Enfilade

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Next month at the British Library:

Gardens and Empires

British Library, London, 27–28 June 2025

The histories of plants and gardens are deeply entangled with the histories of empires. This two-day conference investigates the impacts of these global connections on gardens around the world. It investigates the influence of global networks of science, commerce, and horticulture on the plants, designs, and practices found in the gardens of European and non-European empires, at home and abroad. The conference includes talks about the impact and influence of empires in gardens all over the world including East Asia, India, North America, South America, Australia, the Caribbean, and Europe. The speakers share the stories of the plants, people, and powers that shaped the gardens of empires. A keynote lecture will be delivered by Advolly Richmond (BBC Gardener’s World), and a roundtable discussion on the legacies of empire will be chaired by Sathnam Sanghera (author of Empireland and Empireworld).

Tickets include an exclusive visit to the British Library exhibition Unearthed: The Power of Gardening. Also included are refreshments each day and an evening reception on Friday, 27 June in the wonderful surroundings of The Story Garden, a dynamic community garden created by Global Generation, hidden behind the British Library.

f r i d a y ,  2 7  j u n e

10.00  Opening Remarks

10.05  Welcome — Gerard Lemos (Chair of Trustees, English Heritage)

10.15  Keynote Lecture
• Guns and Roses: Humphry Repton at the Warley Estate — Advolly Richmond (Independent Researcher)

10.45  Coffee/Tea Break

11.10  Session 1 | The Circulation of Ideas around and between Empires
Chair: Mark Nesbitt (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)
• Where Empires Meet: Power, Identity, and Cultural Negotiation in Huế (Vietnam) Gardens — Tami Banh (University of Pennsylvania)
• Traveling Plants: Taiwanese Garden Spaces under Japanese Rule — Jing-Wen Chien (National Taiwan University)
• Transnational Influences on Urban Greenspace Development: The Role of Kew Gardens in Shaping Modern Greenspace Systems in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore — Minqian Zheng (Academic Researcher), Fei Mo* (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), and Xinyuan Yu (Academic Researcher)

12.30  Lunch Break

13.30  Session 2 | The Circulation of Ideas around and between Empires
Chair: Gerard Lemos (English Heritage)
• Mughal Garden or English Park? The Genesis of the Victoria Memorial Gardens, Kolkata — Caroline Cornish (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)
• From the Shores of Empire: Shells and Coral in the Grottos of 18th-Century Gardens — Emily Parker (English Heritage)
• Forced Plants and Displaced People: The British Empire’s Impact on North American Botany — Kimberly Glassman (Queen Mary University of London and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)

14:50  Coffee/Tea Break

15.15  Session 3 | The Circulation of Ideas around and between Empires
Chair: Romita Ray (Syracuse University)
• Paleis Het Loo: From Royal Showcase towards a Decolonized Botanical Garden — Renske Ek (Paleis Het Loo)
• The Race for American Trees and the Prince’s Garden at Aranjuez, 1797–1809: A Story of Rivalry, Emulation, and Oblivion among the Gardens of the Atlantic Colonial Powers — Francisco Javier Giron Sierra (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitetura)
• Augusta of Saxe-Gotha’s ‘World in Microcosm’: Political Gardening at Kew, 1750–1770 — Joanna Marschner (Historic Royal Palaces)

16.35  Introduction to Unearthed: The Power of Gardening — British Library Curators

16:50  Exhibition View — Unearthed: The Power of Gardening

18:00  Evening Reception at The Story Garden (pizza and canapés provided)

s a t u r d a y ,  2 8  j u n e

9.30  Session 4 | People and Economics
Chair: Advolly Richmond (Independent Researcher)
• Horticulture, Empire, and Race: Thomas Dawodu and Ferdinand Leigh in Lagos, Jamaica, and Kew — Kate Teltscher (University of Roehampton and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)
• Pineapples, Prestige, and Imperial Politics: The 3rd Duke of Portland’s Gardening Practice at Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire, Britain — Susanne Seymour (University of Nottingham)
• The Links between Scottish Country Estates and the Profits of Transatlantic Slavery, 1707–1850 — Catherine Middleton (Historic Environment Scotland)

11.00  Coffee/Tea Break

11.30  Session 5 | Plant Mobilities
Chair: Felix Driver (Royal Holloway, University of London)
• On ‘Exotics’ and ‘Civilisation’: The 19th-Century Transatlantic Exchange of Ornamental Plants — Diego Molina (Royal Holloway, University of London)
• Palms, Rubber, and Orchids: Introduced and Created Plants in the Singapore Botanic Gardens — Timothy Barnard (National University of Singapore)

12.30  Lunch Break

13.30  Session 6 | Legacies of Empire and Colonialism
Chair: Judy Ling Wong (Black Environment Network)
• Creole Gardens as Decolonial Practice, Regrowth, Resistance, Recycling, and Repair — Ananya Jahanara Kabir (King’s College London) and Rosa Beunel-Fogarty (King’s College London)
• A Private Empire: Interpreting European Gardens Funded by Leopold II’s Personal Ownership of the ‘Congo Free State’ — Jill Sinclair (Independent Researcher)
• Converting the ‘Wilderness’ in Colonial Western Australia — Lisa Williams (Independent Researcher) and Emma-Clare Bussell (Independent Researcher)

15.00  Coffee/Tea Break

15:30  Session 7 | Roundtable: Legacies of Empire and Colonialism
Chair: Sathnam Sanghera (Journalist and Writer)
• Fiona Davidson (Royal Horticultural Society)
• Corinne Fowler (University of Leicester)
• Akiko Tashiro (Hokkaido University)
• Juliet Sargeant (Garden Designer)