Bauder is excited to have been involved in The Secret World of Plants programme at Kew Gardens, which is running from 1^st May – 19^th September 2021

Bauder has donated a mix of our XF301 lightweight sedum blanket system and our Wildflower Blanket which has been used for The Secret World of Plants program at Kew Gardens.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is on a mission to encourage people, after a year spent largely indoors, to reconnect with the incredible nature that surrounds them. This summer, the leading plant institute and UNESCO World Heritage site is delighted to invite visitors on a journey to uncover the Secret World of Plants.

Weird, wonderful, and with life-saving potential, plants will be brought to life by large-scale art installations and a programme of intriguing activities designed to capture the imagination of adults and children alike. Visitors will leave Kew Gardens with an entirely different perspective on the ‘wall of green’ – a visual effect caused by what is commonly known as ‘plant blindness’.  Plant blindness occurs partly because the human eye sees green objects much better than other coloured objects, and, as plants tend to be similar in colour and virtually still, human brains tend to group them together into one ‘wall of green’.
 
Through the Secret World of Plants, RBG Kew will encourage visitors to explore this connection on a deeper level, focusing on the biodiversity found on our doorsteps that we may have previously taken for granted.
 
At the heart of the festival will be six ‘plantscapes’ – large-scale, immersive biomes representing contrasting landscapes found across the UK, but rarely experienced in such vivid detail. Each landscape - coastal cliff and sand dune; moorland; marsh and meadow; hedgerow; woodland; and urban - is inspired by the UK’s priority habitats in the Biodiversity Action Plan: an internationally recognised programme addressing threatened species and habitats. Designed by Seattle based artist Vaughn Bell, each plantscape has been specially curated alongside our world-renowned team of horticultural experts using over 100 plant species in total. Visitors are invited to literally place themselves within these monumental landscapes via playful head-holes, and get a new, unique glimpse into these incredible, biodiverse and threatened UK landscapes.
 
Artist, Vaughn Bell says: “I have loved collaborating with Kew plant experts to create these artworks. Each sculpture transports you to a specific, unique and precious habitat. I hope the art experience will connect people more deeply with plants, invite people to an engaging sensory world, and prompt curiosity to understand more about these particular plant ecosystems.” Learn more and visit The Secret World of Plants