The Garden Museum is home to the country’s first Archive of Garden Design, including works by Beth Chatto, John Brookes, Russell Page, Geoffrey Jellicoe.

To celebrate the opening of the Archive, the Museum is hosting three evenings, each focusing on one of the influential contributors. They, or those who have worked closely with them, will tell the stories of their careers in gardens, offering a fascinating insight into their professional lives. The talks will draw on designs, photographs and diaries from the Archive.

Find out more about the lectures below:

7th November – Lives and Legacies: Andrew Lawson

On Tuesday 7th November Andrew Lawson will be talking to Tania Compton about the gardens he has photographed in a career that began in 1985. In that pre-digital age, colour photographs were created as transparencies.  Andrew will be projecting a selection of the transparencies from the complete collection that he is donating to the Museum archive.  There will be whacky gardens as well as classic ones; early work of the famous contemporary designers, as well as portraits of luminaries of the garden world – looking decidedly younger than they do now.

14th November – Lives and Legacies: Beth Chatto

Catherine Horwood, official biographer of Chatto’s career, and Matthew Wilson, writer and designer, will discuss Beth Chatto’s works and their relationships with her in this conversation, chaired by Tim Richardson.

21st November – Lives and Legacies: Hugh Johnson

Hugh Johnson, author of The World Atlas of Wine, The International Book of Trees and Trad’s Diary, will be in conversation with Christopher Woodward, Director of the Garden Museum.  Johnson has given some of his correspondences, drafts and unpublished writings to the Archive.