Unearthed: The Power of Gardening at Leeds Central Library explores the story, impact and legacy of gardening and the positive role it has played in the lives of thousands of people past and present.

Between their antique covers can be found centuries of accumulated wisdom about the best ways to grow fabulous fruit and vibrant veg as well as colourful flowers and fragrant herb patches.

Among the treasured tomes on display is a copy of The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes, written by famed Elizabethan herbalist John Gerard.

Describing in painstaking detail the names, properties and growing locations of every plant known to western botany at the time, the book is even believed to have inspired William Shakespeare when The Bard was devising the potions which would feature in famed plays such as Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Also on display is Batty Langley’s New Principles of Gardening. Penned in 1728, the book is filled with meticulous instructions and diagrams on how geometry can be applied to the design of gardens as well as detailed pointers on the best ways to plant and care for fruit trees.

Leeds Central Library is hoping that public donations gathered through the course of the exhibition will enable the book to be repaired and restored to its former glory.

The exhibition also includes a series of stunning illustrated guides to British flowers, such as Jane Loudon’s British Wild Flowers, written in around 1850. Originally a science fiction author, Loudon married a horticulturalist and became a self-taught botanical illustrator.

She later wrote her own gardening manuals and filled them with her own vibrant lithographs of various flowers and plants, which helped make gardening more accessible for women and the middle class.

Inspired by the British Library’s major exhibition, Unearthed sees Leeds Central Library joining 30 library services around the country celebrating gardening through the Living Knowledge Network.

As well as the books on display, the exhibition features The Speaking Garden a multimedia installation inspired by the library’s collection and the gardeners of Leeds.

Filled with colourful projected visuals and a soothing soundscape from Buffalo Sound Design, the installation seeks to create a ‘garden of voices’ by inviting local growers to submit their own audio clips about what gardening means to them.

Anyone who wants to be part of The Speaking Garden can record themselves on a phone or computer and submit a clip to the library.

Unearthed is open now at Leeds Central Library and runs until October 29. For more information, including how to submit a clip to the Speaking Garden, visit: Unearthed: The Power of Gardening | Leeds Library