NEWS from the Garden Route Botanical Garden

November news 2007

click to see pics from the Plant Sale

click to see pics of the Wildflower species display

News about the Indigenous Plant Sale & Wildflower Show held on 13th October 2007

Minutes of the AGM held on 13th October

Year Report for the Garden Route Botanical Garden Trust, by Mandy Fick

2 Year Report for the Southern Cape Herbarium & "Friends of the Garden & Herbarium", Yvette van Wijk

Our new "Friends Working Group", set up during the AGM - who they are and what plans they have

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Indigenous Plant Sale & Wildflower Show held on 13th October 2007
This was the most successful FynbosFees we ever held. More people, more enthusiasm and more funds generated! The garden looked good with informative signage in place; the plants for sale were great, colourful and enticing; sought after books sold fast; tea, lunch & beer were delicious; the Wildflower Species display was a riot of colour and amazingly comprehensive considering the failure of Spring rains:

A record profit of about R34 000 was made, many new "Friends" signed up & many old friends renewed their membership. Volunteers, Helpers and Staff worked very hard all week (actually for months!) and it all paid off. See the "Thank You" lists in the minutes reports.

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Minutes of the AGM held on 13th October

Present: Johan Baard, Yvonne Barnard, Abre Boshoff, Ursula Bothe, Hazel Botes, Jeanne de Rosemond, Judy Dixon, Charlotta Douglas, Hettie Esterhuysen, Mandy Fick, Paul Fick, Ken Gie, Sheilagh Goedvolk, Ralph Hagemann, Kerry Hampson, Janet Hart, Jayne Harrington, Prof Phillip Hattingh, Margaret Herron, Tineke Kraaij, Sheila Luck, Lorraine McGibbon, Connie Smits, Alice Strydom, Graeham Tyndall, Veronica Tyndall, Eileen Rubin, Barry van Ginkel, Yvette van Wijk, Romary Wegerle, Jamie Whitelaw

Apologies: Henk Alting, Stina Baker, Jean Boonzaaier, Avril Booth, Thornton Booth, Ann Coull, Annemarie Gebhardt, Joan Hofmeyr, Bruce Mackenzie, Geoff McIlleron, Eva Molzen, Karen Muir, Christo Lamprecht, Hugo Leggatt, Pauline Lourens, Joan Shaw, Audrey Schelan, Justine Sharples, Bridget Stewart, Leisl Stokes, Wilna Uys, Wessel Vermeulen

Welcome: Sheilagh Goedvolk (Convenor of the Plant Sale) welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming and also for supporting the Plant Sale & Wildflower Show. Thanked all the Friends and Volunteers for their hard work in making this such a success

Report for Garden Route Botanical Garden Trust: Mandy Fick (Trustee). Click here to read

Charlotta Douglas - thanked Mandy for the report and all her hard work over the past year

Prof. Abre Boshoff – He has great admiration for all that has been done in the past and is being done today in the garden as it is a great achievement. The idea for the garden was started in the 90’s when the Botanical Society Garden Route Branch was started. It was decided that Botanical Society needed a function in this area, such as a Botanical Garden, and so the Garden Route Botanical Garden Trust was initiated

Mandy Fick - thanked Prof Boshoff for his input.
She then introduced Prof. Phillip Hattingh who is a member of the Eden Task Team, and read out his very impressive CV

Presentation “The Experience of Tourism”: Prof. Phillip Hattingh

He has been privileged to get into Community involvement in his retirement. He asked the people present to imagine they were divided into 3 sections
a)      Owners of a tourist facility or resource
b)      The members of a community around a local facility
c)      The Tourism industry
He then gave a thought-provoking and lively Powerpoint presentation based on these 3 premises and frequently using the example of the Garden Route Botanical Garden

Question time -

Judy Dixon – felt that people wanted to get, and would pay for, information such as bird or tree lists and other info. Today at the plant sale there were many who had been prepared to pay admission. It would be possible to sell an informative list or info pamphlet at the entrance to serve as their entrance ticket

Paul Fick - suggested that the system used at the Kirstenbosch plant sale could be used. An information booklet/price list is sold at the entrance. This saves having to put individual prices on each plant

Yvette van Wijk – agreed that both ideas are great and should be acted on

Sheilagh Goedvolk - the main problem is to get people here first

Yvette van Wijk - we have been trying for years to get good signage in town to the Botanical Garden and never got anywhere. Tourism charges too much to advertise attractions which do not have the money to pay, result - only those who already have lots of money, such as Fancourt get promoted

