Planting ideas

for a more sustainable world

The Botanic Gardens Trust takes its local, national and global responsibilities seriously:

• Plants=Life
• Aboriginal land, culture & heritage
• Climate change
• Plant diversity
• Plant conservation
• Sustainability
• How green are we?

Plants=Life

A simple equation, but it's the meaning of life. Our world is solar powered, and plants are the generators. Without the spectacular array of trees, grases, orchids, seaweeds and microscopic plants, we would not exist. It's as simple as that. Can we risk losing them? Think about it this way. Would you risk flying on a plane with one rivet missing? Two? Three? How many rivets before you don't fly? How many species lost before our world becomes unsafe?

Plants can be spectacular - and they can be bizarre. They can make us calm and reflective. Sunset across wilderness makes life worth living. Sunrise across the very same plants is what gives us life. Plants are the lungs and heart of the planet. They give us air and food, and they give us beauty. Plants are Life.

When we say Plants=Life, we put our scientific reputation behind it. If youwant to understand life, come and visit us!

Aboriginal land, culture & heritage

The Trust acknowledges Indigenous understanding of plants and the environment and Aboriginal people’s prior use of the land making up its four estates - the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Domain, Mount Annan Botanic Garden and Mount Tomah Botanic Garden.

>> Click here for an overview of Aboriginal heritage at Sydney's Botanic Gardens.

The Trust's Indigenous displays are of interest to both local and international visitors, and also widely used for Trust education programs.

• The Indigenous Cadi jam ora: First Encounters display garden in the Royal Botanic Gardens gives visitors an insight into the Cadi people, the original inhabitants of the Sydney region, and presents historical events and contempory issues.
• The Indigenous bush foods garden (the 'Fruit Loop') and Stolen Generations Memorial acknowledge the Dharawal people at Mount Annan Botanic Garden.
• The Indigenous interpretive display ('Darug Connections') at Mount Tomah Botanic Garden informs visitors about the Darug cultural landscape and celebrates the past, present and future Darug associations with Mount Tomah and other Aboriginal places in the region.

The Trust also provides information on Aboriginal bush foods of the Cadi, Dharawal and Darug people, operates Aboriginal Heritage tours, and hosts the Woggan-Ma-Gule ceremony each Australia Day.

Climate change

By increasing the quantities of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere, humans are affecting the earth's natural cycle of temperature regulation and causing average temperatures to gradually increase. Climate change has important implications for life on earth and, because 'Plants=Life', whole ecosystems will be lost as plant diversity declines. The decline starts when individual plant species, already pushed to the limit by other more local threats, finally succumb when they are unable to adapt to rising temperatures.

The Botanic Gardens Trust is a member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), which links over 800 botanic gardens and botanical institutions in more than 120 countries in the world’s largest network for plant conservation, environmental education and sustainable development.

BGCI states that 'Plants face many threats but climate change is probably the single greatest threat to plant diversity.... Recent predictions have suggested that almost half of today's known plant species could be threatened by changes in climate. Since plants maintain ecosystems for all life on the planet, action is needed now to help mitigate the threat and to enable adaptation to changes in climate.' BGCI is launching a new global program to help do just that, harnessing the skills and expertise in botanic gardens worldwide to make a real difference.

How can climate change effect individual plant species?

• Average, mimimum or maximum temperatures help determine plant distribution
• Rainfall patterns help determine plant distribution and balance of vegetation types
• Species in arctic or alpine areas and on islands will have 'nowhere to go'
• Species which are slow to reproduce or disperse will be 'left behind'
• Rising sea levels will push coastal species up against human development
• More resilient species will become weeds and outcompete species that are slower to adapt

Plant Diversity

The enormous diversity of the world's flora is gradually being unlocked and understood because of contributions by botanists, ecologists, chemists, farmers and all sorts of individuals, groups and organisations around the world. One of the Botanic Gardens Trust's main roles is to organise our knowledge about plant diversity - particularly for the plants of New South Wales but also for some plants or groups of plants with wider distributions.

The framework for organising our knowledge of plant diversity involves naming, identifying and classifying species:

• Plant names & classification
• Plant identification
• Plant labels
• Bioinformatics

Using this framework, our aim is to understand, document and conserve plant diversity, as well as to educate about plant diversity and its sustainability. Many of the Trust's science programs are making important contributions to global knowledge of plant diversity:

• Plants of New South Wales
• Plant databases
• New South Wales Vegetation Classification and Assement
• Botany of Botany Bay
• NSW Seedbank
• Cumberland Plain Woodland
• Australian freshwater algae
• Aussie marine algae
• Habitat fragmentation
• Australian microfungi

The Botanic Gardens Trust plays an important role in the conservation of biodiversity in New South Wales. We have a simple but powerful message: Plants = Life. Without plants we would not exist — it's as simple as that!

