To accompany our recent Unearthed: The Power of Gardening exhibition, hosted at Leeds Central Library until 29 October 2025, a new collection of images has been created on the Leodis website.

Ranging from formal gardens to allotments, these photos offer a glimpse of how the people of Leeds have grown plants, flowers and vegetables over the years. Here are a small selection…

Hunslet Moor was purchased in 1879. This image shows the greenhouse full of plants with pots of plants and seedlings underneath. A gardener is stood at the back with a watering can.

This image shows the multicoloured rose garden at Gott’s Park. The tower of Christ Church can be seen on the horizon.

This image shows the garden of 3 Moor View, off Town Street in Armley. The black and white image does not do justice to the well kept lawn flanked by herbaceous borders containing lupins and irises. The view looks across Armley Moor, once an area of common land of 125 acres.

Postcard, titled ‘Park Grounds Churwell, Opened July 1st 1905’. Monochrome photograph of the park flower bed, with small boy seated in the foreground, a gardener and various other people standing behind.

An undated view of the Garden of Rest of St. John’s Church, looking across to Merrion Street and the Merrion Centre in the background. The corner of St. John’s Shopping Centre is just visible on the left.

A black and white image shows allotments at Armley Park, off Stanningley Road in the 1970s/1980s.

This postcard is titled “The Garden, Woodhouse Moor, Leeds” and dates from 1905-1910. The photograph shows formal flower beds and a statue, with the gardener’s lodge and other houses behind. The top dome of the library is visible behind the greenery.

See all these and more in the curated gallery – Gardens and Gardening in Leeds.