Prof Hattingh – one has to approach the transport dept. as well as tourism and must really push for this signage

Ken Gie – the idea of linking the Bot Garden & George dam via the hiking trail that exists should be pushed

Prof. Hattingh – everything needs to slot into each other – everyone must know what there is to do in George on good and on bad weather days

Prof. Abre Boshoff – who does one deal with in George to get info as a travel agent. Recently at tourist bureau someone asked about the Bot Garden and the staff member knew nothing about it

Prof. Hattingh – the tourism bureau must be trained to send people to appropriate places according to their interests and to do this staff need to be trained to know what is offered

Some general discussion re tourism and their advertising (or lack of) for the Botanical Garden
Yvette van Wijk – we do feature on their web page and they sent out our flyers by email to their members

Judy Dixon – one should promote the “garden’ aspect of the Garden Route & George and therefore the importance of the Botanical Garden. Maybe have “meet & greet” evening with tourism office staff eg.

Prof. Hattingh – good plan to network as much as possible

Jayne Harrington – we did try this with Tourism bureau and Chamber of Commerce, BUT how far can volunteers and staff be stretched – it all takes time and effort and often gets too much

Prof Hattingh – had tried to make contact with tourism, but seems as if people are too afraid to share what they feel is their own info etc. Together one can develop a good “package” for tourism to George, but it seems most are only interested in “bums in beds”

Mandy Fick – how can we access tourist strategy used by successful tourism bureaux?

Graeham Tyndall – it seems we do not appeal to a wide enough slice of our community – very narrow group of people attend days such as today. We also need to access people to leave us money in their wills

Yvette van Wijk – Has concerns regarding the future of the Herbarium. Is the Eden Task Team is taking the herbarium into account? Most people do not know what a Herbarium is! It might be necessary to look for another home for it with someone who will fund and run it? About the plans being made by the Task Team, the Volunteers and Friends have no idea what it is all about, and should have input before final decisions are made

Paul Fick – The task team is very aware of the Herbarium’s needs & functions. It is aware that a qualified professional needs to be paid to curate it. When the Business Plan is presented to the Trust, the “Friends”, Volunteers and any other interested parties will be engaged in public participation meetings before anything is finally decided

Report for “Friends” & S Cape Herbarium, from Oct 2005 to Oct 2007: Yvette van Wijk (honorary Curator Southern Cape Herbarium) - click here to read

Formation of discussion group / committee to represent the interests of “The Friends of the Garden & Herbarium” – Decisions need to be made regarding the structure & functioning of the “Friends” with a new up-to-date constitution dawn up. To do this a discussion group or committee needs to be set up today. There has been a big gap since the long-standing “Friends of the Herbarium Management Committee”, initially formed in 1995 - was effectively disbanded last year under a new, but short-lived & unsuccessful, management strategy

The following people had expressed willingness to be included in this group: Gail Hanekom; Yvonne Barnard; Ken Gie; Yvette van Wijk; Justine Sharples of CNC; Johan Baard of SanParks; Joan Shaw of George Tourism

People present were asked if there was anyone else who felt they could contribute, or who someone felt should be asked to be included? Lorraine Mcgibbon; Judy Dixon; Tineke Kraaij; Barry van Ginkel; were all prepared to join the group. Mandy asked Prof. Hattingh if he would be willing – he replied that he would happily act in an advisory capacity, should we need to ask him for help, but not a full member

First Meeting – it was decided that Thursday 18th October would suit most people, at 9am in the Moriarty Centre. Meetings would not be held every month but members would form a system of effective communication via email

Yearly Subs - Yvette suggested that all funds accruing from Friends subs, should be held as a separate pot of money to ensure that newsletters, invitations, events etc. directly relating to the Friends, were adequately funded and reported on. Those present were in general agreement about this

Report on Municipal Parks & Gardens Committee: Paul Fick (honorary Garden Manager) – he has attended these committee meetings for months, on behalf of the Botanical Garden. Is very impressed by what Liesl Stokes has done to influence a new “Green Municipality ” approach. The Bot Garden is a small but pivotal part of greater “Green George”. Look at the posters outside in the passage that Liesl has drawn up re the green corridors and hiking trails etc for George. Would be good if she came and shared her vision with the “Friends’ one evening.
A strange anomaly was that previously the Municipality in its lease agreement with the GRBGTrust, had actively discouraged the Trust from “making money”! But this attitude has now changed, and they want us to make money, are prepared to help us do it eg. build a restaurant etc.

