PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS
Travels with my grant Megan J Hirst, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (BGANZ Professional Award Scholarship Recipient 2018)
The green sweep of lawns rolling down to the central lake in summer, Chicago Botanic Gardens. Photo: M.J.Hirst, 2018
For one glorious week in July I was fortunate to escape wintry Melbourne for some summer respite and spend time with Mr Richard Hawke, the Plant Evaluation Manager and Associate Scientist involved in the Plant Evaluation Program at the Chicago Botanic Gardens (CBG). I was keen to find out more about this program as I thought it would provide some insight into developing a protocol for my work in Melbourne. Richard’s program, which he has managed since 1982, is now one of the largest of its kind in the United States, focussing on evaluating plants for local climatic conditions. The program covers an impressive range of flowering perennials. As the seasons are quite distinct in and around
Evaluating plants in cultivation A: Rows of flowering Phlox cultivars, B: A view of the evaluation garden showing the pathway that circles the growing areas, C: Rudbeckia cultivars in flower. Photo: M.J.Hirst, 2018
A
Chicago, with strong winter winds and snow, and high summertime humidity (plus strong winds!), identifying species that grow well under these challenging conditions is essential.
B
C
Therein lies the idea of assessing the horticultural potential of cultivars, as well as wild-collected species for the seasonally
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THE BOTANIC GARDENer | ISS 51 NOVEMBER 2018
