Boston Flora

Tag: Toby Musgrave

  • Wednesday, October 29, 2:00 pm Eastern – Craze for Collecting: In The Footsteps Of …, Online

    Were they intrepid explorers and suppliers of beauty and scientific advancement, or imperialist plunderers and destroyers of fragile environments? The reputation of plant-hunters as brave adventurers tracking down botanical wonders has taken something of a battering in recent years. Make your own mind up about their role and continuing importance as The Gardens Trust shares some plant-hunter stories in this new five part series. Learn about the exploits of the late-18th century ‘father’ of modern plant-hunting and the adventures of a once-celebrated woman who led botanical expeditions to the Andes. Hear tales from those who’ve followed in the footsteps of famous collectors, revisiting the native habitats of exotic plants which are now staples in the British garden, and ponder on ideas about the very different role of collectors today in plant conservation and public education. This ticket is for this individual session and costs £8. Register through Eventbrite HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the talk, and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.

    This lecture is an account of Toby’s experiences of following in the footsteps of two plant hunters: Sir Joseph Hooker (1817 – 1911) in the Himalayan wilds of northern Sikkim, India and George Forrest (1873 – 1932) amongst the dramatic landscape of the biodiversity hotspot of Yunnan Province, China.

    With a degree in horticulture and a Ph.D. in garden history, both from Reading University, Toby Musgrave is an independent scholar, lecturer and author specializing in garden and plant history. His fifteenth book will be published by Phaidon in Spring 2026. Toby lives in Denmark where he gardens one of the historic De Runde Haver. He is also a submersible pilot.

  • Wednesday, October 22, 1:00 pm Eastern – Craze for Collecting: Sir Joseph Banks

    Were they intrepid explorers and suppliers of beauty and scientific advancement, or imperialist plunderers and destroyers of fragile environments? The reputation of plant-hunters as brave adventurers tracking down botanical wonders has taken something of a battering in recent years. Make your own mind up about their role and continuing importance as The Gardens Trust shares some plant-hunter stories in this new five part series. Learn about the exploits of the late-18th century ‘father’ of modern plant-hunting and the adventures of a once-celebrated woman who led botanical expeditions to the Andes. Hear tales from those who’ve followed in the footsteps of famous collectors, revisiting the native habitats of exotic plants which are now staples in the British garden, and ponder on ideas about the very different role of collectors today in plant conservation and public education. This ticket is for this individual session and costs £8. Register through Eventbrite HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the talk, and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.

    This talk will explore the plant-hunting escapades of Joseph Banks (1743 – 1820) and how from these he developed a new plant-hunting paradigm. It will explain this new approach and introduce some of ‘his’ plant-hunters, their works and discoveries.

    With a degree in horticulture and a Ph.D. in garden history, both from Reading University, Toby Musgrave is an independent scholar, lecturer and author specialising in garden and plant history. His fifteenth book will be published by Phaidon in Spring 2026. Toby lives in Denmark where he gardens one of the historic De Runde Haver. He is also a submersible pilot.

    For more information, please visit https://www.TobyMusgrave.com/

  • Tuesday, February 25, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Plantmania: Orchidmania

    The desire to possess new, rare and thus expensive plants has been a feature of garden-making since it began and continues to be so; as recently as February 2022 bulbs of Galanthus plicatus ‘Golden Tears’ were changing hands for £1,850 each. But at least this obsession didn’t bankrupt a nation! This Gardens Trust mini-series tells the story of the mania that developed around three of the most sought-after plants: tulips, rhododendrons and orchids. Each lecture will delve into how, and when these the plants arrived and what happened when they did, explaining along the way just what it was about them that caused such a furor – and a hole in the pocket.

    This ticket (register HERE) is for this February 25 individual session and costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 3 sessions at a cost of £21 via the link here. (Gardens Trust members £6 or £15.75). Ticket sales close 4 hours before the talk.

    Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 2 weeks) will be sent shortly afterwards.

    This craze began in London in 1731 with a single plant of Bletia purpurea sent to plant collecting nut Peter Collinson from Providence Island, the Bahamas. But it was not until the nineteenth century that silly money was being spent and then only because glasshouse technology had evolved. Requiring collecting in regions challenging to travel, difficult to transport long distances by sea, tricky to cultivate and even more so to breed, orchids were the most expensive plant of that time. An extensive collection was the ultimate gardening statement of conspicuous consumption, but they were also very addictive and a number of aficionados bankrupted themselves through collecting. Still today there is a black market while, legally, specimens can cost tens of thousands.