Plant Conservation

It is estimated that up to 100,000 plants, representing more than one third of all the world's plant species, are currently threatened or face extinction in the wild. Botanic Gardens are playing a key role in protecting all our plants for the future.

Plant conservation may be in situ (in the wild), however some degree of ex situ conservation may also be necessary to ensure conservation of genetic diversity. Botanic Gardens also aim to help ensure that Indigenous knowledge is maintained (see above).

The Trust is a member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), which links over 800 botanic gardens and botanical institutions in more than 120 countries in the world’s largest network for plant conservation, environmental education and sustainable development.

All aspects of the Botanic Gardens Trust's plant conservation programs are coordinated by the Centre for Plant Conservation. Some of our current conservation programs include:

• Wollemi Pine
• Titan Arum in Indonesia
• NSW Waratah
• Flannel flower
• Cumberland Plain Woodland
• NSW Seedbank

In Australia we face vital issues such as land clearing, invasive weeds, maintaining clean water supplies, soil erosion and salinity. As well as helping to conserve rare & threatened species and communities, we have a responsibility to conserve or replicate remnant bushland at our Botanic Gardens - natural vegetation including Cumberland Plain Woodland at Mount Annan Botanic Garden, natural vegetation at Mount Tomah Botanic Garden, and Mrs Macquaries Bushland Walk in the Domain.

Sustainability

Plants play an essential role in human survival, but they will only continue to do so if we learn to use them sustainably. The Botanic Gardens Trust is aware of its environmental responsibilities and endeavours to recylce, re-use, and reduce our reliance on natural resources. Some of the Trust's initiatives towards sustainability include:

• Significantly reduced our use of toxic chemicals for pest control, and continue to trial and use non-toxic alternatives such as biological controls, e.g. in the Rose Garden
• Selected plant species that are less susceptible to pests and diseases and do not require high pesticide treatments
• Sourced garden materials from sustainable sources — and not used peat moss and arsenic-chrome treated timber
• Implemented a national botanic gardens weed policy, including the assessment of all new plant collections and potential weed species
• Used environmentally sustainable design principles for all new buildings, depots and nurseries.
• Sylvester the Digester
• By 2016 we plan to develop garden themes that promote sustainable gardening practices, selecting plant species which require low maintenance and using recycled landscape materials
• By 2016 we plan to remove and control problem weeds from Mount Annan Botanic Garden
• By 2016 we plan to review Trust retail products and packaging to minimise environmental footprint and to promote environmental responsibility
• By 2016 we plan to reinstate turf demonstration plots which will display and trial new turf grass varieties that have less dependence on water, chemicals and fertilisers

How green are we?

Everything we do at the Botanic Gardens Trust has an impact on the environment. We want to leave as small an environmental footprint as we can, and to influence others to do the same.

Water

• We have halved potable water consumption in the Domain and Royal Botanic Gardens in the last five years
• We have used 100% dam and rainwater at Mount Tomah Botanic Garden in the last five years
• We use water from the old oil tanks
• By 2016 we plan to use 100% non-potable water for irrigating the Domain and Royal Botanic Gardens
• By 2016 we plan to nstall rainwater tanks in the Sydney estates and Mount Annan Botanic Garden and increase water recycling in all estates

Energy

• We have reduced electricity use by almost 40% and gas consumption by over 80% in the Herbarium building in the last five years
• We are setting new challenging targets for all energy use. 

Recycling

• We have used 90 to 100% of mulch and other organic matter from recycled green waste at the three Botanic Gardens in the last five years
• We have recycled every year over 25 tonnes of general waste (e.g. bottles, cans, paper and cardboard) - for the last five years

Buildings

• Bowden Centre for learning - this new building, opened in May 2007 at Mount Annan Botanic Garden, is a modern state-of-the-art sustainable building that will play host to school children visiting the Garden as well as providing conference facilities for businesses wishing to escap the grind of the city to workshop or meet in a locations that cannot help but inspire. It is built from both recycled and sustainable materials and positioned to make the most of the summer and winter sun.
• Macarthur Centre for Sustainable Living - this group of buildings, adjacent to Mount Annan Botanic Garden, is a joint venture between the Botanic Gardens Trust and CERES Macarthur. The Centre promotes sustainable homes and gardens.