Botanic Gardens curator tour

15 May 2008

If you have ever wondered how Victorian horticulturalists’ managed to successfully transport plant specimens across the world before the creation of the plastic bag, the next Botanic Gardens section curator tour is just for you.

Once a month one of the Christchurch City Council’s Botanic Gardens section curators hosts a free tour through the gardens, focussed on their section or speciality. With winter’s arrival making a wet and windy tour of the gardens a distinct possibility, something a little different is planned this month.

Instead of the normal garden walk on the May 20 walk Sue Molloy, the Botanical resources co-ordinator, will give an informal talk about the history of transporting plants, along with a demonstration of some of the tools used. One of the items on display will be a reproduction of a Wardian Case, which are glass topped boxes used to transport plants in the early 19th century. The Wardian Cases weren’t always entirely successful, so pressed samples were also often taken just in case the plant didn’t survive the long trip back. Sue Molloy will also have a number of examples of early 1900’s dried samples from the Gardens’ Herbarium collection on show.

The tour will depart from outside of the Botanic Gardens’ Cuningham House, which holds the tropical plant collection, at 12.10pm on May 20 and the talk will go through to around 1pm.

Details about the section curator’s tours are available from the Botanic Gardens Information Centre or the Be There online events calendar.

Top of Page ~ Media Release index