royal Oak Foundation Fall 2017 Lecture will take place Monday, December 4 at 6:00 pm at The College Club of Boston, 44 Commonwealth Avenue. Ticket information will be available shortly. For more information visit www.royal-oak.org.

  • Saturday, October 3, 9:00 am – 12 noon – The World’s Flora: Home in New England

    Embedded in the New England landscape and filling the catalogues of our nurseries are many plants that have achieved a sort of “resident” status here. Some of them may be among the earliest plants introduced to America from distant parts of the world; others arrived here more recently. This program, to be held at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Saturday, October 3, from 9 – 12,  combines an indoor slide presentation with an outdoor walkabout to observe some of these plants growing in the on the grounds of Tower Hill.

    We will look at imports from a variety of habitats that were well suited for our conditions, including those that were altogether too well suited and now are designated “invasive species.” Whether you are a gardener tempted to try exotic plants, a geography buff who wants to learn more about the habitats of certain plants, or someone who is merely intrigued by the way in which plants can adapt to different environments, come join us for this brief sampling of international flora.

    Instructor Dennis Collins is a plant taxonomist on the staff of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass. He has degrees in arboriculture and park management, urban forestry and landscape management, and biodiversity and taxonomy of plants. He has worked at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture in Amherst, Mass., and the University of Edinburgh and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, in Scotland, and has taught many courses on horticultural subjects at Mount Auburn and the Arnold Arboretum. Once, long ago, he led a group of intrepid Garden Club of the Back Bay members on a walking tour of Mt. Auburn, which is still talked about as a highlight of our many wonderful programs. To register, log on to www.towerhillbg.org. The fee is $15 for Tower Hill members and $18 for non-members.

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