Talk | The House of a Lifetime:
Umberto Pasti and Ngoc Minh Ngo

We are delighted to welcome writer Umberto Pasti joined in conversation by photographer Ngoc Minh Ngo to celebrate the publication of their new book The House of a Lifetime: A Collector’s Journey in Tangier.Saturated colours, intricate patterns, striking architecture: Pasti’s house and garden in Tangier is the ultimate example of a well-curated Moroccan villa, filled with museum-quality pieces of furniture, luminous textiles, rare tiles and ceramics, and other objets d’art worthy of a private museum.

Set in a lush hillside garden filled with the native flora of northern Morocco, the house offers glimpses of the serene landscapes and fountains through windows, archways and loggias. Umberto and Ngoc’s conversation will be chaired by garden designer and Garden Museum Trustee Tania Compton.

Tues 21 February, 7pm
£20 Standard, £15 Friends, £10 Young Fronds and Students
£10 Livestream
Book tickets

Garden Museum Literary Festival 2023: Parham House

We are delighted to announce that the next Garden Museum Literary Festival will be held at Parham House, West Sussex on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 June 2023, hosted by Lady Emma Barnard and her husband, James.

Parham House is one of the country’s finest Elizabethan houses set at the foot of the South Downs in West Sussex. This beautiful place, with its award-winning gardens, has changed little over the centuries and remains a family home.

This Monday 16 January we will be releasing tickets to Friends for a week of priority booking! To enjoy discounted tickets and grab your tickets ahead of the public release on Monday 23 January, become a Friend from just £36 a year.
Become a Friend

Sowing Roots: Esiah Levy

Esiah Levy, known as Rodney Levy to his family, created SeedsShare in 2016. This involved growing vegetables in his back garden, saving the seeds and then sending them to people around the world for the cost of postage. He hoped that people would send different seeds back to him, to grow, save and send. He came to the Garden Museum in January 2018 to take part in Incredible Edible Lambeth’s Seed Swap event sharing seeds that he’d grown.

Esiah was born in Croydon in July 1986, was married and a father to two young sons. The Garden Museum had hoped to interview Esiah for our Sowing Roots: Caribbean Garden Heritage project but in January 2019, Esiah passed away very suddenly, at the age of 32.

When we finally embarked on the Sowing Roots project in 2020, we still wanted to include Esiah Levy’s story. We set about trying to make contact with his family. Food writer (and Great British Bake-Off finalist) Ruby Tandoh had written about him. It was by contacting Ruby directly that we were introduced to Esiah’s widow Kealy and his sister Syreeta who both agreed to be interviewed and part of our Sowing Roots exhibition.
Keep reading

Enter the Lucian Freud raffle!

Enter our fundraising raffle to win an exclusive private tour of Lucian Freud’s former studio in Kensington! Second prize will win a priceless cutting from Freud’s own Zimmerlinde plant, the subject of many of his paintings, and third prize is a framed photographic print by Howard Sooley of Freud’s studio.

Each ticket counts as an additional entry to the prize draw and the money raised from the raffle will support the Garden Museum and help to ensure the continuation our exhibitions, education and community programmes.

£10 a ticket
Winners drawn on Monday 6 March
Enter the raffle

Could you be the next Chair of the Garden Museum Board of Trustees?

We’re currently recruiting for a new Chair to lead the Board of Trustees during an exciting period of the Garden Museum’s development. Read more about what being a Chair means, how the role supports the Museum, and how to apply below.
Find out more

Object of the Week:
Carters “Tested” Garden Seeds Catalogue, 1898

The back cover of a garden seed catalogue from James Carter & Co., 237, 238 & 97 High Holborn, London, featuring an illustration of dianthus varieties.
Explore our collection online
Images: Umberto Pasti’s Tangier home (c) Ngoc Minh Ngo; Parham House (c) Elizabeth Zeschin; Esiah Levy photo by Maria Bell for Table Magazine; Cutting from Freud’s zimmerlinde (c) Matt Collins; Still Life with Zimmerlinde, c.1950 Freud, Lucian (1922-2011) Credit: Private Collection. Photo © Christie’s Images/© The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2022/Bridgeman Images; Garden Museum exterior photo by Ollie Tomlinson
Garden Museum
5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB
gardenmuseum.org.uk