RBGE Creative Programmes

25/06/2025

🌼Join us for an art tour this July!

Spend some time learning about the outdoor sculpture collection at the Botanics, from the iconic works of Barbara Hepworth and Andy Goldsworthy to new interventions by artist Linder Sterling.

Or why not take a tour exploring our current exhibition at Inverleith House, ‘Linder: Danger Came Smiling’? Delve into the themes of each room and sample a bespoke cup of rose tea while continuing the conversation.

Both tours will be run by members of staff from the Creative Programmes team, giving you an insight into the world of art at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 🎨

🎟️ Book your spot using the links below

Art Walk (Fri 11 Jul):
https://Art-Walk-July.eventbrite.co.uk

Spill the Tea (Sun 6 Jul):
https://JulySpilltheTeaLinder.eventbrite.co.uk

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🌺 Linder: Danger Came Smiling
📅 23 May – 19 Oct 2025
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - 4.30pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Image: Garden of Smiles caterpillar, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025. Photo: Linder Sterling
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Edinburgh Art Festival
Hayward Gallery

21/06/2025

📢 Last chance to see...

This is the final week to discover Pressed for Time in the John Hope Gateway Gallery space!

Home to three million preserved plant and fungi specimens, encompassing over 300 years of biodiversity, the herbarium at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a scientific resource of worldwide importance.

Take a journey through time, over land and sea, and discover how the herbarium might shape our future in the final week of this exhibition.

Thank you to all those involved with the exhibition, and to everyone that has participated in creating beautiful drawings of both herbarium samples and postcards from the future herbarium, we wish we could include them all! 🌱
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🍁Pressed for Time
📅 22 Mar 2025 – 29 Jun 2025
⏰ Open daily 10am - 5pm
📍 John Hope Gateway Gallery
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Image: Herbarium Future postcards from the Pressed for Time exhibition, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Edinburgh Science Festival
RBGE Scottish Plants

17/06/2025

🍵 Join us next week for a free outdoor tea tasting and meditation session in partnership with Eteaket leaf tea co.

🌹 To mark the launch of our new exhibition, Linder: Danger Came Smiling,we invite you to sample a specially blended tea, Rose Ritual, inspired by Linder’s work.

Crafted exclusively for the exhibition by eteaket, this tea invites you to pause, breathe, and reflect.

Find your calm in the Botanics this summer — we’d love to see you there.

👉 Click the link below to book your free ticket: https://linder-eteaket-tea-meditation.eventbrite.co.uk
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📍Inverleith House Gallery
📅 Monday 23 June
⏰11am – 12pm
🎟️ Free event
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Image: Rose ritual tea blend. Photo: Erica Moore
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
The Botanics Shop

13/06/2025

June Poster Highlight 🌿

Have you caught the Meconopsis in bloom this year?

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh played an important role in introducing this species to Europe from the Himalayas and South-west China in the first half of the 20th century. It’s one of the most striking montane plants; its flower colour varying from vivid turquoise to pale blue, like no other found in nature. The art of Roni Horn has just such a quality.

In 2006, Inverleith House hosted the first solo exhibition in the UK by the American artist Roni Horn (b.1955.) Though photography is the medium which creates the axis of her practice, Horn included sculpture in this exhibition as well.

🕰️2006
💷£5

👉 To purchase this poster, follow the link here: https://rbgeshop.org/products/roni-horn?_pos=20&_sid=c9419be81&_ss=r
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Image: Roni Horn, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

The Botanics Shop

12/06/2025

Fancy hearing more about our current exhibition at Inverleith House?

Join us for one of our first spotlight talks of the summer, exploring ‘Linder: Danger Came Smiling. The tour will be led by one of our wonderful Creative Programmes Volunteers and focuses on their favourite element of the exhibition.

👉 Book your FREE ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/spotlight-talks-4382793
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📍Inverleith House
📅Thursday 19 June, Sunday 13 July, Thursday 14 August
⏰2pm - 2.30pm
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🌺 Linder: Danger Came Smiling
📅 23 May – 19 Oct 2025
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - 4.30pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Image: ‘Linder: Danger Came Smiling’ Preview Photo: Ross Fraser MacLean/Studio RoRo
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Edinburgh Art Festival

30/05/2025

🌸 Join us for a guided tour this June!

Spend an afternoon getting familiar with the outdoor sculpture collection in the garden, from the iconic works of Barbara Hepworth and Andy Goldsworthy to new interventions by artist Linder Sterling.

Or why not explore our current exhibition at Inverleith House, ‘Linder: Danger Came Smiling’? Delve into the themes of each room and sample a bespoke cup of herbal tea while continuing the conversation.

🎟️ Book your spot using the links below 👇

Art Walk (Fri 6 Jun): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1328617543839?aff=oddtdtcreator

Spill the Tea (Sun 1 Jun): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1339459833419?aff=oddtdtcreator

Both events will be led by a member of staff from the Creative Programmes team.
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🌺 Linder: Danger Came Smiling
📅 23 May – 19 Oct 2025
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - 4.30pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Image: Linder with Rhododendron lanigerum, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025. Photo: Ross Fraser McLean / StudioRoRo.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Edinburgh Art Festival

Hayward Gallery

29/05/2025

📢PRESENTING EAF25

We are thrilled to be a part of EAF25, returning between 7—24 August this Summer!

