Carbon in bloom: How Kew Gardens is telling the story of climate change through plants

Kew Gardens has unveiled plans for a new ‘Carbon Garden’ at its world-famous botanical site in London.

Set to open in July, the permanent garden will tell “the story of carbon” through a unique design, illustrating the deep connections between plants and climate change. 

The Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) at Kew welcomes around 2.5 million visitors every year to its vast grounds, which are home to over 50,000 living plant species.

“The Carbon Garden offers a unique opportunity to showcase our ongoing research, combining scientific insight with thoughtful design and beautiful planting to highlight the role of carbon in our lives,” says Richard Wilford, designer of the Carbon Garden at RBG Kew. 

“We hope the Carbon Garden inspires visitors to act and join us in shaping a more sustainable, resilient future for life on our planet.”

Here’s what you can expect to find this summer.

Eye-catching plans released today feature abundant colour, and a fungi-like centrepiece which appears to have sprouted from the garden.

The tapestry of plants is made up of herbaceous perennials, chosen to illustrate the dramatic rise in global average temperatures over recent years. They are inspired by the famous climate stripes, a visual tool which does this in bar form.

Visitors are then greeted by a rocky outcrop and an unusual sight: an exposed coal seam showing fossilised plants.

Soil is normally kept hidden in gardens, but the whole point of Kew’s Carbon Garden is to “reveal the invisible”, highlighting the hidden world of carbon beneath our feet.

We’re used to hearing about carbon in a negative context. The emissions from burning carbon-based fuels are the biggest contributor to the climate crisis and its assorted disasters.

But Kew is telling a deeper