Close of Meeting: Sheilagh Goedvolk thanked everyone for their input and for coming to the AGM, especially people who had been working all day. Bunches of Fynbos were given to Prof Hattingh, Charlotta Douglas, Mandy Fick, Paul Fick and Sheilagh Goedvolk
Thanks to following organisations who sponsored various items for the Plant sale

Miller’s Attorneys, Nashua George, Panasonic George, Leading Edge Signmakers, Lumber City, Diane McGown, The George Herald, New Plant Nursery, Chaz Everitt Estates

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Report from Garden Route Botanical Garden Trust: by Mandy Fick (Trustee)

Sadly two Trustees died in 2007, Dudley King who had looked after the finances for so long, died after a year long illness, and Hennie van Heerden – a great loss to the GRBGTrust and the whole organisation, they are badly missed. The Trust now consists of only 4 members – Mandy Fick, Alice Strydom, Liesl Stokes & Bruce Mackenzie. More Trustees are needed.

Finances - Andre Burger took over the finances after Dudley died & thanks from the Trust for charging only nominal fees. The Financials for 2006/2007 are ready and can be viewed in the office by anyone wishing to see them. They have still to be checked and verified by the external auditor Neil Metlerkamp. When Dudley began to hand over the accounting to Ena McIntyre in May 2006 it became clear that there was an acute shortage of funds mainly due to lack of new funding and the Lotto fund being frozen. We realized that we would have to institute a retrenchment process in order to prepare the staff for this possibility. This was duly initiated and the members of staff were informed. We decided to seek institutional assistance from the George and Eden Municipalities. Our voices were heard the George municipality pledged a monthly grant of R10 000.00 and Eden District Municipality agreed to allocate R60 000 as a once off amount to help ease the crisis and Mayor Rudi Laws began to take an active interest in the garden’s problems. The Garden Route Branch of the Botanical Society gave R15 000 and the head office Cape Town gave R15 000 which was much appreciated. The April Plant sale brought in R27 000.This all helped considerably and retrenchment was not necessary. However with overheads being R20 000 and our only fixed income being the R10 000 municipal grant as well as a small rent from our tenant we are still heavily reliant on fundraising events like the Fynbos Fair and donations from members of the community.

Eden Task Team: Eden municipality further assisted us by forming a task team under the leadership of Professor Ernst van Biljon to advise us on an appropriate strategic development model that would ensure the sustainability of the gardens. After meeting several times the task team developed a proposal for consideration by the Mayor of Eden DM Rudy Laws and the George Municipal council. To date the response has been favorable and the task team is currently engaged in a process whereby the following steps remain:

Development of an accurate site plan
Development of a business plan based on the task teams visions for the future
Presentation of task team proposals to the Municipalities and the GRBG Trust
On approval the Trust will move to implement the plans.

These steps will take some time and the trust needs to expand its numbers in order to achieve the objectives set out. In the interim we have cut expenses down to the very basics – wages, water and lights and small general expenses.

The Botanical Garden: Although they are doing their best and the Gardens are looking lovely, 3 gardeners are just not enough to adequately keep the garden weeded and looking its best. At this stage any new developments or plantings need to be funded through additional sponsorships and donations, as we cannot risk spending too much of our accumulated funds on anything other than our most essential needs.

On behalf of the trust I would like to thank all the wonderful volunteers and friends who have been so supportive and helpful over the last difficult months and for working so hard to make today such a success. A special thanks to Sheila Goedvolk for all her hard work organising the Plant Sale and sterling co ordination of this fabulous Fynbos Fair. Sincere thanks also to Yvette for fundraising and sending reports to donors as well as organizing courses and talks and co-ordinating this wonderful Wildflower Specimen display and AGM. Thanks also to the sponsors, Nashua and Panasonic for A3 posters, Diane McGown of Montage for the poster design and Millers Attorneys for the A2 posters. Also special thanks to the George Herald.
We look forward to the re-establishment of a friends committee tonight as it will be immensely valuable, hopefully generating and developing new projects and ideas which will keep our Gardens and Herbarium in good order & further their aims and visions.
Anyone needing to ask questions about the Trust is welcome to contact Mandy or any other Trust member per cell, landline or email.

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2 Year Report for the "Friends" and the Southern Cape Herbarium by Yvette van Wijk

There was No “Friends” AGM held in 2006, so this report covers Oct 2005 to Oct 2007. We managed a lot in spite of difficult circumstances.

Courses & Outings – Many & varied. Raise needed funds, but limited. Important to encourage the broader public and especially Friends & Volunteers, so charges have to be reasonable, for volunteers are offset by days they have worked which get “credits” to show our appreciation for the great work they do. An example of the many balancing acts we need to perform.

Courses offered - 4 Digital Camera Courses (many Sanparks & CNC Rangers attended great seeing how they improve & the excitment about new skills!); Rock Art; Seaweeds; Sea-life at night; Erica Hunting weekends Attakwaskloof & West Baviaans & follow-up ID workshops with Connie Smits & for her excellent Erica Key; Succulent weekends Anysberg & Minwater; Botany for Gardeners; Birds Frogs & Snakes in Bot Garden; 2 x IMITHI Medicinal plant workshops; 2day Teachers Workshop “Environment”

Events & Talks – Plant Sales twice a year; Wildflower shows; Wilderness Heights School “Pot Art in the Khoisan Maze”; Linnaeus 300 tea & talks; Margie Herron’s talk about returning to UCT to do Botany MSc; CREW meeting & workshop; Saasveld students helped weed the garden; Farewells to Pat Gillespie, Ed & Natalie Veary, Rentia & Gerry Burger - all leaving town for family reasons, very sad to see them go, all been such valuable volunteers for so many years. Our team is very depleted as a result.

Tours – thanks to Johan & Susan de Wet for all they put into this and the many tours they lead. Many tours just pitch up, then Sylvia Kholeka Zemva and Sydney Ngcakana very ably lead these at a moments notice! List of tours over the period still to be drawn up. Lorraine McGibbon still brings many school groups into the garden which is great.

Funding report – Lottery funding ended late 2005, as did CEPF (Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund). So we lost Mitch Krog in the Garden, Jayne Harrington full time in the office & Doreen Court in the Herbarium. A follow up Lottery proposal was sent in, but due to Lottery freeze, no result – now we lost this funding of close on R2million, due only to the externally audited financials for 2004 & 2005 not having been done and sent in time - an example of many huge difficulties experienced due to Dudley’s illness!

Successful proposals –

SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute) granted us 1 year funds for the Red Data Digitising Project - 4 days training in Pretoria for 2 CNC students, who then digitised the Red Data species held in the S Cape Herbarium using SANBI’s PRECIS database. Then Sydney Ngcakana after 9 months internship at Compton Herbarium (Kirstenbosch) back just in time to geo-reference their data, after attending a 2 day GIS seminar at Kirstenbosch. Thanks to CNC for the loan of ArcView

NRF / SABI (National Research Foundation & South African Biodiversity Information) granted us funds for digitisation of the Herbarium. Sylvia Zemva started mounting a large backlog of specimens for digitisation using PRECIS. This also allowed us to buy one new computer and upgrade an old one.

CREW / SANBI (Custodians of Rare & Endangered Wildflowers) granted funds for Carlo van Tonder to research and prepare booklets to be used by local CREW teams plotting Red Data species in the Outeniquas and the Garden Route Coastal Lowlands. Very successful. The two booklets can be seen and used in our Library. Unfortunately no follow up funds were available and Carlo now works with CNC locally but still collects for the Herbarium.

Good news! New SANBI Digitisation Project - funding has been granted for 1 year starting from January 2008 to enable Sydney to finish digitising the Herbarium and Sylvia to continue mounting specimens. Unfortunately could not get any funding for admin, but will be able to buy our own ArcView package costing R15 000.

Vegetation Surveys – Paradise Coast; Dana Bay; Hansmoeskraal; Nurture Park; Rhebok; Constantia Kloof; Village on Sea; Misgund/Gouritzmond; Vyfbrakkefontein; Fisantehoek; Klipdrif; Fynboskruin; Denneoord to Pacaltsdorp water pipeline – Hard work for such a small team, but a total of around R100 000 brought in over a two year period.
Other paid projects – development of nursery & revegetation of the dune at Flat Rock for SanParks Wilderness.