    Dr Toby Musgrave FSA FLS is a garden and plants historian, horticulturist and author. His books have covered a wide range of subjects from head gardeners to heritage fruit and vegetables, plant hunters to paradise gardens, and a biography of Sir Joseph Banks. He lives in Denmark where he gardens one of the historic de Runde Haver and when not gardening, teaching or writing he works as a submersible pilot. Image: S. Drake, Cycnoches egertonianum, detail, from James Bateman, The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala (1842), Wikimedia Commons, public domain

  • Tuesday, February 19, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but Recorded) – Plantmania: Rhododendronmania, Online

    The desire to possess new, rare and thus expensive plants has been a feature of garden-making since it began and continues to be so; as recently as February 2022 bulbs of Galanthus plicatus ‘Golden Tears’ were changing hands for £1,850 each. But at least this obsession didn’t bankrupt a nation! This Gardens Trust mini-series tells the story of the mania that developed around three of the most sought-after plants: tulips, rhododendrons and orchids. Each lecture will delve into how, and when these the plants arrived and what happened when they did, explaining along the way just what it was about them that caused such a furor – and a hole in the pocket.

    This ticket (register HERE) is for this February 19 individual session and costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 3 sessions at a cost of £21 via the link here. (Gardens Trust members £6 or £15.75). Ticket sales close 4 hours before the talk.

    Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 2 weeks) will be sent shortly afterwards.

    Until the plant hunting expedition of Joseph Hooker to Sikkim between 1847 and ’51 there were only five species and a few cultivars in British gardens (two from America, two from Europe and R. arboreum from north India). They found a place in the American garden but were pretty dull. Then arrived 28 new species with brightly colored and attractive flowers, some even scented, and in the years to 1871 the same amount was spent on rhododendrons as was then the national debt! But there is much more to the story that staggering sums.

    Dr Toby Musgrave FSA FLS is a garden and plants historian, horticulturist and author. His books have covered a wide range of subjects from head gardeners to heritage fruit and vegetables, plant hunters to paradise gardens, and a biography of Sir Joseph Banks. He lives in Denmark where he gardens one of the historic de Runde Haver and when not gardening, teaching or writing he works as a submersible pilot.

  • Thursday, November 16, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Eastern – The English Gardener’s Garden, Online

    The English Gardener’s Garden spans seven centuries to spotlight more than 60 of England’s finest gardens. Adapted from Phaidon’s bestselling The Gardener’s Garden and organized geographically by country, the selection ranges from formal Renaissance gardens, herbaceous Arts and Crafts gardens of the 20th century, to artistic creations and healing gardens by contemporary designers. Each entry is illustrated with sumptuous photographs and features a concise text detailing the garden’s historical and stylistic importance and that of its designer, patron, or maker. A beautiful and easy-to-use introduction for garden designers and enthusiasts alike.

    The Garden Conservancy will sponsor a webinar on November 16 at 2 pm Eastern live on Zoom. $5 for Conservancy members, $10 general admission. A recording of this webinar will be sent to all registrants a few days after the event. We encourage you to register, even if you cannot attend the live webinar.

    Tom Stuart-Smith is a landscape architect and garden designer whose work combines naturalism with modernity and built forms with romantic planting. He read Zoology at the University of Cambridge before completing a postgraduate degree in Landscape Design. His projects include gardens at Chatsworth, a new public garden at the Hepworth Wakefield, and the masterplan for RHS Garden Bridgewater, one of the largest new garden projects in Europe. International projects include Le Jardin Secret in the heart of the medina in Marrakech, a garden located on the waterways near Kottayam in Kerala and show gardens for the international horticulture exhibition at IGA Berlin 2017, and the international garden expo Beijing 2019. Tom is a Vice President of the Royal Horticultural Society, a Trustee of the Garden Museum, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a Fellow of the Landscape Institute, and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers. Portrait by James Runcie.

