The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew is a 133 hectare UNESCO World Heritage site, with layers of highly significant historic elements woven through its living landscape. It contains very diverse living collections (around 17000 species), five public display glasshouses including the iconic Palm House and Temperate House dating from the mid-to late 1800’s, and three large nurseries.
Addressing the link (and sometimes tension) between Kew as a popular visitor attraction and its ‘unseen’ impact as a science-based organisation with global reach presents challenges, but also rich opportunities. This presentation will highlight the development of two new donor-funded elements within the landscape: the Agius Evolution Garden (bringing current DNA-based understandings of plant evolutionary relationships to the visitor realm); and the Carbon Garden (a landscaped garden area designed to build visitor understanding of how and where Carbon exists in the environment, from photosynthesis to carbon capture within trees, to soil-based interactions with fungi and formation of fossil fuels, and how to make helpful choices for the environment in our everyday lives). A third example of modernising the Kew experience is the ‘reimagining’ the very historic and beautiful Palm House, with the aspiration of making it a sustainable, carbon-neutral 19th century tropical house. This complex long-term project has attracted interest and support from the World Monuments Fund, who regard it as a global exemplar of building conservation. This project also allows an opportunity to challenge and reframe Kew’s interpretive approach, bringing stronger representation of voices from countries of the plants’ origins.