A Journey to the Centre of the Botanic Garden – a Friends group experience with IrisBG

Small garden with limited resources? Keeping good plant records is still possible.

Gardens of all sizes can struggle to begin botanical record-keeping, though this can present a significant challenge for gardens with limited resources.

Friends of Melton Botanic Garden (FMBG), the driving force of Melton Botanic Garden, is a true testament to this. Melton is a young, volunteer-run garden that successfully grows and maintains its plant collection despite heavy rainfall, drought, and poor soil conditions.

In just a few years, the garden went from kickstarting its plant records program to mapping and showcasing its collections online to achieving accreditation from the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) at a steady pace.

We are thrilled to feature FMBG’s President, John Bentley, and Collection Records Officer, Jennifer Peters, in our upcoming IrisBG Coffee Chat on Tuesday 25 March at 10am AEST.

Their presentation, A Journey to the Centre of the Botanic Garden – a Friends group experience with IrisBG, is an inspiring story highlighting the power of resilience, community spirit, and teamwork as they navigated forming a records management team and mastering the IrisBG software.

We hope you will join us to learn how this vibrant, volunteer-run garden effectively manages environmental challenges while maintaining a robust botanical record-keeping program.