Thanks – to all regular volunteers in the Herbarium for all they do and their companionship. Romary Wegerle, Ursula Bothe, Sheila Luck, Sheilagh Goedvolk, Susan de Wet, Jenny Potgieter, Annemarie van der Walt, Kirsten Henschell, Stella van Eyssen.
Welcome back to Margie Herron & Barry van Ginkel.
Wish quick recoveries and good health in future to Charlotta Douglas and Jenny Potgieter who we miss badly.
Welcome to Veronica and Graeham Tyndall, new Volunteers in the Herbarium, making a huge difference already!
VERY Big Thanks to Joan Hofmeyr who for years has supported us with a large donation monthly, and a bequest in her will. If only there were more people with her generosity & vision!!

Farewell & Thanks (to those who died during last the 2 years) –
Audrey Moriarty our great benefactor and supporter who bought this building for us among so many other things;
Selma Wastell who made the huge succulent rockery so much admired at the entrance to the Botanical Garden;
Dudley King who laboured so long over the finances, and was always on call as he lived too close!
Hennie van Heerden who tried so hard to get support from the Municipality he had served for so long;

Lastly a very big thank you to all who volunteer in any way and to all Friends, Supporters and Donors who have not lost hope or faith in our work through thick and thin!

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Our new "Friends Working Group", set up during the AGM

Members - Johan Baard, Yvonne Barnard, Judy Dixon, Paul Fick, Ken Gie, Sheilagh Goedvolk, Gail Hanekom, Tineke Kraaij, Lorraine McGibbon, Diane McGown, Justine Sharples, Joan Shaw, Liesl Stokes, Barry van Ginkel, Yvette van Wijk.
Purpose of the committee - These meetings to be used mainly as a forum for project reports, finding solutions and making decisions. A project being any activity that volunteers or Friends co-ordinate or participate in, that helps the Herbarium and Gardens achieve their aims. Members of the committee should all be involved in, or lead some project
Constitution - A new constitution would be drawn up by the committee and the "Friends of the Garden & Herbarium" would then re-apply for registration as an NGO (this lapsed when the GRBGTrust and Herbarium were amalgamated)

Project leaders
Ken Gie - elected Chair for the first year
Yvette van Wijk - Herbarium and funded projects
Sheila Goedvolk - co-ordinate Autumn and October Fynbos Fair Plant sales
Ken Gie - Garden Fence project
Liesl Stokes - Garden development & planting
Diane McGown / Joan Shaw - Promotions and Marketing, Garden guides and Xmas events

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Please see below all the latest news as at 25th September 2007

Wildflower Show & Plant Sale -

Bristol Botanic Garden tour visiting GRBGarden on 4th Nov 2007 -

Proposed tour of "GRBGarden & Herbarium Friends" to Bristol & other famous British gardens + Chelsea Show, in May 2009

The visit to the Garden Route Botanic Garden is an important part of this Friends tour to South Africa and a wonderful opportunity to enrich to partnership that exists between the University of Bristol Botanic Garden and the Garden Route Botanic Garden.

SO - now we need as many of you as possible to come and meet them on Sunday 4th November. Make a note in your diaries and please let us know if you can come! They have gone to a huge amount of trouble to come here and we really must put on a good show for them. Part of the proceeds from the tour is coming to us too! PLEASE do respond, you will meet lots of really great like-minded people and make new friends.

We are giving them a light finger lunch at the Moriarty Centre and then taking them round the garden.

On the 5th November we will be going up Tierkop, (George Outeniqua Mts) with the whole group of about 25, anyone who would like to come too and who could also help with plant names etc would be very welcome. We will go up in the huge CNC 4x4 lorry!

Phone Yvette 0833847813 or Hazel 044 8741558 if you can come or want to find out more.

A tour for "Friends of the Garden & Herbarium" to England in May 2009 - early plans

This is to be a return visit by "us" to Bristol. We are still making tentative plans and will be talking about it on the 4th November again. But with everyone so busy nowadays and time going so fast we really have to start right now if we are going to get it all together. Some ideas are that we go in May which is a good month for West Country gardens in England and we hope to visit the "Eden Project" in Cornwall plus some other lovely gardens round about - many plants used in the South African section of the Eden Gardens came from the Southern Cape with Yvette, Paul & Mandy helping Nick Wray to find them. Then we would of course visit the Bristol University Garden and meet their Friends and volunteers - they operate in much the same way as we do. After that London, the Chelsea Flower Show for those who want to go, and of course visits to Kew and Wisley. It would probably be about 10 days or so, but people could make it longer who wish to stay on, or join us there.

