Green Group discussion

My husband and I visited the Irish National Botanic Gardens as part of our wedding day. This was a fantastic place to get photos. The cafe served drinks and snacks, there were greenhouses in case of rain and everyone could mix and chat until it was time to go to the hotel for dinner.
I have been back a few times and they usually have some courses or tours on, as well as working with colleges to train horticulture graduates.
Admission is free.
https://www.discoverireland.ie/Arts-C...

Recently on a trip to Wales we stopped at the Welsh National Botanic Gardens for a day.
There was so much to see that I would need to return, but a dedicated stroller or a family would get a lot packed in for the day. I got a student discount; the ticket admits you all week.
https://botanicgarden.wales/

The Gardens have been built on the grounds of a stately home originally belonging to the Middleton family, the house having burnt down and the lakes having silted up. Restoration works got under way and are still ongoing; you can see photos and schematics. For instance, the lakes were restored while dormouse and otter habitat had to be kept or improved. The stable block has been restored as gift shops.
The Gardens now include the largest single-span greenhouse in the world, used to display a variety of Mediterranean / Californian environments. Rainwater captured from the roof is used to water plants and serve restrooms, while toilet water is filtered through reed beds.
I found a sobering installation beside this greenhouse, of roots and stumps of giant rainforest trees, brought here after the trees had fallen or been logged, to make us aware of rainforest destruction.
Countering this, the Gardens have planted acres with young trees from various parts of the world, including Chile and China. The trees should thrive in the mild rainy locality and are endangered in their own countries.

Anyone who wants to read more about the natural environment I found in Wales can see it on my Goodreads blog for this June. Just click my photo here and go down my page to the blog section.

Trinity College, Dublin, has been creating a mini botanical garden where its front lawn used to be - now it's an Irish wildflower meadow in the heart of the city.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0730/115...

Not a garden, but a micro-reserve for plants. I know no more, but the concept is heartening. Spain.

https://www.costa-news.com/costa-blan...

Eden Project at 20.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddes...

Kew Gardens has some unusual dimensions as added treats this summer. Like added sound and inventive seating.

https://www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats...

I have not visited the Scilly Isles, but this new novel describes a young lady's visit to a botanical gardens there at the turn of the 20th century.

The Nature of a Lady


Add books describing such gardens!

A scion of Isaac Newton's apple tree blew over during recent storms.

""Through the remarkable science of grafting, our scion of 'Newton's Apple Tree' will hopefully continue on our collections," Dr Brockington wrote on Twitter.

Cambridge University Botanic Gardens said they had "recently become aware" that the tree, which had stood by the Brookside entrance for 68 years, "had died and the strong winds proved too much".

"We have a clone that will be planted elsewhere in the Garden soon, so Newton's Apple will remain in the Garden, but sadly not in its accustomed place," they said."

https://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2022...

Since a managed ancient woodland is like a wide open botanical gardens, I'm adding this tale to the botanical gardens thread.

https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2022...

"An ancient woodland is set to open to the public for the first time in over 500 years under plans announced by a conservation charity.

The Woodland Trust is hoping to turn Mourne Park into a popular visitor attraction, having bought 156 hectares of the 212 hectare site last year.

It has launched a campaign to buy a further 46 hectares.

As part of the £5.2 million (€6m) campaign, the trust is planning to reinstate walking paths in woodland that has not offered public access since the 1500s.

Mourne Park is near Kilkeel in Co Down on the edge of the Mourne Mountains, an area of outstanding natural beauty.
...

"With some of the ancient woodland restoration we've already carried out, we've seen flora and fauna return, red squirrels nest in the tree canopy above and fields of bluebells have bloomed on the forest floor.

"We want to open Mourne Park up in a sensitive way to allow the public to enjoy it in all its glory."

"This year we've cleared another five hectares of rhododendron and laurel from this woodland, and we have more yet to do.

"The restoration work that we're doing is to clear the invasive species so that more light can reach the forest floor, so that plants like bluebell, wood anemone can survive, and also allow the trees to regenerate naturally. Without this restoration work, eventually this woodland would slowly die.

"We're uncovering views that haven't been seen for decades, and finding old pathways that have been enveloped by this invasive species for even longer."

The life of a botanist who made her garden and surrounds a botanic garden.

Here in Aotearoa (NZ) we have a few botanic gardens but what I like better are our growing number of uninhabited offshore islands where we try to remove all the introduced animal pests that disrupt our many endemic native flora and fauna living there. This provides our native birds and insects with small island habitats where they can survive without those threats. Sometimes we re-introduce species that were killed off there before the pests species were removed, giving them a second chance. And now we are sometimes able to use the native birds now thriving on these islands to regenerate other islands or even mainland habitats.
Here is our local one, on islands I paddle to in my kayak:
https://projectislandsong.co.nz/

On the mainland they have created a few "ecological Islands" where it is not a real island but has been protected by miles and miles of pest proof fences surrounding areas where the pests are removed and native flora and fauna can thrive. i once lived near this one: https://www.sanctuarymountain.co.nz/home

There is one island near the South Island, where one single cat was blamed for wiping out the entire world population of a little bird that was endemic to the island where it lived. There was a lighthouse on the island and the cat belonged to the lighthouse keeper. They used to say he did it in a year but that is now disputed as is the idea that the cat was the only perpetrator of this extinction.
More information on that here:
https://www.theextinctions.com/articl...
Some of our worst introduced pests are: cats, dogs, rats, deer, possums, plague lizards, stoats, ferrets, and pigs.