RBGE Creative Programmes

Discover more about our Earth Matters exhibition this July with our FREE Spotlight Talks. These short sessions, led by our knowledgeable volunteers, offer fascinating insights into different exhibition themes and stories.

Book your tickets via this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/spotlight-talks-4382793
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📅Thursday 9, Wednesday 15, Saturday 25 July
🕙 2.00 - 2.30 pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free
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Image: Earth Matters Exhibition, Inverleith House. Photo: Lynsey Wilson.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

A creative partnership with Susanna Beaumont, Exhibition Scotland, Earth Matters is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and Edinburgh Geological Society, with special thanks to the James Hutton Institute. The exhibition is part of Edinburgh Science Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival, RSA200: Celebrating together, and James Hutton Tercentenary 2026.

🎉 Happy 300th Birthday to James Hutton! Born in Edinburgh on this day in 1726. 🎂

James Hutton, physician, farmer and writer, is best known as the 'father of modern geology’. Famously, his observation of unconformities in rock formations at Siccar Point on the East Coast of Scotland signified the ‘Deep Time’ of our Earth or, in the words of his friend John Playfair, ‘that we find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end’.

The exhibition Earth Matters at Inverleith House celebrates the James Hutton Tercentenary by showcasing important historic artefacts and works by contemporary artists and creatives inspired by Hutton.

On James Hutton’s birthday, our Earth Matters is this 1787 portrait of Hutton by the Scottish caricaturist John Kay. It depicts Hutton, rock hammer in hand, at Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh. If you look closely at the rocks on the righthand side, you will see three male faces in profile; Hutton is literally chipping away at the old guard and their beliefs. The building in the bottom left corner likely represents Hutton’s house at St John’s Hill, which overlooked Salisbury Crags, where he lived from 1770 until his death in 1797.

Visit Earth Matters to learn more about Hutton and his legacy today!

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🌱 Earth Matters
📅 20 Mar – 1 Nov 2026
⏰ Open daily 10:30 – 16:30
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free Exhibition
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Image: John Kay, Dr James Hutton, 1787. Photo: Museums & Galleries Edinburgh – City Art Centre
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

A creative partnership with Susanna Beaumont, Design Exhibition Scotland, Earth Matters is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and Edinburgh Geological Society, with special thanks to the James Hutton Institute. The exhibition is part of Edinburgh Science Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival, RSA200: Celebrating Together, and James Hutton Tercentenary 2026.

We are delighted to launch an open call to artists, makers and designers, based in the United Kingdom and Ireland, to submit expressions of interest to exhibit in Flower Power. The exhibition will run 19 March – 31 October 2027 in Inverleith House Gallery, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Flower Power will be a group show featuring contemporary creatives, from a broad range of disciplines, including sculpture, photography, fashion, music and floral installations. The exhibition will draw on the Botanics’ collections, including botanical illustrations and herbarium specimens, and bring research to life, such as our current work on pollination ecology. 🌺

The deadline for submissions is 9am on Monday 15 June 2026.

🔗 To find out more about the exhibition and how to apply, follow this link: https://www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/jobs-and-volunteering/vacancies/flower-power-open-call/

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Image: Meconopsis (Himalayan poppies) in Dawyck Botanic Garden, 2024. Photo: Eilidh Cameron.

Final month to visit Herbology! 🌸

Founded as a physic garden in 1670, the Botanics’ history is rooted in the growth, study and use of herbs for medicinal purposes. This exhibition celebrates 20 years of our contemporary herbology course and the enduring healing and cultural power of plants.

Here’s what visitors are saying:
🌸 ‘Really beautiful and informative – I always get inspiration coming here but this exhibition especially!’
🌸 ‘Beautifully laid out and put together. The dried flower display at the entrance is lovely. Interesting to see the Botanics in a different light.’
🌸 ‘So lovely to see a display like this, keep spreading the joy and magic – always.’

See Herbology before it ends on 28 June!

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📍 John Hope Gateway
📅 13 February - 28 June
⏰ 10 am - 5 pm daily

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Image: Herbology, installation view in the John Hope Gateway, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2026. Photo: Lynsey Wilson.

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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh