Do you use signs to request that visitors stay on the path, or to please keep off the garden beds?

We use a few signs around the garden and employ an informal tone with them. We are also creating multi-language options to cross the language barrier.

The cartoon imagery is intended to capture attention and elicit a positive response.

Do signs work? A study on signage for the Safe Swim website noted that only 3% of people read their signs. They then implemented a strategy of footprints along the ground to draw the eye, and this increased the readership to 20%.

It’s hard to tell if our ‘keep off the garden bed’ signs are effective sometimes, but our garden team puts these in high use areas that get the most traffic.

We only have a handful of ‘keep off the garden beds’ signs throughout our gardens so there is not too much sign pollution, but we still struggle with this issue. (We use physical barriers too where appropriate but again this is limited to certain areas where it suits the overall look and design of the garden).

What does your garden do? If you’ve got some signs you’d like to share, email them to julia.watson@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz to be showcased here.

Article by Julia Watson, Auckland Botanic Gardens