Around this time every year, we start planting in our gardens - but this year is an extra special year.

While our gardens were being redeveloped, our gardens team spent the winter months developing plans for the new Display Gardens - these start in the Sunken Garden and flow down towards London Road.

The planting displays will focus on four themes:

• Plants used for their fibres and as materials for making objects such as musical instruments, textiles and masks 
• Plants used as a source of natural dyes across the world 
• Plants used as medicines
• Plants used as food

Each of these new garden areas will highlight links between the plants on display and objects in our museum collection.

The planting will be diverse - with over 200 different varieties in the food garden alone! Highlights include an exotic fruits bed, beautiful gnarled olive trees, dye plants grouped according
to the colour they produce and an area dedicated solely to herbs and spices.