A botanical tale, straight from the Victorian era

We imagine the work and lifestyle of a female botanist as a starting point for some original and creative styling – that’s easy to try at home.

Tamsyn Morgans, Alice Roberton and Janice Issitt discover the botanical haven of Castle Ashby Gardens and create living scenes using salvage, antiques, vintage and a bounty of flora and fauna.

During the late Victorian era, botany was one of the most popular fields of science, although there was a split between the male botanist ‘elites’ and those who preferred to engage with plants and flowers for the love of nature. Easy to access and requiring simple equipment, botany quickly became popular with women and children. It was considered a gentle and acceptable pastime for womenfolk, seen as similar to the arts of flower arranging and flower painting; many women were proficient in both of these skills.

Beatrix Potter, who illustrated her observations so beautifully, was herself a prolific botanist. Botanists were employed by the upper classes to fill their gardens, orangeries and temperate glasshouses with rare and exotic plants as status symbols; guests would be invited to marvel at specimens as a high-societal social pastime. Opulent outdoor living was also popular, with cleverly staged garden parties, beautifully decorated outdoor eating areas which often mimicked indoor scenes and whimsical reading and painting corners.

When found at auction, this decorative Victorian chair had mould in the seat and needed reupholstering. With some careful deconstruction, the natural beauty of the seat was revealed and space was made in the middle for planting.
Using thyme, for its ability to thrive in shallow soil, and a mix of small, patterned leaf plants for texture, the seat now has a new function. A climbing jasmine was added to eventually grow up and beyond the chair, giving the illusion that this now almost living chair somehow has its legs rooted in the ground. This unique use for a chair would make a statement in any outdoor location,be it by a front door, next to a wall, in the corner of a walled courtyard or at the end of a long garden.

The English Oak dresser top was found buried, and long forgotten, under furniture in the dusty basement of an antiques shop. Detached from its bottom half, worn, a little warped and without its glazed panels it would have been a challenge to bring back to its original function. With a little imagination, it was given a new lease of life and avoided the inevitable – a trip to the tip or being chopped up as firewood.
Looking beyond its obvious state of disrepair there is a unique beauty; the colour of the wood, the old handles, and most of all the watermarked and torn lining paper which adds a wonderful sense of texture and history. Turning a piece like this into a garden or patio screen would not only pack a visual punch but could double up as a functional place for a gardener or budding botanist to manage cuttings or pot and prepare small plants.

Drawing inspiration from the Victorian’s theatrical outdoor scenes we placed the most divine collection of hot coloured, botanical Sanderson and other heritage fabrics in amongst the lush green of the Castle Ashby Orangery. Its huge arched windows, central pond and flourishing beds of eucalyptus, ficus, camellia and differing varieties of fuchsia provided a largely green backdrop.
In the home, using a similar mix of richly coloured botanical fabrics creates a sense of opulence, and by adding greenery it’s possible to achieve a real sense of Victoriana. Using ferns and succulents in an interior scheme helps recreate this look, proving that botanical exploration can happen from the comfort of your armchair!

Old terracotta pots, little rusty urns and vintage gardening tools are great garden staples if you are aiming for a more time-worn look. The small French 1900s metal cot offered the perfect place to plant a bed of lettuce but would work equally well with herbs or flowers.
The pure joy of repurposing is often finding pieces that look just as at home in their new role as they did in their previous one, so be daring and try using things outdoors which are associated more with indoor use, and vice versa. You’ll be surprised what works.

Old steamer chairs, deckchairs and parasols can often be found at vintage fairs and large outdoor antiques shows. Due to damp, drawers sometimes no longer fit into the chest they were built for but can be used for planting – keep an eye out in local junk shops.
Blur the lines between indoor and outdoor living by choosing items which can be used inside or out. Use soft, faded fabrics to create a lived-in feeling of comfort and add accessories with an edge of grandeur. This is a look which could easily be brought inside to a garden room or conservatory.