Growing Together with RAMM this Spring

Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery’s newest community initiative places planting and growing at the centre of improving civic wellbeing.

As spring unfolds and nature begins to bloom again, a seed planting extravaganza is coming to Exeter’s RAMM. Inspired by the museum’s upcoming seed exhibitions for summer 2021, Seedscapes: Future-Proofing Nature and Léonie Hampton: A Language of Seeds, the team at RAMM have produced six ‘Growing Together’ seed activities to take part in. Participants can plant one species a week, and learn a few fun facts along the way.

The seeds include tasty aromatic herbs, bright and bold flowers and magically medicinal blooms, such as calendula, basil and sunflowers. All are bee and nature-friendly and easy to care for in a garden or on a windowsill. The museum has sent seed and info packs out to community groups such as Ladysmith Infant and Nursery School, Refugee Support Devon, and Exmouth’s Deaf Academy, to help empower them to grow together this spring. Members of the public can also order their Growing Together seed and info packs from RAMM’s online shop from Thursday 1 April, for £5 including postage.

Maya Herbolzheimer, project lead for Growing Together, said:

‘Growing Together is our way of inspiring our communities to come together and re-ignite their love of nature. We’ve all been stuck indoors more than we would like recently, but we know how much people value being in the outdoors and enjoying the world around us. Picking up our gardening gloves, digging in the dirt and growing beautiful flowers and useful herbs can really help our wellbeing. By sharing this with each other through the Growing Together project we can reconnect with the world.

We want to encourage everyone to share their growing journeys with us this spring – tag us on social media or email us your photos!’

A RAMM spokesperson said:

‘The museum’s Growing Together project addresses an important matter across Exeter and the wider Devon community, helping to empower people to improve their wellbeing and feel less isolated after this difficult period of lockdown. Spring is such a glorious time in our beautiful part of the country, and encouraging people to embrace this by growing their own plants, and perhaps learning new skills, is a fantastic way to bring some happiness and relief into our lives.’

Each new seed planting activity will be released on the RAMM social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – starting on Monday 5 April with calendula, and continuing each Monday in April and early May. All seeds are available from the RAMM shop for £5 including postage from Thursday 1 April: shop.rammuseum.org.uk