Dunedin Botanic Garden Hosting Popular BGANZ Workshop

Dunedin, 7 September 2011 - The Dunedin Botanic Garden is hosting the Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealand (BGANZ) AGM and a plant collections workshop on Thursday and Friday this week. The New Zealand branch of BGANZ meets twice yearly and there are 41 confirmed registrations with delegates travelling from all over the country, more than double the expected turnout.

There are delegates from several of New Zealand’s largest botanic gardens, including Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, as well as those from smaller public gardens, local bodies and universities. Alan Matchett, Team Leader Botanic Garden and Cemeteries, says this meeting has proven to be particularly popular due to the two-day workshop about plant collection management.

“This topic is long overdue for discussion in this forum. It is the core business of a botanic garden and we’re all looking forward to discussing the ins and outs of keeping a public garden looking good all year round – even in winter.”

During the workshop, delegates will have the opportunity to visit the Chinese Garden, the Rooftop Garden on the University of Otago’s Psychology department building and the Leith Cloud Forest.

Media are invited to the Botanic Garden Centre, in Lovelock Avenue, at 3pm on Thursday, 8 September for interviews and photographs.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On The Government's Assault On Maori

This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Audrey Young in the NZ Herald has compiled a useful list of the many ways Christopher Luxon plans to roll back the progress made in race relations over the past forty years. He has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. More