This is just a FIRST notice and you will be hearing a lot more about it! We will of course try to keep costs down to reasonable limits and hopefully the Rand will be stronger by then too! Once again any profit will be divided between the Garden Route Bot Garden and Bristol Bot Garden. Please contact me if you are at all interested - yvwijk@mweb.co.za - you do not have to confirm Now - but please think about it, it would great fun and such lovely places to visit and special treatment all round too!

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April 2007 -- March 2007 -- February 2007 -- January 2007 -- December 2006 -- November 2006

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Linnaeus’ Tercentenary is coming up – 23rd May - we plan to celebrate it with a special tea at the Moriarty Centre

Everyone who comes is asked to bring a sample of a plant named by him – easy to find as the botanical name is followed by an L. if it is one of his original specimens! We will let you all know more about this closer to the time. Please let us know if you are interested and would like to take part and help in any way?

Order from Chaos: Linnaeus Disposes
"God creates, Linnaeus disposes"

Carolus Linnaeus (also Carl von Linné, 1707–1778) was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist whose work laid the foundations of modern biological systematics and nomenclature. Long before Linnaeus, classical science was important in the shaping of subsequent science in the West. Transmitted through the cultures of the Mediterranean area, classical science was recovered during the Renaissance and ensuing Scientific Revolution, and undergirded the search for a new botanical system. Drawing on the work of his predecessors and contemporaries, Linnaeus developed a coherent system for describing, classifying and naming organisms. Linnaeus’ students traveled the globe to explore and collect information and specimens. Aspects of the Linnaean system have enabled amateurs and professionals worldwide to identify, name and describe plants for more than two centuries. (300 years now!)

At the following link you can read all about the Tercentenary Celebrations in Sweden. We will do our little bit too! Both as the Southern Cape Herbarium and as a Botanical Garden - www.linnaeus2007.se

1) On Saturday 3rd February - at 9.30am on TV2 - we featured during the hour long programme on Herbal Medicines called "Nature's Health". A variety of people associated with our "IMITHI Amayeza", Medicinal Plant project were involved. The filming took place in the Garden Route Botanical Garden late in December last year. Unfortunately it was a typical George cloudy and drizzly day! But the garden was looking good and Richard Kutela (Sangoma / Herbal practitioner) and Yvette (in the herbarium) came over fine in this first of the series that we were featured in. We hope to get the tapes of the whole series, and show them later at the Moriarty Centre. We will be featured in more of the episodes. Tune in and watch!

2) Another group filmed us for TV in December as well - they are a very interesting and lively bunch with 5 young learners from Cape Town who have travelled all over South Africa making the "Which Way" series. These air on Thursdays at 3.30pm on TV3 - excepting when there is cricket instead! Again they concentrated on the IMITHI project and making traditional remedies from medicinal plants. The weather was a little better and there should be some really lovely views of the Garden Route Botanical Garden and the Medicinal Plant Spiral Mound. Our slot will appear sometime in late March or April - we will let you know as soon as we hear the date.

3) Subs for 2007 have been coming in steadily, Thanks so much to those who have already paid. We still need to chase up a few people   and will be sending out targetted emails soon! Funds are really short at the moment and every bit helps. Subs are still R40 single and R60 double. Please consider the Corporate option where you pay R500 per year as a business – you would really feel good doing this for our environment and the future.

4) We are planning our events and courses for the year and would love to hear from those of you who would like to come on a course which you enjoyed before and/or would like to attend something we have not offered yet. If you have strong views or ideas please let us know soon. Lets hope that Eskom manages to keep the lights on this year, so we can present the repeat "Digital Photo & Computer" course which was cancelled last year due topower cuts as well as the "Rock Art Sites and associated plants talk" which was also cancelled last year due to erratic electricity cuts!

5) Rumours that Lorraine McGibbon is leaving town and is no longer in her office up at Witfontein are WRONG! She is very much still here, and she still brings school groups to the Bot Garden. We hosted a well attended Teacher's Workshop at the end of last year, with our old team; Margie Herron, Yvette and Lorraine, doing our thing in the new Moriarty Lecture room! We would like to encourage any Friends who can help with guiding (mostly keeping in check) these groups, to contact us or come to a meeting on Tuesday 6th Feb in the Moriarty Centre at 9am. Many of the groups are Afrikaans speaking and Johan de Wet is hard pressed to find enough site guides to help him and Lorraine. Keeping our educational aspect going is really important.

