"Teaching people about the world in which we live."
"Teaching people about the world in which we live."
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| Barbara Wintringham |
Ms. Barbara
Wintringham, a leading volunteer guide, Ross McKinnon, the
Curator, and the Visitor Services Officer have generously agreed to be available to our
readers on April 23rd at 11:00 AM Brisbane time. This will allow our
readers to ask them questions about the gardens and the native
plants. If you would like help converting that time to your own time zone please
visit our time zone page.
We will be showing you live pictures of the gardens too. Come and join us!
Botanic gardens are essentially a living collection of plants. They furnish a place for a leisurely stroll for pleasure as well as a site for education and research. They help to preserve the native plants in an area. Often times they also include plants from around the world. Botanical gardens play an important role in our society.
In a botanical garden, the plants can be arranged by usage, by type or by location. In this way the gardens are set up to help the visitor understand the relationships of the plants to each other in their specific habitats, as well as their relation to humans. Botanic gardens help to promote our understanding of the diversity of plants, as well as their relevancy to our welfare. They educate us in the value, both financial and aesthetic, and health of plants. The gardens serve to conserve and educate about endangered species of flora. They do this in a number of ways. At the gardens that we will be visiting, knowledgeable volunteers provide structured programs for schools. They also offer both guided and self-guided walks. Informational pamphlets may be available to help educate, serving as an informational guide and also a tangible resource that can be taken home to look at later. In addition these gardens provide detailed write-ups about the different plants that are easily accessible to the public.
Botanical Gardens also support research and see to the continued expansion of the gardens. Addition to the gardens is accomplished both by propagation of the plants and by maintaining a seed bank to trade with other gardens.
Botanical gardens, are very concerned with the destruction of the natural environment. Tropical plants and rainforests are of primary concern as humans continue to devastate the world’s rainforests. The disappearance of these natural habitats, where most of the worlds bio-diversity exists, is of growing concern. The botanical gardens serve as a good education and conservation source; however, they are not the final answer for preserving our rainforests. It is just not possible to put a rainforest together from its separate pieces. Primarily this is because we do not have all the pieces of the rainforest or the technology to duplicate what nature does so very well.
Botanical gardens play an important role in our society. They serve as a starting place for conservation and education. They should not be considered the solution to conservation. Their primary purpose is one of education.
First for a definition. An Australian plant is a plant that is native to Australia. In other words one that has originated and developed in the continent of Australia. Because of the isolation of Australia from other land masses, many of the native plants are unique. They are very different from those growing in other parts of the world. Similarities can be found between Australian plants and some plants in Africa and South America. But those are only a few plants. Most of Australia's flora can only be found naturally growing in Australia.
Botanical gardens often offer guided tours of the gardens. These tours can provide an overview of the gardens and a chance to the curious mind to ask questions of a trained guide. At many botanical gardens the guide is a volunteer.
This fancy word simply means the cultivation of gardens. So if you enjoy growing plants and looking at gardens you are enjoying horticulture.
The organization depends on the main purpose of the gardens. At the Brisbane Botanical Gardens in Mt Coot-tha, there is a ‘Fragrant Herb and Plant Garden’, as well as a rainforest garden, Japanese garden, tropical garden, and others. An herb garden shows the variety of plants and herbs available for both seasoning of food and for medicinal uses. It is a hands-on area of the botanical gardens. Other special gardens within Mt. Coot-tha are to educate and to allow for exploration of the different types of plants that grow in an ecosystem.
Botanical gardens often employ technical staff who can answer questions for researchers, as well as provide plant identification and botanical information for the public. At many botanical gardens a visitor has access to nomenclature and up to the date information on the distribution of plant species. These experts also provide information on poisonous plants and useful ones. There plenty of data available on . A visitor or researcher could also find the latest conservation facts on endangered plants. The duties of a technical staff do not end there. They are in charge of providing and maintaining a comprehensive record of what plants are in the gardens. With today’s technology that includes maintaining a computer database. It also includes the responsibility of adding to the gardens.
Most botanical gardens have a seed bank. The seed banks are not easy to maintain. They require someone to collect the seeds from the plants, and a way to store them for long periods of time. Of course they must also maintain a current list that allows for easy recognition and access to the seeds. This seed bank is then used to make exchanges with other gardens for plants seeds that are needed.
It may sound simple to just swap seeds and grow a new plant, but it isn't. The technical staff at a garden and the curator must work together first to figure out what they need in the botanical gardens and then to obtain the specimens that they are missing. Many of the plants in a botanical garden are very sensitive and difficult to grow. This becomes more and more obvious as humans destroy the plants around our planet, then try to replant them.
Many botanical gardens offer these kind of tours for those that wish to take their time strolling through the gardens. These kind of tours can be set up in such a way that the guest can walk through the gardens and read plaques set up in front of flora, or they may be laid out on a pamphlet. Either way the self guided tour allows for whatever pace a visitor might want to set and however much, of the gardens, the visitor might want to see.
