Friends’ 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Charlotte Thodey Print

From Small Things Big Things Grow

Celebrate 30 years of the Friends with a limited edition Charlotte Thodey print. Each one is personally signed and comes with your very own souvenir card telling the story of our seed collections.

The painting’s seed boxes were made for the Gardens as early as the 1890’s. Joseph Henry Maiden (Director 1896-1924) had these made specifically to show seeds for display in the Museum but also to store in the Herbarium.

The painting symbolises the Gardens’ first seed collections, links to our current seed collecting and looks forward towards a new era of plant conservation at PlantBank, our soon-to-be-built plant conservation centre. It reminds us how from small things big things grow.

Proceeds support the Friends’ PlantBank fundraising appeal.

Mounted limited edition print $150 inc GST
(Plus $15 postage & handling, unless picked up from the Friends’ Cottage)
Mounted print size 40 x 42.5 cm (actual print size 23 x 27 cm)

NEW! Friends' A5 Notebooks

Always scribbling on scrappy bits of paper? No more! The Friends’ stylish, new, leather-look notebooks in beautiful shades of avocado green and tiffany blue are great for keeping all those notes, lists and thoughts in a neat and orderly place.

These delightful hard-cover journals are filled with lined pages in a delicate shade of ivory and include a clever pocket at the back to make sure all those receipts, tickets and keepsakes are kept secure.  Produced in a handy A5 size they feature a practical elastic closure with  Friends logo elegantly embossed on the front cover.

At a special introductory price of $15 including postage until 31 May 2012,  these lovely notebooks are bound to sell quickly. So hurry! Quantities are limited.
To purchase your notebooks fill in the merchandise sales form, or email friends@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au, phone (02) 9231 8182 or fax (02) 9241 3064. Or you can buy them from the Friends’ office for only $12.

Friends' 2011 Christmas Card

Have a Quandong Christmas!

Our festive image this year has a very Christmassy feel, with the red fruits of the Desert Quandong looking just like bright baubles on a Christmas tree. Desert Quandong (Santalum acuminatum) is a hemiparasitic plant in the sandalwood family Santalaceae, and is widely dispersed through the central deserts and southern areas of Australia. It is a large shrub or small tree to about 3 m tall with greyish-green leaves. The clusters of small white flowers are followed by 25 mm diameter fleshy fruits, which turn bright red when ripe. The seed within is protected by a hard shell. It is an important bush food in the drier areas of the country.

This year’s card is available with a Christmas greeting inside or as a blank correspondence card, in packs of 10 for $18 including postage. Packs can be ordered by filling in the merchandise sales form, or email friends@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au, phone (02) 9231 8182 or fax (02) 9241 3064. Or you can buy them from the Friends’ office for only $15 per pack.

Friends' 2010 Christmas Card

Correa Christmas Cheer

The 2010 Friends of the Botanic Gardens’ Christmas card features Correa reflexa. It has been reproduced from a watercolour by Kate Nolan, who has been a natural history illustrator since 1993 and is completely addicted to the challenge of achieving both art and accuracy in every painting. Kate chose to paint this correa because ‘It struck me as a pretty and quintessentially Australian plant and also a great challenge for an artist: how do you make an elegant artwork out of such a shrubby little plant? I decided you just have to fill the entire page with it!’

The Correa Christmas Card comes in a pack of 10, with Seasons Greetings inside or blank, for just $18 per pack (including postage and handling).  Fill in the merchandise sales form  and email to us, or collect from the Friends' Office for $15 per pack.

Friends' 'Blue Collection' Cards

Inspired by the clear blue flowers of the Himalayan Poppy, which was the signature image for Botanica 2010, Friends has released a new range of merchandise. This stunning mixed pack of 10 cards has five cards of the watercolour painting of Meconopsis horridula, by Tricia Oktober, and five cards featuring the luscious painting  of Iris 'Black Taffeta', by Barbara Duckworth. 

The Friends of the Botanic Gardens 'Blue Collection' Cards are available in packs of 10 for just $13 including postage by filling in the merchandise sales form, or you can pick them up directly from the Friends’ Office in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and get a special rate of only $10 per pack!

Stenocarpus sinuatus - Firewheel Tree

Friends' 2008 Christmas Card featured a stunning reproduction of Stenocarpus sinuatus, an original watercolour by Angela Lober. The study of landscape architecture and plant and wildlife illustration has brought Angela into close contact with the subjects of her botanical watercolours. Her works have been exhibited in Botanica exhibitions from 2002 to 2008, and are included in the prestigious Shirley Sherwood Collection.

The Firewheel tree, Stenocarpus sinuatus, is native to the warm rainforests of northern New South Wales and Queensland. It is slow growing but can reach up to 35 metres when mature (less in cultivation). Its distinctive flowers appear in summer.

This colourful Christmas card has sold out but is still available as a pack of plain correspondence cards, in packs of 12 for just $13 including postage. They can be ordered by filling out our merchandise sales form.  Or you can pick them up directly from the Friends’ Office in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney at the special rate of only $10 per pack!