Our members use a variety of media for creative botanical expression, including watercolour, coloured pencil, pen and ink, and graphite.  Many started with little experience of botanical painting and some have gone on to study for a qualification in Botanical Art.  Others have developed the skills to become members of the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA), and some have been awarded medals at the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)  Botanical Art Shows.

More blog posts about BSBA Biennial Exhibitions

Cover art: ©Kristin Jakob, Calypso bulbosa on Mt. Tamalpais, watercolor on vellum

22nd Annual International Exhibition - details
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Some of the artwork selected for the Exhibition

Red Sensation

Shades of Red

Book cover only has the title on the front cover on the paper slip cover

An Index by rose (and name and size) at the end of the book

The dark side of the moon

About the author and artist - Rosie Sanders
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Rosie Sanders: By Any Other Name
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The exhibition will focus primarily on the beauty of the rose, and will feature many of the works included in the publication Rosie Sanders’ Roses: A celebration in botanical art, which will be released by Batsford in September 2019.

Rosie Sanders' Roses - a celebration in botanical art

Mally Francis with her painting of Babington’s Leek (Allium ampeloprasum var.babingtonii) at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2018 (12 July 2018)

Mally Francis - a Timeline in Botanical Art
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She was a particularly lovely person and always very kind. I have known her for well over 30 years. She started botanical painting with me at the Leicester college and became a member of the LSBI. She also attended many of my Summer Schools at Market Overton. She then moved to Cornwall and started teaching but we kept in contact and I have always heard particularly flattering comments about her teaching. I am sure that all who had the privilege of knowing her will miss her
Anne-Marie Evans

The Studio was originally built about 250 years ago as the Sawpit for the Heligan estate when logs were dragged in by a horse and then cut into planks and beams by two men using a pit saw. One above, standing on the log (the top-dog) and the other below in the pit, covered in sweat and sawdust, (the under-dog).
When we bought The Wagon House in 1997 the Sawpit had become a ruin with only two cob walls standing and the brick piers opposite to support the roof.
In 1999 we commenced the restoration and it came into full use as our studio early in 2000. The Sawpit, thirty feet long and six feet deep still remains beneath the floor as a little piece of Heligan history. 
Nowadays, the Sawpit is in full time use again, either for the Botanical Painting classes or as a Photographic Studio. A collection of old saws are attached to the roof beams.

My teaching philosophy is to encourage all students to develop their own skills to the highest level possible. There is never any competition in my classes and everyone can work at their own pace. The courses are always enjoyable and old friends meet each other year after year as they return to continue their studies. Everyone has their own aspirations and it gives me great pleasure to help them to achieve their own goals.
Mally Francis (in Mally Francis Paints the Lost Gardens of Heligan
February 1, 2011 by Tania Marien)

a still from the video about her botanical painting classes at the Wagon House

The Florilegium was the inspiration of Mally Francis FCPGFS, FEPFS who founded the Society in 2000, and was its Chairman from 2001 to 2012. Mally stepped down in January 2012, and was made Honorary Founder Chairman of the Society, and a Fellow of The Linnean Society in recognition of her contributions to world of Botanical Illustration and Botany.
Eden Project Florilegium Society

Dr Shirley Sherwood at the PC with artists, curators and artists involved with the exhibition

People love trees
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Four walls like this

If you wait until the end of the afternoon there are fewer people!

Trees: Delight in the Detail
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