For the last year or so I have been muttering about having a textile garden at the TRC’s new home on the Boerhaavelaan (B6), Leiden. This is not a new idea and various museums, botanical gardens and local projects throughout Europe have set up dye plant gardens, such as that at the Palazzo Madama (Turin, Italy), Botanical Gardens, Cambridge, England , as well as the Amsterdam Colour Gardens. The main thing that was needed was a suitable garden and B6 gives us that.
Boerhaavelaan 6, from the garden.However, we do not just want a 'mere' dye garden, instead we want to extend it to cover the world of textiles, including fibres, dyes and related items such as seeds used for decoration or nuts used for buttons. Not all the plants can easily be grown in Leiden (some require desert conditions, which rainy Leiden certainly does not have!), nor do we have a greenhouse (yet) where such plants could be grown. However, there are many plants we can start with and gradually expand as we get more experience over the next few years.
Another difference is that we do not want just pretty plants all in a row (to paraphrase an English nursery rhyme [Mary Mary Quite Contrary]), we want to use them. Such as having a patch of flax as part of the Crafts Council Nederlands Project, 1m2 flax, here in the Netherlands. There is also a group on the Boerhaavelaan who are very keen natural dyers, so perhaps we can grow a range of plants that they can use (think onions, weld, madder, etc). Then there are various schools in the neighbourhood, so perhaps setting up a dye plant project with them as part of sustainability? The plan is also to have the garden open to the general public during the office hours of the TRC.
Mind you, it is easy to talk about the idea of a textile garden, but how are we going to set it up and for this we need specialist advice and help. As noted in an earlier blog TRC Leiden – A brief update on Friday 10th October, I went to the Hortus Botanicus, Leiden’s historic botanical gardens to discuss with its director, Prof. Barbara Gravendeel, and Head Gardener, Rogier van Vugt, about the idea of setting up a textile garden at Boerhaavelaan 6. They liked the idea and have agreed to help with it, by giving advice, the testing of soils, training of volunteers, etc.
The garden of Boerhaavelaan 6, as seen from the study.As a direct result of the Hortus meeting, we are now in the process of consolidating a list of potential plants to represent the idea of a textile garden and getting a better idea of what to start of with. So far we have a selection of about 20 plants (but many more are possible), which will eventually need to be sourced and grown. We need a small greenhouse, propagators, seed trays, pots, seedling soil, tools, etc., as well as making sure we have specific garden beds with the correct type of soil.
In the meantime, we are looking for a local garden designer who would be willing to help with designing the garden, bearing in mind we have a minimum budget for this exciting project!
We have estimated that we are going to need about 6,000 euros for the initial stages of the TRC Textile Garden (a gentle hint).
In addition, we are also looking for a group of volunteer gardeners from the Leiden region who would be willing to help create and run the garden! If you are interested and have some experience in gardening, please let me know at Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken..
Gillian Vogelsang, 2 November 2025
