Unearthed: The Power of Gardening Fun Day

Drop in all day

• Get creative using our collections.

Colour the collections: 

• Join us to colour and craft using images from our incredible collection of illustrated botanical books. 

• Bring William Morris ‘s Kelmscott Press to life 

Treasure hunt

find the worm poo, poems and greenhouses, and see if you can spot the “leaves between the leaves”!

Gardening books

• Borrow our specially selected collection of gardening books and return them to any Glasgow Library!

Drop in sessions

11am: Guided tour of exhibition

2pm: Guided tour of exhibition

3pm – 4pm: Unearthed quiz with a chance to win a prize! Bring your friends, family, gardening group or see if you can go it alone with our gardening quiz in association with the British Library.

Unearthed: The Power of Gardening is a free display at The Mitchell Library (2 May – 10 August 2025) exploring the transformative, enriching and sometimes radical power of gardening. Inspired by the British Library’s major exhibition (2 May – 10 August 2025), Mitchell Library is one of 30 library services celebrating gardening through the UK-wide Living Knowledge Network. 

From windowsills to allotments, Unearthed: The Power of Gardening at The Mitchell Library explores how the act of gardening can heal and sustain people in a multitude of ways. It reveals how gardening can bring people together, empower communities and shape our relationship with the natural world. It also considers gardening as a form of activism, as a means of challenging land ownership and highlighting social disparities, as well as providing a global story about the movement of plants.

As well as a specially designed travelling exhibition created by the British Library, our display will reflect the collections in the Mitchell Library, with some surprising stories behind the books! From the first drawing of a pineapple to a beautifully embroidered book with at least 8 named owners, our exhibition will display underknown objects from the Mitchell’s collections.