York Museums Trust announce first Pop Up Plant Shop in Museum Gardens
DATE: 11 May 2022
The first York Museum Gardens Pop Up Plant Shop will take place on Saturday 21st May. Just in time for planting season, a range of plants grown from cuttings and seed, as well as surplus plants from the Gardens will be available to buy.
The Pop Up Plant Shop will focus on sustainability by recycling pots and reducing the amount of plants transported to York Museum Gardens through experimentation with growing on-site seasonal bedding from seed. Expert advice and guidance about the suitability of plants for your garden will be available from the Gardens team.
York Museums Trust hope the Pop Up Plant Shop will become a regular opportunity for people to take home plants they enjoy when visiting York Museum Gardens, as well as essential gardening hand tools and accessories.
Proceeds from the Pop Up Plant Shop will be invested back into the gardens, to refresh existing beds, introduce more native wildflowers, enhance the Spring bulb displays and replace aging gardening equipment.
Steve Williams, York Museum Gardens Manager, said; “We can’t wait for our first York Museum Gardens Pop Up Plant Shop. Our dream for York Museum Gardens is to install a polytunnel to grow more of our own plants, and develop short gardening courses for beginners
and enthusiasts alike to share knowledge, their love of plants and the natural world. Whilst we test our ability to grow a volume of plants from seed without a polytunnel, the Pop Up Plant Shop will give us chance to talk to people about the Gardens and the plants we grow.”
Richard Saward, Head of Visitor Experience and Commercial, said; “York Museum Gardens is loved and enjoyed by more than a million people every year and we hope our Pop Up Plant Shop will play a part in ensuring the unique space can continue to bloom. The pandemic significantly hit our finances, and we’re hoping to that the opportunity to share our passion for plants with our visitors will also help secure our future. I’ve watched our incredible team work so hard to care for our Gardens, to create a safe place for people to enjoy during the last two years and hope that visitors to the shop will feel inspired by their passion.”
The Pop Up Plant Shop can be found close to the entry of the Yorkshire Museum, in York Museum Gardens, 11am-4pm on Saturday 21 May.