Welcome to RHS Digital Collections
Explore our collections, spanning over 500 years of gardening history and science.
Digitised and free to search online for the first time.
Our collections
Browse our artworks, books, photos, herbarium specimens and more
Highlights
A few of the most treasured items in our care
Treasures of the Archive
Our archive collections include the official archive of the Royal Horticultural Society and the collected archives of many individuals and horticultural organisations. The RHS archive captures the development of the Society and its role in supporting gardeners such as the inmates of the Ruhleben Internment Camp in World War One. Plant collectors, breeders, nurserymen, garden designers and many more are also represented, with key archives including those of William Robinson, E.A. Bowles, Gertrude Jekyll, Constance Spry, Russell Page and Roy Lancaster. Gardeners’ letters, diaries and notebooks reveal their approach to the art, science and craft of gardening.
Together these fascinating collections trace the development of gardening and its impact on our landscape and lives.
Together these fascinating collections trace the development of gardening and its impact on our landscape and lives.
Treasures of the Herbarium
The Herbarium’s collection has a focus on ornamental plants and contains dried specimens, images and paintings of garden plants past and present. Using a method only slightly different to that invented in the early 1500s, our curators create specimens that not only are beautiful but also are vital for plant naming. A dried plant specimen enables researchers to study a plant during any season and year, and these days can also be used as a source of viable DNA for molecular investigations of our garden plants.
Complementing the Library and archives holdings, our Herbarium includes collections made by horticultural heroes including E.K. Janaki Ammal, Roy Lancaster and George Forrest; plants now extinct in gardens; even a centenarian that is still alive in Wisley’s glasshouse.
Complementing the Library and archives holdings, our Herbarium includes collections made by horticultural heroes including E.K. Janaki Ammal, Roy Lancaster and George Forrest; plants now extinct in gardens; even a centenarian that is still alive in Wisley’s glasshouse.
Treasures of the Art Collection
Our art collection consists primarily of original botanical illustrations. These are plant portraits that combine scientific information with expert draughtsmanship and beautiful presentation. Botanical illustration offers an immediately accessible way of understanding and appreciating a plant.
The collection features renowned artists such as Claude Aubriet, Georg Dionysius Ehret, Franz Bauer and August Wilhelm Sievert. In addition there are special paintings to honour royal patrons and portraits of award-winning orchids. The collection also features portraits, garden views and decorative flower paintings. We continue to acquire new works by contemporary artists that are of an exceptional standard.
The collection features renowned artists such as Claude Aubriet, Georg Dionysius Ehret, Franz Bauer and August Wilhelm Sievert. In addition there are special paintings to honour royal patrons and portraits of award-winning orchids. The collection also features portraits, garden views and decorative flower paintings. We continue to acquire new works by contemporary artists that are of an exceptional standard.
Treasures of the Library
Our book collection dates back to 1806, when the Society was given a gift of five French gardening books. Through generous donations, the collection continued to grow and today we hold one of the finest collections of horticultural literature in the world.
This is a very small taste of our rare book collection, featuring treasures such as the first book written in English for urban gardeners and our earliest list of plants for sale, dating back to 1612. Our aim is to digitise a selection of special and unique works, rather than replicate titles already digitised by other organisations. You can search our entire book collection on our library catalogue.
This is a very small taste of our rare book collection, featuring treasures such as the first book written in English for urban gardeners and our earliest list of plants for sale, dating back to 1612. Our aim is to digitise a selection of special and unique works, rather than replicate titles already digitised by other organisations. You can search our entire book collection on our library catalogue.
Themes
Some of the people, plants and places that feature in our collection
What's New
We continue to add new content to RHS Digital Collections all the time. Here you will find a selection of some of our most exciting recent digitised additions from the RHS Lindley Library and the RHS Herbarium.
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Orchids
The RHS Lindley Library looks after a collection of over 7,000 orchid portraits. This is a working collection – even in the age of digital photography, a watercolour painting remains the best way of recording these fleeting blooms. Orchid breeders have been creating hybrid orchids since the 1850s and the RHS Orchid Committee has been judging and giving awards to new orchids since 1889. The committee wanted accurate portraits of orchids to help make sure that it did not give an award to the same orchid twice under different names. The first orchid artist was Nelly Roberts, who held the role for nearly 60 years.
In addition to the orchid portraits, our collections include an impressive number of rare books on this fascinating and diverse plant group.