Join us in celebrating the Arts Festival with Linder: Danger Came Smiling. Linder’s first retrospective in Scotland showcases 50 years of trailblazing artwork. It dives into her fascination with plants and invites us to see beyond traditional ideas about gender and sexuality.

EAF (Edinburgh Art Festival) is the UK’s largest annual festival of visual art. The Festival’s 21st edition takes root in the EAF Pavilion, branching out to galleries and community spaces across the city. The Festival creates a unique moment in time, with a programme of artist-driven exhibitions, performances, gatherings, and residencies during the August festival season.

From modern myths to q***r history, the political body to environmental collectivity, the Festival invites you to witness, reflect, and participate in these narratives that have fought to be remembered.

Presenting 82 events and exhibitions across 45 Partner Galleries and Venues, in the biggest Festival yet, EAF showcases artists: local and global; historic and contemporary; emerging and established; and always strives to amplify intersectional voices.

Find out more at edinburghartfestival.com

Edinburgh Art Festival Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

27/05/2025

“Under this mask, another mask. I will never be finished removing all these faces.” ― Claude Cahun

To celebrate the opening of Linder: Danger Came Smiling this May, our poster of the month is from artist- activist Claude Cahun📷

Cahun (1894–1954) was a French artist and writer, now famed for her powerful photographic works. By exploring a variety of media, she merged dreamworlds with everyday reality, embracing the idea of multiple realities and identities.

Her influence as an artist-activist, through her rebellion in life and art, feminism, lesbianism and refusal of binary norms – is still felt today.

Cahun’s first UK based exhibition was held in Inverleith House in 2011, nearly 60 years after the artist’s death.

🕰️Poster year 2011
💷Poster price £5.00

To purchase this poster, follow the link below:
https://rbgeshop.org/products/claude-cahun-on-training
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Image: In Training, Claude Cahun. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
The Botanics Shop

20/05/2025

Interested in getting behind the scenes with events at the Botanics? ✨

We are currently recruiting enthusiastic and friendly Creative Programmes volunteers to support the delivery our two Lates evenings this summer. Our Botanics Late is built around the theme of in the Garden with friends, music and art.

This role will focus on stewarding and public engagement during the evenings of Friday 20 June and Friday 15 August.

⏰Deadline: Thursday 29 May, 12 noon

👉 Follow the link below to apply:

https://www.rbge.org.uk/support-us/volunteer/

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Image: 2024 Botanics Late. Photo: Neil Hanna
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

18/05/2025

📢 Spill the tea tours are back!

Join us on the first Sunday of every month for a guided tour of the gallery led by an RBGE staff member and chat about all you have seen in 'Linder: Danger Came Smiling' whilst sampling a bespoke cup of herbal tea. ☕🌼

Linder's first retrospective in Scotland is on tour from the Hayward Gallery and opens next week at Inverleith House, showcasing 50 years of her trailblazing artwork.

Join us to dive deeper into Linder’s fascination with plants and see beyond traditional ideas about gender and sexuality, all whilst sampling a cup of tea and looking behind the scenes.

👉 Follow the link below to book your tickets:
https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/linder-danger-came-smiling-4247053

📅 Sundays; 1 June, 6 July, 3 August, 7 September, 5 October
⏰ 10.30am – 12 pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ £7.50
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🌺 Linder: Danger Came Smiling
📅 23 May – 19 Oct 2025
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - 4.30pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Image: Linder with Rhododendron Praecox grex, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025. Photo: Ross Fraser McLean/ StudioRoRo.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Edinburgh Art Festival Hayward Gallery Eteaket leaf tea co

14/05/2025

Beatrix Potter: A Victorian Naturalist was the first exhibition of the artist’s scientific drawings. Organised and presented by the Royal Botanic Garden in 1993, the exhibition marked the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death and fell on the centenary of the creation of her famous fictional character ‘Peter Rabbit’. 🐰

🍄Beatrix Potter gave the Armitt Trust in Cumbria hundreds of her natural history watercolour drawings, mainly of fungi, with microscope studies, archaeological paintings, and books: an important part of her scientific studies little known until long after her death. She was encouraged in her research by local postman, Charlie McIntosh, known as ‘The Perthshire Naturalist’, whom she met on holiday with her family in Scotland. Her work culminated in a scientific paper on ‘the germination of fungal spores’ which was presented at the Linnaean Society in 1897. It was probably the fact that she was a young woman which denied her the acknowledgment of having her paper published; but her research continued for another four years until she began to write and illustrate the first of her books. The drawings presented at the exhibition presented for the first time conclusive evidence that she was carrying out pioneering research in a highly specialised field.

🖌Her botanical illustrations of fungi have long been acknowledged as some of the best ever produced, but her significance as a scientist was only beginning to be recognised as the exhibition came to fruition, providing the opportunity for scientists to further study her work.


🕰️1993
💷£5.00

👉To purchase this poster, follow the link here: https://rbgeshop.org/products/a-victorian-naturalist-beatrix-potter?_pos=1&_sid=c0def935c&_ss=r
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Image: Beatrix Potter: A Victorian Naturalist, poster from Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
The Botanics Shop

12/05/2025

📢 Join us from 23 May for our new exhibition in Inverleith House, 'Linder: Danger Came Smiling.'

Linder’s first retrospective in Scotland showcases 50 years of trailblazing artwork. It dives into her fascination with plants and invites us to see beyond traditional ideas about gender and sexuality. Deliciously satirical, her photomontages remix images from popular culture, ranging from early ...