Commissioned by Serpentine, the second Pollinator Pathmaker Edition is located in Kensington Gardens. Enter the park through the Marlborough Gate (by Lancaster Gate tube), and you'll find the garden planted along the 250m North Flower Walk, hugging the westward path.

Five hundred square metres of planting is spread across eleven meandering beds, algorithmically computed as a single planting scheme to serve the greatest diversity of pollinator species. Planted in spring 2022, the garden opens on June 22, 2022, in conjunction with Serpentine’s Back to Earth exhibition as one of its offsite installations. It will grow and flourish over two years, linking the park with its surrounding neighbourhoods as pollinators travel between the artwork and local gardens.

As with each Pollinator Pathmaker Edition, the 62 plant species in this garden have been chosen and arranged by the algorithm to support pollinators from bees to wasps to moths and beetles, providing food and habitat throughout the year and across the changing seasons. 

This boldly-coloured Pollinator Pathmaker Edition has a diffuse interlinked pattern spreading across the beds, with dramatic drifts framing softer areas of more intricate planting. Deep blue Clematis heracleifolia, loved by moths, contrasts with the fuschia Penstemon ‘Andenken an Friedrich Hahn’ which caters to long-tongued bumblebees, while the late-blooming lilac spires of the Liatris spicata, or button snakewort, are favoured by bees, butterflies, and moths.

We made some substitutions from the planting scheme determined by the algorithm due to availability. We looked at each alternative to check it supports the same pollinators and blooms at roughly the same time. Use the Plant Finder to see the artist’s painting of each plant and learn about each flower’s pollinators.

• Bergenia 'Abendglocken'
• Geranium sanguineum
• Centaurea nigra
• Helleborus foetidus
• Geranium phaeum 'Lily Lovell' (substitution: Geranium 'Samobor')
• Astrantia major subsp. involucrata 'Shaggy'
• Selinum wallichianum
• Limonium platyphyllum (substitution: Limonium Latifolium­)
• Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eilers'
• Aster amellus 'King George' (substitution: Aster amellus 'Breslau'­)
• Papaver orientale 'Karine'
• Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum'
• Echinacea paradoxa
• Leucanthemum vulgare
• Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty'
• Allium schoenoprasum
• Allium ampeloprasum (substitution: Allium 'Summer Beauty')
• Digitalis parviflora Jacq. (substitution: Digitalis ferruginea 'Gelber Herold')
• Digitalis purpurea
• Digitalis ferruginea (substitution: Digitalis ferruginea 'Gigantea')
• Betonica officinalis (substitution: Betonic officinalis 'Hummello')
• Verbascum nigrum
• Teucrium hircanium
• Agastache 'Blackadder'
• Calamintha nepeta subsp. nepeta
• Salvia nemorosa 'Amethyst'
• Teucrium chamaedrys
• Salvia yangii
• Lavandula x intermedia ‘Grosso’
• Euphorbia corallioides (substitution: Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii)
• Anthemis tinctoria 'E.C. Buxton'
• Origanum vulgare
• Lotus hirsutus (substitution: Convolvulus cneorum)
• Verbena hastata
• Sesleria autumnalis
• Sesleria caerulea
• Campanula carpatica
• Helianthemum nummularium (substitution: Helianthemum nummularium 'Golden Queen')
• Anacyclus pyrethrum var. depressus
• Thymus polytrichus subsp. Britannicus
• Helichrysum italicum
• Symphytum officinale
• Centaurea atropurpurea
• Astrantia maxima (substitution: Astrantia major 'Primadonna')
• Cirsium 'Mount Etna'
• Allium sphaerocephalon
• Rudbeckia fulgida (substitution: Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldsturm')
• Tiarella cordifolia
• Lobelia siphilitica
• Penstemon 'Andenken an Friedrich Hahn'
• Phlomis russeliana
• Liatris spicata
• Rosmarinus officinalis
• Phuopsis stylosa
• Clematis heracleifolia (substitution: Clematis tubulosa 'Wyevale')
• Nepeta 'Weinheim Big Blue'
• Hylotelephium telephium (Atropurpureum Group) (substitution: Hylotelephium telephium (Atropurpureum Group) 'Purple Emperor')
• Hypericum calycinum
• Foeniculum vulgare
• Angelica archangelica
• Primula veris
• Calamagrostis brachytricha

Dr. Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg

Pollinator Pathmaker, Serpentine Edition, 2022
Commissioned by Eden Project and Serpentine
with support from Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation and Google Arts & Culture
© 2022 Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg Ltd

From preparing the ground to the planting process, bringing the Serpentine Edition to the public is the result of the hard work and trowels of: 

Dr Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg

Designer and Researcher Iman Datoo
Producer Cecilie Gravesen
Studio Manager Emily Sofaly

Serpentine

Curator, Exhibitions and Design Rebecca Lewin
Assistant Curator, Exhibitions Sarah Hamed
Gallery Manager Mike Gaughan
Installation and Production Manager: Joel Bunn
Assistant Curator, Exhibitions Chris Bayley
Press Officer Laura Gosney
Philanthropy Executive Zohra Soorma
Development Project Manager Ella Fallows
Audience and Communities Manager Youssra Manlaykhaf 
Content Producer Fiona Glen

The Royal Parks

Park Manager Andy Williams
Assistant Park Manager Theresa Short
Biodiversity Manager Peter Lawrence
Technical Officer for Kensington Gardens Russell Stevens
Contract Supervisor Richard Griggs
Horticulture Team Will Brown, Jordan Toms, Joseph O’Kelly, Dave Cooper, Manuel Sully, and Tony Figuiredo

Eden Project

Horticulture Colin Skelly 

Special Thanks

Sharyn Wortman