The starting point for the Horniman Museum & Gardens’ recent desert garden was the museum’s Extremes exhibition (15 February-2 November 2014) that explored how animals and plants have adapted to survive in hostile conditions including extreme heat and aridity.
I researched styles of cacti and succulent gardens and spent a couple of weeks travelling through the south-west states of the US. I saw how the plants grew in their natural habitat and also how they could be used in a more ornamental setting.
I had to work out which species of plants would align with the indoor exhibition; I also needed to ensure they could survive outside during a potentially wet British summer and then, of course, source them in the UK.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Oxford Botanic Garden were incredibly generous, loaning us some amazing specimens, including a 150-year-old giant cycad that ended up being the focal point.
The Horniman’s new Plantastic! exhibition (until 1 November) looks at how plants feed, move, reproduce and survive as well as how we use plants in our daily lives and how essential they are for the world’s survival.
We are developing three complementary diverse and engaging displays.
Anatomy of a Flower uses plants themselves to replicate the kind of diagram you see in text books, to give visitors an informal opportunity to learn some basic botany about flower structure.
Sunseekers will feature a mass planting of 1,500 red and yellow sunflowers in front of the Horniman which we’re growing from seed in our nursery. They will demonstrate heliotropism, showing visitors how the flowerheads follow the sun as it moves across the sky.
Finally, we will be redeveloping a border on our Bandstand Terrace to create Planting for Pollinators, a large-scale display of flowering plants specially chosen to attract pollinating insects.
Wesley Shaw is the head of horticulture at the Horniman Museum & Gardens, London
I researched styles of cacti and succulent gardens and spent a couple of weeks travelling through the south-west states of the US. I saw how the plants grew in their natural habitat and also how they could be used in a more ornamental setting.
I had to work out which species of plants would align with the indoor exhibition; I also needed to ensure they could survive outside during a potentially wet British summer and then, of course, source them in the UK.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Oxford Botanic Garden were incredibly generous, loaning us some amazing specimens, including a 150-year-old giant cycad that ended up being the focal point.
The Horniman’s new Plantastic! exhibition (until 1 November) looks at how plants feed, move, reproduce and survive as well as how we use plants in our daily lives and how essential they are for the world’s survival.
We are developing three complementary diverse and engaging displays.
Anatomy of a Flower uses plants themselves to replicate the kind of diagram you see in text books, to give visitors an informal opportunity to learn some basic botany about flower structure.
Sunseekers will feature a mass planting of 1,500 red and yellow sunflowers in front of the Horniman which we’re growing from seed in our nursery. They will demonstrate heliotropism, showing visitors how the flowerheads follow the sun as it moves across the sky.
Finally, we will be redeveloping a border on our Bandstand Terrace to create Planting for Pollinators, a large-scale display of flowering plants specially chosen to attract pollinating insects.
Wesley Shaw is the head of horticulture at the Horniman Museum & Gardens, London
