Overview: This series of three afternoon lectures, combined with visits to the library and archives at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, will focus on three great gardens that have strong associations with Oak Spring.
Each session will begin with an illustrated lecture in the Apple House at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. The lectures will describe the historical development of the garden in question, followed by an opportunity to view illustrative original documents, images and archives in the Oak Spring Library and archives. A delicious afternoon tea will round out the day’s events.
Registration will be for individual lectures, all of which will begin at 3:30pm. Registration for the whole series is not required.
Lecture I: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – with Peter Crane & Rachel Heslop
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2003, had its origin in two royal estates that were united by King George III, and ultimately designated as the national botanic garden by Queen Victoria. Beginning in the Georgian era many plants from all over the world began to be grown at Kew, and during the Victorian era, reflecting Britain’s colonial reach, Kew developed into its current role as a global center for the study and cultivation of plants. Today the Kew landscape reveals elements of two iconic eighteenth-century landscapes, a Victorian landscape with great nineteenth century glasshouses, and more recent interventions from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The lecture will outline the evolution of the Kew landscape. Using items from the Oak Spring Library it will also highlight some of the great personalities from history who have influenced its development.
Tickets: $100
Upcoming Lectures: