Boston Flora

Tag: University of Oxford

  • Saturday, March 19, 6:30 am (but recording link sent) – Garden Hunting in China, Online

    The Essex Gardens Trust, in association with the Gardens Trust, presents Garden Hunting in China with Timothy Walker on March 19.

    China, with its abundant variety of both sophisticated and traditional horticultural methods, has long been recognized, not only for its lovely gardens, but as a serious contributor to global horticulture and plant conservation. In his talk, Timothy Walker will give us an entertaining and fascinating view over centuries of gardens and gardening in China. We will be taken on a tour of some of the 35, uniquely beautiful sites he visited while on a seven week Churchill Traveling Fellowship tour in that country. As a plant scientist and gardener, he will enrich our visit with his own experiences and extensive botanical knowledge

    Today, as the world warms, plant and seed conservation becomes increasingly important. In his talk, Timothy will also introduce us to how modern gardens in this fascinating country are contributing to global conservation by successfully safeguarding the thousands of plant species in China. Timothy Walker is a renowned lecturer, botanist and gardener. From 1988 to 2014, he was the director of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum; during this period, their show gardens won four gold medals and a number of silver medals at the Chelsea Flower Shows. Since 2014 he has been a College lecturer and tutor in Plant Sciences at Somerville College Oxford. His particular interests are euphorbias, pollination, and plant conservation. For more information on Timothy, please visit his website Timothy Walker – horticultural lecturer. £5 Register through Eventbrite HERE.

  • Monday, June 14, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Other Voices in Garden History Discussion Panel, Online

    This last in a series of illustrated lectures sponsored by The Gardens Trust will explore the impact and legacy of empire, colonialism and enslavement on western garden and landscape history. Our aim is to bring back some of the voices usually absent from this history, to identify and fill gaps in our collective knowledge, and to explore new ways of engaging with the whole history of gardens, landscapes and horticulture.

    The series will finish with a discussion of some of the issues and themes that have arisen from the lectures, and a chance for the audience to offer reflections and ask questions.

    This ticket icosts £5, and you may purchase tickets via the Eventbrite link here. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and a link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

    The session will be chaired by Dr Oliver Cox, Heritage Engagement Fellow, University of Oxford, and the panelists will include:

    Professor Corinne Fowler, a research expert at the University of Leicester, director of the ‘Colonial Countryside: National Trust Houses Reinterpreted’ project and author of the book Green Unpleasant Land: Creative Responses to Rural England’s Colonial Connections (Peepal Tree Press, 2020).

    Tiger de Souza MBE, Volunteering, Participation and Inclusion Director for the National Trust.

    Errol Fernandes, senior gardener for English Heritage at Kenwood House, and an artist and art/horticultural psychotherapist.

  • Saturday, April 17, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm – University of Oxford Botanic Garden: 400 Years of Gardening and Botany, Online

    Essex Gardens Trust, in association with The Gardens Trust, presents an online talk with Timothy Walker on Saturday 17th April @ 5.30 pm Eastern Time. Tickets £5, available through Eventbrite by clicking HERE.

    The University of Oxford can lay claim to the oldest botanic garden in Britain, now in its 400th year. Since 1621, the Oxford Botanic Garden has stood on the banks of the River Cherwell in the centre of Oxford. It has evolved from a collection of medicinal herbs for seventeenth century physicians into the most compact, diverse collection of plants in the world, where 4,500 species can be seen in its 4½ acres, which support teaching and research at Oxford and beyond. This glorious garden is surrounded by a high stone wall, set off by a lovely gateway, and within which there are many ornamental trees and shrubs as well as rectangular ‘order’ beds and a wealth of other features.

    Timothy Walker is a former director of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Harcourt Arboretum, having started as General Foreman. He is a lecturer, botanist, gardener, Fellow of the Linnaean Society, and author of Plant Conservation; Plants: A very short Introduction; and the RHS handbook on Euphorbias.

    Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and a link to the recorded session, available for one week, will be sent shortly afterwards.