PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS
What makes a botanic garden a botanic garden? BCARM has (some of) the answers! John Sandham, Collections Development Officer, Botanic Garden and State Herbarium, South Australia What makes a botanic garden a botanic garden? What are the values that differentiate your botanic garden from just a normal garden? My aim is to begin to answer the above questions while extending a friendly and supportive hand to all from the BGANZ Botanic Collections and Record Management (BCARM) working group. This gesture is to all of you out there who are challenged by your living collections. I hope to assist you in understanding why you
John Sandham
have inherited your plants and their importance to your garden’s future. It is hoped that a wider group of like-minded professionals, like yourselves, will encourage dialogue between the botanic garden management and their horticultural staff, and develop consultation with the broader staff, including the botanical, educational, technical and interpretive officers. The diversity of botanic gardens and their collections within the BGANZ network is complex, with differing climates, terrains and topography. This network is respected as a botanical collective unequalled in our region, or even globally. The need to value and respect our collections by constantly evaluating them for current security, for their possible modification and for future development is essential. Neither the planning of nor the reasons for particular collections have always been documented formally. A clear direction for all botanic gardens needs to be established to reflect the changes in social, cultural and scientific attitudes. This can only be achieved by a well-defined but flexible policy that reflects the individuality and the uniqueness of our gardens. Categories and principles required to define and evaluate living collections may be wide and varied. They provide a methodical and consistent procedure, however, that allows us to follow a systematic strategy for all our existing and future collections. These values must also reflect our changing world, which includes international agreements in plant procurement, challenges that arise from climate change, and the continual battle we all have with controlling decimating pests and diseases. The latter relates especially to the wider environment and the future weeds we may unknowingly hold in our collections.
THE BOTANIC GARDENer | ISS 58 Winter 2022
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