Australia and New Zealand

Botanic Gardens Day is an annual day of celebration to shed light on the role of plants in our lives and the important work botanic gardens undertake every day to conserve them for future generations.

Hop over to the @BotanicGardensDay Facebook page, join and follow, give it a like, share it with colleagues and friends, ask them to do the same, let’s spread the word!

Celebrating the Passion for Plants

On Sunday 29 May 2022, more than 100 botanic gardens, arboreta and gardens across Australia and New Zealand will celebrate Botanic Gardens Day with their respective communities. Stay tuned for a list of what’s on and where!

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Join in the #PlantLoversChallenge — 1-29 May 2022

Tell your plant story!

For the month of May, Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealand Inc (BGANZ) #PlantLoversChallenge everyone to share their love of and passion for plants by posting:

• photos
• a 30-60 second video
• stories
• poetry (including haiku)
• songs
• or any other creative pursuits​

to your/our Facebook page or uploading a plant image to your Instagram page, or other favourite platform, with a short message about what plants mean to you and how plants influence your life, using hashtags #PlantLoversChallenge and #BotanicGardensDay.

Spread the word: #PlantLoversChallenge others to tell their plant story and stay tuned as we celebrate the #PassionForPlants through your shared stories!

We look forward to seeing and hearing all your #PlantLoversChallenge responses in 2022! #PlantLoversChallenge begins 1 May and will end in celebration on Botanic Gardens Day 29 May.

Head to Botanic Gardens Day Facebook @BotanicGardensDay  like, comment and/or share, Instagram @bganz1 , Twitter @BGANZ1 and YouTube accounts to follow and share our posts.

Forums and Webinars

We are excited to announce, that during May 2022, in the lead up to Botanic Gardens Day we will host and present forums and webinars aimed at industry professionals and all those many plant lovers out there.

Webinars hosted by Costa Georgiadis

We have four live online webinars hosted by the wonderful Costa Georgiadis from ABC TV’s Gardening Australia. These will be held online at 5pm (AWST), 6.30pm (ACST), 7pm (AEST), 9pm (NZST) and will run for 30 mins, including 10 mins for Q+A. The dates, topics and speakers are:

• 5 May, Interpretation, engagement and plant stories with Toni Roberts, designer/director Hatchling Studio and Raydeen Cuffe, Wellington Botanic Garden (NZ) visitor experience team manager.

• 12 May, Carnivorous plants/rare plants with Matt Coulter, horticultural curator Mount Lofty Botanic Garden (SA) and Greg Bourke (botanic gardens consultant).

• 19 May, Plant hunting with Emma Bodley, botanical records & conservation officer Auckland Botanic Gardens and Andre Messina, botanist RBGV.

• 26 May, Paleobotany/Gondwana with Professor David Cantrill, chief botanist and director RBGV.

Webinar for industry professionals

We also have a half-day Plant Treasures webinar for industry professionals hosted by the ANPC (Australian Network for Plant Conservation) on 12 May, 10.30am (AEST) –1.30pm (AEST) on The role of the nursery and living collections in conserving native plant species: current practice and future needs.

The presenters are:
• John Arnott, Manager of Horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Cranbourne Gardens
• Dr Amelia Martyn Yenson, Project Manager at the Australian Network for Plant Conservation and Honorary Associate, Australian Institute of Botanical Science
• Lorraine Perrins, Curator, Conservation Collections and Subantarctic Flora at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
• Zoe Knapp, Conservation Manager at the Australian National Botanic Gardens
• Amanda Shade, Nursery Curator and Collections Manager, Kings Park and Botanic Garden, Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority
• Dr Sally Norton, Leader of the Australian Grains Genebank.

The webinar will include videos featuring:
• Warren Worboys, Curator of Horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Cranbourne Gardens
• Mandy Thomson, Team Leader, Nursery, at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Cranbourne Gardens
• Tom North, Curator at the National Seed Bank, Australian National Botanic Gardens
• Dr Emma Dalziell, Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Kings Park and Botanic Garden and the University of Western Australia
• Dr Leonie Monks, Research Scientist with the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
• Dr Andrew Crawford, Research Scientist with the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

Other events

Melbourne community radio station 3CR 855am will feature Botanic Gardens Day on their talkback gardening show from 7.30am to 9.15am on 29 May. Presenter Virginia Heywood will chat with John Arnott (Manager Horticulture, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Cranbourne Gardens), Clare Hart (Manager Horticulture, RBGV Melbourne Gardens), Tex Moon (Parks Victoria Ranger Team Leader, Dandenong Ranges Botanic Gardens) and Tim Uebergang (Team Leader, Horticulture, RBGV) about all things garden- and plant-related.

BACKGROUND

Botanic Gardens Day was launched in 2016 by ABC TV’s Gardening Australia host, and Botanic Gardens Day Australian Ambassador, Costa Georgiadis, and New Zealand Ambassador, Jack Hobbs. Each year this event has over 100 botanic gardens, arboreta and gardens in Australia and New Zealand taking part and celebrating the vital work botanic gardens do for plant conservation.

Gardens hold many special events on the day every year – to find out what your local garden is planning check your local gardens’ websites for details. As the day approaches more updates on Gardens’ web and facebook pages will appear.

Thanks to our partners Seasol for their fantastic support with Botanic Gardens Seasol #plantloverschallenge in 2022

If you have any questions please forward to Dr Rebecca Harcourt, BGANZ Admin and Comms Officer, media@bganz.org.au