We had a marvellous time with this year’s season of Breakfast with the Birds despite the threatening weather. Our Tawny frogmouth on the nest disappeared when a huge limb fell off the tree but otherwise the birds were cooperative, sharing nesting activities and feeding their young for our enjoyment. The magpies had added plant name tags to their already blue tape decorated nests in the apartment tree outside the Crosby Morrison building. There were lots of honeyeaters – breakfasting on the nectar in the grevilleas along the main path and the spotted pardalote was once more in the tunnel, allowing us to share his jewel-like colours up close. A discordant note was struck by a Goshawk making life hard for the Wood ducks and their ducklings on the café lawn although it was interesting to see the way the parents protected the young against predation.
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Weekend Botanic Art Group
A third botanic art group has recently been started, to cater for the many Friends who are not able to join the existing two groups, which meet during the week. The newest group meets on the 3rd Saturday of every month from 9:15 am to 2:00 pm. Click on the heading above for more information. If you are in interested in joining the new group, please contact Helen Hinton botanicart@friendsanbg.org.au
Thursday, 06 October 2016
Strategic Plan 2016-20: your feedback wanted
Council has been developing a new Strategic Plan 2016-20 during the year (download in PDF format, 335 KB or Microsoft Word .docx format, 37 KB). Careful attention has been given to Friends’ organisational material, including the Constitution and the Memorandum between the ANBG and the Department. Consideration has also been given to the current work and future directions of the Friends.
We would be pleased now to receive comments from the Friends’ membership. Please send by email to strategicplan@friendsanbg.org.au by 22 August 2016.
Thursday, 14 July 2016
Latest issue of Eucalypt published
The May 2016 edition of Eucalypt, the journal of the Australian Association of Friends of Botanic Gardens, is now available. Issue 46 includes a report on the 2016 AAFBG biennial Conference held at Geelong Botanic Gardens, 29 April to 3 May; other news from botanic gardens in Australia, New Zealand - and Fiji; and the AAFBG calendar of events 2016-17.
Monday, 16 May 2016
Volunteers needed for IT support
The Friends have need of one or two volunteers to help with IT support. This is for technical support and not data entry. This would not be a greatly time-consuming task but there are several computers, and the website, that can need some attention from time to time. This is true for the Friends office computer and also for the new computers being installed in the Botanical Resource Centre to provide access to plant keys etc.
Thursday, 28 April 2016
Seedy Volunteers activities during the 2015-16 summer season
Making new collections from the ACT to the National Seed Bank (NSB) is becoming more difficult as we narrow our target species to complete the collection of the total ACT flora. By 2020 we are aiming to have representative collections of all 1070 vascular plant taxa in the NSB. Click on the heading to read on.
Thursday, 21 April 2016
9th Botanic Arts Groups Exhibition
The combined Friends' Botanic Art Groups present a collection of botanic art featuring Australian native plants in the Visitor Centre Gallery. The exhibition is open to the public from Saturday 19 March until Sunday 17 April. The majority of paintings are for sale with a proportion of proceeds going to support Friends activities. All of the art works exhibited portray native Australian plants many of which can be found in the Australian National Botanic Gardens.
Wednesday, 23 March 2016
Summer Sounds 2016
Another highly successful Summer Sounds season has just concluded here at the Gardens. This year’s season began in mid-January and ran for four weekends. And this year, apart from one damp and stormy weekend in which one concert was cancelled, the weather was perfect for summer evening relaxing with friends and family on the beautiful Eucalypt Lawn.
Monday, 29 February 2016
Aboriginal Plant Use Trail
A new self-guided walk, funded by the Friends, was launched on January 21st 2016 by Ngunnawal elder, Aunty Agnes Shea and Barbara Podger, chair of the Friends' Public Fund. The event was reported by ABC News.
The trail features 27 plants important to Indigenous people, ranging from the coastal native raspberry (Rubus moluccanus) to the quandong (Santalum acuminatum) found in the drier Australian interior. The Aboriginal Plant Use trail winds through the Rainforest Gully, Conifer Garden, Rock Garden and Monocot Garden with interpretive signs telling how Aboriginal people used each of the featured plants.
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
Volunteering at the ANBG
Would you like to spend more time in the Gardens? There are many opportunities for Friends to volunteer at the ANBG, varying from hands-on activities such as plant propagation or participating in the plant stocktake, to guiding visitors around the gardens on foot or in Flora Explorer, to participating in social activities to raise money to support the Gardens, and many more. Read on to discover what the Friends got up to behind the scenes in the last year, and how you can become involved.
Monday, 30 November 2015
