British Library – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

I visited the ‘Unearthed: The Power of Gardening‘ exhibition (on until Sunday 10 August 2025) at the British Library recently, the third gardening-related exhibition at a non-garden-related institution that I’ve seen in the past few years (I’m sure there have been others!). The first two were ‘Rooted Beings’ at the Wellcome Collection in 2022 and ‘Soil’ at Somerset House earlier this year.

Illustrated herbal in Old English, about 1000-1025.
Unearthed exhibition at the British Library, 2025 — Beautiful gardening illustrations from the 11th and 17th centuries

Sketches of gardening tools by John Evelyn, approx. 1660-1680. Unearthed exhibition at the British Library, 2025 — Beautiful gardening illustrations from the 11th and 17th centuries

This exhibition, as the title suggests, was more about the actual act of gardening than the other two, and as such had quite a lot in common with the permanent display at the Garden Museum. The British Library’s advantage was its access to phenomenal (and in some cases phenomenally old) examples of historical books, and its focus on gardening and gardeners, rather than the gardens.

Tag: British Library

‘Unearthed: the Power of Gardening’