Celebrating nature and botanic gardens

PLANT yourself at Wollongong Botanic Garden from 10am this Sunday 26 May for a Botanic Gardens Day smorgasbord of free, nature-focused tours, talks and activities.

The national day celebrates the role of plants in our lives and the work botanic gardens do to conserve and protect for future generations.

Wollongong Botanic Garden Curator Felicity Skoberne promised an overgrown program for nature lovers young and old.

“We’ve got a great program for the community to come along, check us out and see all the things we do behind-the-scenes,” Ms Skoberne said.

“Our nursery tours and native plant sales are always a hit, but we’re definitely not one-trick peonies. This year we’ve added new activities like Tiny Forest t-shirt painting, a rare plants walk ‘n talk and the unique ‘Dear Tree’ experience which will see participants lay under a canopy of trees and listen to collection of recordings of local people sharing their thoughts and reflections about trees and nature.

“The Garden Discovery Walking Tours and Buggy Tours will be running all day to ensure everyone can get involved. To keep energy levels up, OMG Decadent Donuts will be onsite with yummy treats for sale.”

John Gabriele, host of ABC Radio’s The Compost Heap, is the local ambassador for Botanic Gardens Day. He’ll be there on the day to participate and share his wisdom.

“I can’t wait for Sunday. It’s a great day out connecting with people and connecting with country as well. I’ll be encouraging people to take their shoes off!” Mr Gabriele said.

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the day was an example of how from little things, big things grow.

“In 2015, we began with an event concept and today Botanic Gardens Day has propagated to involve 100 botanic gardens and arboretum right across Australia and New Zealand.

“This day is all about celebrating the power of plants and the essential, life-giving role they play. We know many people in our community love coming to the Wollongong Botanic Garden to play and enjoy its picnic spaces, but behind the scenes the staff here are fulfilling an important function.

“It’s their work and research that helps to preserve and protect place species into the future. This one-day event is an important way to acknowledge that. It’s also another reason to visit the Garden and enjoy the winter experience in this season of our plant life.

“Botanic gardens are treasures that remind us of the diversity of plant life that enriches and inspires us, and adds to our wellbeing,” Cr Bradbery said.

Visit the Botanic Gardens Day webpage to view the full program.

If you can’t make it along on the day, Costa Georgiadis, ABC Gardening Australia presenter and Ambassador for Botanic Gardens Open Day, is hosting a free webinar on 23 May titled The Role of Friends Groups in Botanic Gardens.

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