Roscoe's Mindful Garden | Mindful Garden

Join us for “Roscoe's Mindful Garden: Past, Present and Future,” an exciting public event that explores the rich history of Liverpool’s botanic heritage and its medicinal plant trade. Hosted by Mindful Garden in collaboration with LJMU, the World Museum, and the Liverpool Botanical Trust. This immersive experience features a sensory exhibition and three interactive workshops. Discover the legacy of William Roscoe’s botanical collection, while connecting with contemporary transdisciplinary science research in natural pharmacy and drug discovery. This inclusive event invites everyone to participate, offering hands-on sensory learning opportunities while combatting plant blindness.

Introduction

In the early 1800s, William Roscoe founder of the Liverpool Botanic Collection, established one of the leading botanic gardens of its time, showcasing an array of unusual, rare and medicinal plants transported via the city's port from a vastly expanding imperial network. By the mid-20th century, it boasted the largest orchid collection ever gathered in municipal Britain, a status it retains to this day. Despite the disappointment from its closure, the garden's legacy endures through the living and preserved plants in Liverpool's impressive Herbarium at the World Museum, along with the accompanying literature, artworks, and other treasures that once thrived in the Liverpool Botanic Gardens. While its peak may belong to the past, the collections have been carefully maintained and expanded for present and future use by the Liverpool Botanical Trust.

Mindful Garden, in collaboration with LJMU, World Museum, and The Liverpool Botanical Trust, would like to present “Roscoe's Mindful Garden: Past, Present and Future.” This exciting public engagement event will feature an immersive and sensory exhibition, along with a series of three workshops that focus on Liverpool’s forgotten past as a centre of the medicinal plant trade and how current and future interdisciplinary research within the realm of plant natural product discovery can benefit from this underrepresented collection. The event aims to help the public learn through a transdisciplinary approach, incorporating cross-faculty research in art, science, and literature. Careful consideration will ensure that the event is inclusive of individual needs, featuring sensory hands-on learning and quiet hours for exhibition viewing.

Event Aim
Preventing plant blindness in medicinal plant ethnobotany.

This event hopes to prevent public plant blindness relating to medicinal plants and aims to encourage participants to reflect on their own plant blindness. It is intended to prompt them to consider simple questions such as: Picture yourself at home—can you easily direct someone to the closest pharmacy? Now, think about your surroundings: can you locate the nearest oak or birch tree? Reflect on your environment—how well do you recognise the plants that share your space, especially those with medicinal qualities? Many of these nearby plants, often overlooked, have been used for healing for centuries and some are unfortunately facing risks of extinction. Organisations such as World Museum and Liverpool Botanical Trust are helping to conserve plant collections such as William Roscoe’s botanical collection. This event will help answer the PhD research question: “Can public engagement activities make a positive impact on ‘plant blindness,’ specifically related to the biodiversity crisis facing medicinal plants?” “Can creative practice raise awareness of the benefits of medicinal plants?”

Workshops

There will be a series of three workshops which will intend to share the story of the Liverpool’s Botanical Collection whilst focusing, specifically on their medicinal plants.

Day 1- Past:

Founded by William Roscoe in 1802 and relocated to larger premises in 1846 when it became a public institution, and again in 1964, the entire Botanic Collection has not been publicly exhibited since 1984, when it closed amid a political upheaval that paralleled the profound decline of Liverpool in the 1980s. Consequently, the collection possesses a rich yet tragic history. The workshop will provide participants with an historical timeline featuring “artefacts” showing replicas of old herbals, illustrated plant drawings for identification, letters, and more. Participants will also enjoy a hands-on activity to understand how medicinal plants were processed into Victorian powders. In contrast, they will also experience how modern day capsules are made to reveal the benefits of accuracy in dosage. The participants will walk away from this workshop with an awareness of the importance of dosage, especially in relation to certain medicinal plants.

Day 2 - Present:

This workshop will focus specifically on the advancement of innovative science and technology and how contemporary plant science has developed. To appeal to lay audiences, the activities will be fun and easy to understand while providing insight into the exciting lab work plant scientists carry out for plant research and drug discovery. This activity will involve (safe) plant leaves from the Liverpool Botanical Trust Collections for the public to touch. Plant medicinal compounds are stored in the plants cells. The workshop will have microscope equipment for public interactivity, allowing participants to visualise the unseen cellular properties of plants firsthand and explore plant cell structured and hairs (trichomes). Participants can enjoy a hands on chemistry test tube activity that will explore how pharmaceutical scientists test the medicinal properties of plants using a reaction agent. The audience will watch as the test tubes change colour when reacted to the agent revealing fascinating chemical reactions.

Day 3 - Future:

This workshop will focus on conservation efforts within herbaria, including the awareness of preservation of Roscoe's collection. Many medicinal plants are at risk of extinction due to overharvesting and the climate crisis. This workshop will outline a medicinal plant case study that explains the plant's medicinal uses and benefits, as well as its current risk of becoming extinct.

The workshop will provide hands-on skill learning for mounting plants on herbarium sheets. Participants will learn how to correctly mount dried plants to museum standards and recognise the importance of preservation. By teaching participants about this effort, it is hoped that the public will understand that this type of practice will help future generations to come.

Exhibition:

The immersive sensory exhibition will be open to the public for three full days (or five days) and will be available as a walk-in experience without prior booking. This space will be developed as an inclusive learning environment for all. Each day will feature a designated "quiet hour" for individuals who benefit from a calmer viewing experience. Images taken from LJMU’s 3D and scanning electron microscopes will provide cutting-edge digital imaging of medicinal plant structures. These images will be projected in a dark room, accompanied by audio elements like "plant sounds." Within the exhibition space, there will be 3D-printed molecular plant pharmaceutical structures for tactile engagement. Research into 3D-printed plant learning suggests that this technology can assist the visually impaired community. Additionally, scent tubes containing plant aromatics will promote aromatherapy to create a calming and "mindful" experience.

Feedback:
To assess and measure the impact of the event for the PhD research, ethically approved impact surveys will be collected from participants to evaluate the event's effectiveness. This will facilitate co-design in the development of the plant blindness toolkit. Additionally, the space will feature a medicinal plant tree sculpture to mimic the “post office tree” (Afrikaans: Poskantoorboom) found within the Liverpool Botanical Trust's Collection. This ancient milkwood tree, located in Mossel Bay, South Africa, is believed to be the country's very first mailbox. The idea is for participants to hang messages of feedback on the branches.

Impact:

Participants will:

Learn about plant blindness

Learn about William Roscoe, the Liverpool Botanical Trust and the World Museum.

Understand interdisciplinary and multi collaborative research within plant pharmaceutical science

Use science technology

Understand some medicinal plants

Be aware of plant conservation efforts

Visualise the unseen properties of plants

Inclusivity:

Suitable for lay audience from diverse backgrounds

Sensory learning

Suitable for individuals with sensory disabilities including visual, auditory disabilities

Quiet hour for individuals who may struggle during busy times

Suitable for all ages (target age aimed at 16+), and genders,
“Large print” brochure available for those in need.

Participants:

Fully booked workshops across three days will target 150 participants through interactive hands-on engagement.

Supplementary exhibition without booking can target 1000+ participants throughout the three days.

The participants will be encouraged to assess the impact of the event via an impact survey which will measure the effectiveness of the public's interaction.