    Tania Compton spent twelve years (1993–2005) as Gardens Editor for British House & Garden before resuming work as a garden designer. In 2007, her book Dream Gardens, a collaboration with photographer Andrew Lawson, was published by Merrell. The Private Gardens of England (Constable, 2015) is in its 4th edition. Tania is Contributing Gardens Editor for The World of Interiors, and she gardens six acres of wild meadow in Wiltshire. Portrait by Sabine Rüber.

    Dr. Toby Musgrave is an authority on gardens and plant history, a subject in which he has been widely published. He has presented on ITV and Channel 4 and is faculty lecturer at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad. He has authored Phaidon’s The Garden: Elements & Styles and Green Escapes and has contributed to several additional Phaidon Press titles, including The Garden Book and The Gardener’s Garden.

  • Tuesday, May 9, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but Recorded) – Gardens of the Gods: Pantheism and the New Beliefs

    The Gardens Trust presents a four part online lecture series with Toby Musgrave beginning April 18. Tickets £16 for the series or £5 each through Eventbrite. For thousands of years peoples and civilizations the world over have adopted belief systems that give a key role to the natural world and the trees, fruits and flowers to be found there. Whether living a primitive existence in a desert land or enjoying the fruits of a richly cultivated soil, man endows his spirit world, his gods and his presumed afterlife with fertile, sweet surroundings that reflect an ideal – a garden paradise. Taking a global perspective and with a chronology of over 5,000 years, Gardens of the Gods examines, explores and interprets the purpose, role, use and symbolism of plants and gardens in more than fifteen belief systems, some still practiced and others not.

    The final lecture of the series on May 9 is Pantheism and the New Beliefs. The individual ticket may be reserved HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week .

    The last lecture embraces a combination of religions in which pantheism and plants were significant: in Northern Europe the Celtic and Norse traditions, in North America the Native American ones, and those of Mesoamerican cultures. The lecture wraps up with a look at how plants and gardens remain symbolic in today’s ever increasingly secular society.

    Dr Toby Musgrave FSA FLS is a garden and plants historian, horticulturist and author. His books have covered a wide range of subjects from head gardeners to heritage fruit and vegetables, plant hunters to paradise gardens, and a biography of Sir Joseph Banks. He was a major contributor to Radio 4’s series “The British Garden” and he has been a consultant for many gardening and garden history related programs on both the BBC and commercial television. He lives in Denmark and when not gardening, teaching or writing he works as a submersible pilot.

    Norns Under the Sacred Ash Yggdrasill

  • Tuesday, May 2, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but Recorded) – Gardens of the Gods: Eastern Traditions, Online

    The Gardens Trust presents a four part online lecture series with Toby Musgrave beginning April 18. Tickets £16 for the series or £5 each through Eventbrite. For thousands of years peoples and civilizations the world over have adopted belief systems that give a key role to the natural world and the trees, fruits and flowers to be found there. Whether living a primitive existence in a desert land or enjoying the fruits of a richly cultivated soil, man endows his spirit world, his gods and his presumed afterlife with fertile, sweet surroundings that reflect an ideal – a garden paradise. Taking a global perspective and with a chronology of over 5,000 years, Gardens of the Gods examines, explores and interprets the purpose, role, use and symbolism of plants and gardens in more than fifteen belief systems, some still practiced and others not.

    The third in the series on May 2 delves into the very different – from a Western mindset – view of the concept of time and reincarnation we will explore the concepts and garden expressions influenced by Taoism, Buddhism and the Immortals in China, the syncretism with Shinto and garden outcomes in Japan, and the floral symbolisms within Hinduism as well as the celestial worlds of Svarga.

    Lecturer Dr Toby Musgrave FSA FLS is a garden and plants historian, horticulturist and author. His books have covered a wide range of subjects from head gardeners to heritage fruit and vegetables, plant hunters to paradise gardens, and a biography of Sir Joseph Banks. He was a major contributor to Radio 4’s series “The British Garden” and he has been a consultant for many gardening and garden history related programs on both the BBC and commercial television. He lives in Denmark and when not gardening, teaching or writing he works as a submersible pilot. Tickets £16 for the series or £5 each. Register for this lecture HERE.

