Themes

Our understanding of the critical importance of the environment and our stewardship of our natural resources, habitats and animal and plant life have become familiar to us since WWII.  Many new words have entered into the vocabulary when talking about the environment and our need for  Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology and Sustainability. Such terms are now familiar to school children as well as to university undergraduates.

Ecological Restoration is a more recent concept.  It is the idea that we must now begin the task of repairing the damage caused to habitats and to return plants back to the wild. The idea is similar to the reintroduction of wild animals, such as lions, from captivity to the wild.

Plant Sciences is the modern term for Botany.  The term encompasses the fact that scientists that study plants have diverse backgrounds including molecular biologists and geneticists, as well as more traditional approaches of plant systematics and taxonomy.

Ideas in the Garden 
Since the 1950s, the Garden has been at the forefront of changing ideas about ecology, conservation, biodiversity of native and wild plants.

Many of the displays have solid scientific research and understanding behind them from the wildflower meadow mixes to the Genetics Garden which explains about the development of plant hybrids throughout human history.  Early twenty-first century plantings, such as ‘Healthy Herbie’ created in 2002, were designed to educate the public about biodiversity, sustainability and conservation as well as plants with medicinal properties.

Find out more about these ideas:  Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology, Ecological Restoration, Plant Sciences and Sustainability.