China is a rich and a very important source of the world’s botanical diversity. Gardening has a very long history in China and goes back to the imperial parks of the Qin and Han dynasties over two thousand years ago. When Chinese emperors travelled around the provinces, they selected the most beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers and transplanted them to the imperial gardens.

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The decorative plants that so pleased the Chinese emperors also attracted European and American interest. After repeated military and commercial interventions by western powers during the 19th century, plant hunters went to China and collected large numbers of plants, decorative shrubs and trees. They cultivated them in plant nurseries for sale to European and American gardeners. Chinese gardeners also travelled to Britain. Many species and varieties in our gardens often assumed to be native, including magnolias, camellias, rhododendrons, peonies, and chrysanthemums, to name but a few, originally came from China.

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European studies can impose artificial divisions and boundaries depending on the subject or discipline. For example, a fired clay object such as a garden seat is often treated as decorative art. Plants are considered as part of the discipline of botany. We are thrilled to reunite the garden seat with the plants that would have surrounded it.