The Garden’s transformative Pathways to Knowledge project is complete! Big swathes of our gravel paths – a barrier to many visitors – have been replaced with a beautiful resin-based surface, meaning stony surfaces and large puddles are a thing of the past.
Along the pathways we have installed over 150 new information panels with curated stories that span our three and a half centuries. These explore why we grow certain plants and shed light on how they are used across the globe – in medicine and food, for industry or ornament. Each of the 4,500 plant taxa has a tale to tell, from its origins to its application, whether in modern medicine or folkloric fable.
The support of Julia Rausing Trust has enabled Pathways to succeed, not only with a generous grant of £190,000 but an additional grant of £10,000 to extend the scheme. The display panels continue the new-style interpretation conceived as part of our Glasshouses restoration project. It is thanks to funders – Julia Rausing Trust, John Armitage Charitable Trust, and individual donors – that we can now share more stories with visitors.
Our new displays introduce visitors to key areas of the Garden, supported by panels that explain plant heritage and offer insight into our ecological gardening practices. Themes range from sustainable agriculture to seed saving, binomial classification systems to the British silk industry. We also spotlight plants that hold personal meaning for our community members, gardeners or programme participants, from silver birch to sumac. The interpretation is designed to complement our landscape, vistas and iconic views, inspiring visitors to discover more about the wonderful world of plants.
The Pathways project has been a collaborative effort between community participants, volunteers and advisors and professionals, The Exhibition Team, Seeing Things, and Display Ways who have helped to develop, design, and install the new interpretation.
The new panels not only explain the Garden, but they also invite us to slow down, look closely, and connect with nature through story and plants that heal.