  • Tuesday, April 25, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but Recorded) – Gardens of the Gods: Eden and Paradise, Online

    The Gardens Trust presents a four part online lecture series with Toby Musgrave beginning April 18. Tickets £16 for the series or £5 each through Eventbrite. For thousands of years peoples and civilizations the world over have adopted belief systems that give a key role to the natural world and the trees, fruits and flowers to be found there. Whether living a primitive existence in a desert land or enjoying the fruits of a richly cultivated soil, man endows his spirit world, his gods and his presumed afterlife with fertile, sweet surroundings that reflect an ideal – a garden paradise. Taking a global perspective and with a chronology of over 5,000 years, Gardens of the Gods examines, explores and interprets the purpose, role, use and symbolism of plants and gardens in more than fifteen belief systems, some still practiced and others not.

    On April 25, the focus is on the concept of Gan Eden in Judaism, the Garden of Eden in Christianity and earthy paradise of the Islamic chahar bagh garden; and expanding out to discuss mediæval monastic gardens and the hortus conclusus – how did the Virgin Mary become associated with the beloved in the Song of Solomon?

    Dr Toby Musgrave FSA FLS is a garden and plants historian, horticulturist and author. His books have covered a wide range of subjects from head gardeners to heritage fruit and vegetables, plant hunters to paradise gardens, and a biography of Sir Joseph Banks. He was a major contributor to Radio 4’s series “The British Garden” and he has been a consultant for many gardening and garden history related programmes on both the BBC and commercial television. He lives in Denmark and when not gardening, teaching or writing he works as a submersible pilot.

    Tickets £16 for the series or £5 each. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week . Register HERE.

    The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man, Jan Brueghel the Elder

  • Tuesday, April 18, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Gardens of the Gods: The Old World, Online

    The Gardens Trust presents a four part online lecture series with Toby Musgrave beginning April 18. Tickets £16 for the series or £5 each through Eventbrite. For thousands of years peoples and civilizations the world over have adopted belief systems that give a key role to the natural world and the trees, fruits and flowers to be found there. Whether living a primitive existence in a desert land or enjoying the fruits of a richly cultivated soil, man endows his spirit world, his gods and his presumed afterlife with fertile, sweet surroundings that reflect an ideal – a garden paradise. Taking a global perspective and with a chronology of over 5,000 years, Gardens of the Gods examines, explores and interprets the purpose, role, use and symbolism of plants and gardens in more than fifteen belief systems, some still practiced and others not.

    Week one is entitled The Old World, beginning with a exploration and contrast of sacro-religious plants and gardens within three overlapping ancient civilizations/regions. Those of Ancient Egypt with its afterlife concept of Aaru (or the Field of Reeds), the Minoan civilization on Crete – did they make gardens?, and the Mesopotamian ‘Gardens of the Gods’. We will conclude with a look at the divine nature of the Ancient Greeks and religion in the Roman garden.

    Dr Toby Musgrave FSA FLS is a garden and plants historian, horticulturist and author. His books have covered a wide range of subjects from head gardeners to heritage fruit and vegetables, plant hunters to paradise gardens, and a biography of Sir Joseph Banks. He was a major contributor to Radio 4’s series “The British Garden” and he has been a consultant for many gardening and garden history related programmes on both the BBC and commercial television. He lives in Denmark and when not gardening, teaching or writing he works as a submersible pilot. To reserve this ticket link HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk (If you do not receive this link please contact The Gardens Trust). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week .

  • Monday, March 27, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern – Plant Hunting and Plant Transfers: Plant Hunting Today

    The stories of the individual plant hunters who operated between the mid-eighteenth and mid-twentieth century have often been told and told well. The aim of this online Gardens Trust series of lectures with Dr. Toby Musgrave, therefore, is to broaden the subject and to explore four complementary yet contrasting topics. It will also serve as an introduction to the whole topic of plant hunting, collecting and transfer round the world, which we are planning to cover in more depth in the autumn. The final lecture on March 27 is Plant Hunting Today. The series ticket costs £16 for the course of 4 sessions or you may purchase a ticket for individual sessions, costing £5. To register through Eventbrite, and for more information, visit HERE, or visit The Gardens Trust events page, https://thegardenstrust.org/events-archive/?events=gardenstrust. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week.

    A century ago, George Forrest and Frank Kingdon-Ward were plant hunting in Western China. How different the landscapes and both the objectives and practicalities of plant hunting are today. This final lecture brings the story of plant hunting up to date with an analysis and assessment of how and why plant hunting is conducted today.

    Courtesy Emory University