A Living Partnership with the Barbican Conservatory

The Barbican Conservatory, set within the iconic Brutalist Barbican complex, is home to an extraordinary collection of plants. Ahead of its major restoration, Wayward Plants is working with the Barbican’s horticultural team to propagate thousands of cuttings from its plant collection.

At the Wayward Plants Reuse Centre, selected plants are being carefully propagated to create a new generation that can grow beyond the Conservatory’s walls. Through a series of public adoption events, visitors can discover the stories of the parent plants and take home one of their descendants to care for and help grow.

The partnership continues a story that began in 2009, when we held our first London Plant Adoption event at the Barbican as part of Radical Nature: Art & Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969-2009. Seventeen years later, we have returned for our most ambitious propagation and adoption programme yet.