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In addition to the orchid portraits, our collections include an impressive number of rare books on this fascinating and diverse plant group.
Growing up in the garden
The RHS has an expansive collection of children's books about gardening and gardens. Ranging from educational literature of the 1800s to modern stories about children playing outdoors, these books show how gardens have changed as spaces for children over time.
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Gertrude Jekyll
Before she gained fame as a garden designer and writer, Gertrude Jekyll was a gifted decorative artist. One of the highlights of our collection is her artist’s scrapbook, which captures her talent and fascination with pattern. When her eyesight began to fail, she switched her interest to garden design. She created designs for over 400 gardens. Our archive includes her correspondence with actress Amy Barnes Brand (1890-1974) who asked Jekyll to supply planting plans and plants for her garden in Holmbury St Mary, Surrey. Jekyll was happy to take on this work, despite being in her eighties and coping with poor eyesight. We also hold letters written by Jekyll to plantsman E. A. Bowles and garden writer William Robinson.
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RHS Garden Wisley
The Royal Horticultural Society was given Wisley in 1903 by Sir Thomas Hanbury, a wealthy Quaker and celebrated gardener. Prior to that, the original garden was the creation of George Fergusson Wilson – businessman, scientist, inventor and keen gardener and a former Treasurer of the Society. Photographs, archival documents, herbarium specimens and artefacts map the transformation of the garden from one man’s creation to a world famous centre for horticultural excellence, science and training that attracts over one million visitors a year.
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Ferns
Ferns are non-flowering plants that reproduce via spores. They are an ancient plant group that first appeared about 360 million years ago. Ferns are well represented in our collections because they have fascinated botanists and gardeners for many years. This reached its peak in the 19th century when a craze for ferns, known as pteridomania, gripped Victorians who collected ferns to press in herbaria or grow in their gardens and homes. The Victorians used Wardian cases to grow their ferns indoors. These glazed cabinets, which were precursors to today’s terrariums, helped to protect plants from atmospheric pollution and maintain appropriate levels of humidity for growing ferns. As well as herbarium specimens, enthusiasts collected beautifully illustrated books and bought ferns from specialist nurseries. The herbarium’s selection includes specimens that have been especially curated by Julian Reed of the British Pteridological Society and holder of a National Plant Collection of Polypodium.
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William Robinson
William Robinson was a very influential gardener and writer. He championed naturalistic plantings of hardy perennial plants, in contrast to the Victorian style of formal patterns of tender bedding plants. In 1871 he launched his own magazine, titled The Garden. He was friends with Gertrude Jekyll, who provided plants for his garden at Gravetye Manor in Sussex. The Lindley Library holds first editions of his books, The Garden magazine and papers relating to work carried out at Gravetye and correspondence with Robinson’s wide network, including Charles Darwin, John Ruskin, Joseph Chamberlain, Ellen Willmott and Gertrude Jekyll. The art collection also includes drawings by Henry Moon who was commissioned by Robinson to illustrate editions of The Garden magazine.
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Daffodils
There are almost 32,000 daffodil (Narcissus) cultivars and the UK grows more daffodils commercially than any other country. Daffodils have been cultivated for thousands of years, often for medicinal rather than ornamental use. For a time daffodils fell from favour as a garden plant, as they did not fit in with Victorian formal bedding schemes. However by the end of the 19th century, gardeners and nurserymen began to show an interest in rediscovering old varieties and breeding new hybrids. In 1884 the RHS held the first Daffodil Conference and the RHS Daffodil Committee oversaw a new official classification system for cultivated varieties. The herbarium specimens seen here reflect the current horticultural classification system with a representative from each of the groups. The Lindley Library holds a large collection of beautifully accurate paintings of daffodils.
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Dahlias
There are more than 63,000 different cultivated varieties on the RHS Dahlia Register. Dahlias originate in mountainous regions of Mexico and Central America. Known to the Aztecs as Acocotli and Cocoxochitl, the plant was renamed in the late 1700s by the Director of the Royal Botanic Garden of Madrid in honour of the Swedish botanist, Andreas Dahl. Dahlias grown from seed can display massive and unpredictable variety and following introduction to Europe, new forms were quickly developed. Dahlias became a popular flower in competitive flower shows. Dahlia trials were good way of establishing which new varieties held most promise. Wisley continues to be an important centre for trials and plants are collected for the Wisley herbarium as a permanent record.
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