Sandra Lawrence is a journalist and author. She writes for the Evening Standard, Guardian, Financial Times, The Times, Londonist.com and the English Garden. She is the London columnist for British Heritage magazine and is on the Q&A panel of experts for History Revealed magazine. Her travel writing is collected on madamepassepartout.com.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are home to the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world. Founded in 1840, Kew's archives store millions of specimens, botanical illustrations and books. Kew's mission is to understand and protect plants and fungi, for the wellbeing of people and the future of all life on Earth.