George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens
Friends
In keeping with most Botanic Gardens around the world, Darwin's gardens
have "friends". Most of them are people with a love of gardening
or collectors of particular species. They come together at
the gardens for a meeting on the second Saturday morning of each month. The
usual format is to spend about one and a half-hours "doing something",
which is followed by morning tea and a committee meeting.
The Friends logo was designed by one of the members and features the beautiful native Turkey Bush (Calytrix exstipulata), a medium-sized shrub which is covered in small star-like pink to mauve flowers in July-September and has small dark green leaves resembling short, branched pine needles.
Activities have included removing self-sown palm seedlings, planting and potting up these seedlings and cuttings from the gardens, which are then sold at the Garden Fair and other community stalls to raise money for other activities and projects.
One project was the Shade Garden area. The main entrance was another, along with a competition for students to design new sets of gates for the top and bottom entrances to the gardens. T-shirts, tote bags, postcards, publications, drinking fountains, seats and parts of the children's playground have all been projects of the Friends. Their work is ongoing.
Website: http://darwinfriends.zapto.org
Email: DarwinFriends@iinet.net.au
