A Dash of Lavender 2022

Feb 1

Celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month with Queer Botany

For LGBTQ+ History Month, Chelsea Physic Garden is collaborating with Queer Botany to look at plants and the Garden through a queer botanical lens. LGBTQ+ is an acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and other sexual and gender minorities. The term ‘queer’ originally meant ‘strange’ or ‘peculiar’ and was used to insult the LGBTQ+ community, but has been reclaimed by activists as a broad term for sexual and gender minorities. Queer Botany aims to share marginalised perspectives, support more diverse representations in the environment and outdoors, and acknowledge connections between queerness and plants.

This map shows locations of plants and displays at Chelsea Physic Garden with interpretations from a queer perspective.

Historically the LGBTQ+ community has been stigmatised and often referred to as being ‘unnatural’, however the natural world has many connections with queerness. One set of examples can be found in the sheer variety of plants and their reproductive methods. Concepts such as science & culture, male & female, human & nature are often contrasted in stark binaries, but queerness favours multiplicity and gradients. There is a peculiar cultural link between queerness and the symbolism of flowering plants, which can be found in the terms ‘pansy’, or ‘a streak’ or ‘dash’ of lavender’. There are many applications of floral symbols to reference homosexuality, especially in literature. Moving forward, we want queer stories from culture and nature to be more broadly interwoven into our understanding of the world.