Botanic Gardens

By John Sandham

In the British summer of 1829, while undertaking the collection of a moth pupa into a sealed glass vial, Dr Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791-1868) observed that fern spores and grass seed, captured within the closed environment, could germinate and grow without any outside assistance.… Continue reading

By Dale Arvidsson –

Long before today’s online world created an insatiable desire for exotic and unusual indoor plants, pteridomania, a Victorian craze between the 1840s and 1890s, saw the desire to collect ferns in Britain and its colonies. Glass houses, conservatories and ‘stumparies’, naturalistic displays of felled trees and exposed roots often shrouded by hardy ferns, allowed the wealthy insatiable collectors to display ferns collected from around the globe.… Continue reading

By John Fitzsimmons

All Images by John Fitzsimmons

There are more than 140 recognised botanic gardens in Australia ranging from large internationally recognised sites to smaller gardens, specialised or of historical note. In Melbourne, the Maranoa Botanic Gardens in leafy Balwyn is a hidden gem not widely known.… Continue reading

By Greg Bourke –

For us at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah, 2020 commenced with our first day of no active fire in a fortnight. Not a bad way to welcome the new year! With over 90% of our natural areas burnt and over 500 specimens in the living collection fire-affected, we knew we’d be in for a challenging year but of course, that was just the beginning.… Continue reading