6) We are now down to 4 gardeners - on 12.5 hectares that is simply not enough! An idea that has been put forward is to ask our Friends and supporters if they can maybe "donate" their own gardener's time for one day to the Bot Garden? If we had a group all together on one day, we could all pitch in and really work hard as a team for that day - we could then get on top of some of the really pressing things that have to be done, nothing complicated, just weeding, skoffeling grass in the gravel road, cutting edges, trimming the maze hedges etc? Maybe your   gardener could even learn a thing or two along the way! Anyone prepared to offer a day please contact us - email scherb@pixie.co.za or   phone 044- 8741558 with your name and contact details thanks!

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Wishing All of you a Great 2007! - posted Jan 2007
The New Year has begun in earnest – with this message we would like to Thank Everyone who has supported the Southern Cape Herbarium and Garden Route Botanical Garden in so many ways over the years.
Text Box:

Our mission has been to provide a people friendly and environmentally important resource for the people of George, the Garden Route and in fact the entire Southern Cape: leading to an increased awareness and understanding of the beauty, importance and fragility of our natural environment, and in particular the Flora.
By becoming Friends, Partners, Volunteers, Donors and Supporters - you have all shown that we have succeeded in reaching a significantly important cross-section of the peoples of the Southern Cape and beyond. However we want to do even better this year and you can all help us to achieve this!
As a mainly Volunteer organisation and an NGO, we have managed so far to raise sufficient funds to develop and run these important resources. However it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep going. This is a fact for almost every NGO or Volunteer organisation, not only in South Africa, but the rest of the world as well.
The Botanical Garden and S Cape Herbarium have developed to the point where it is imperative that we become more professional and appoint qualified and paid staff to keep up the momentum that has developed with your help. 2006 was an extremely difficult year for us in many ways. We invite every one of you to help us make 2007 a really Good Year!
Please remember that we are not the same organisation as the Botanical Society of Southern Africa and you are not automatically a member of both, we thank them for their ongoing support. We are also not one of the Southern African Biodiversity Institution’s (SANBI) herbaria or gardens, though, like Bot Soc, they give a great deal of moral support and some small grants for specific projects - but neither can fund basic running costs.
Text Box:

THANK YOU’s
We thank all those Friends who have already paid their 2007 subs and look forward to hearing from those of you still to pay. You will be getting reminder notices soon! We are thrilled that some of you who are in business have changed your personal membership to Corporate, please consider this option! If you are not yet a Friend, please consider joining as we very badly need your support in this way. If you can get colleagues, friends and family to join as well that would be fantastic.
It is always extremely tricky to adequately thank our funders, donors and members each year – while at the same time making it absolutely clear that we need MORE money! Once again we say THANK YOU to you all - we look forward to seeing you or hearing from you in 2007.
PLEASE NOTE –
George Municipality & Eden Municipality have donated this year, but unfortunately this does not cover basic running costs. The S A Lottery, The Green Trust, The Leta & Roland Hill Trust (WWF), & CEPF / CAPE have all allocated significant amounts to specific projects in the Garden, however they cannot fund any project for more than a few years, nor will they fund basic running costs.
Once again a very special and heartfelt THANK YOU to Audrey Moriarty who died in September 2006 – her help and support meant so much to us. We hope to exhibit her work soon and show a little of her fascinating history & background – you will all hear much more about this shortly.
Thanks also to all Trustees and Management Committee members, past and present, for their valuable voluntary contributions. We now need desperately, to find additional, capable, enthusiastic and committed people to take on these roles for the next few years – we know that you are out there and beseech you to come forward and help us get over the difficult patch we are going through right now! The Herbarium and the Botanical Garden have become far too valuable and have used up far too much effort and self-sacrifice, to be allowed to wither away now.

1) RAIN & more RAIN! - The Drought BROKE with a vengeance!! We have had over 1500mm in the Bot Garden this year and have often been almost underwater! We realised that badly need a whole new roof on the Moriarty Centre! Amazingly the vegetation has weathered this deluge as happily as it did the drought - again a tribute to the truly tremendous versatility of Fynbos etc. The fact that we have planted almost everything on banks, mounds and slopes has definitely paid off. Our courses were affected though as the Kaaiman's Pass was closed or very very slow so people from East of George could/did not attend

2) Staff News - Mitch Krog still keeps close contact and is only a phone call or email away for our many "Help" calls about computers and databases! His Company "AllOver" still hosts this WebPage and manages our listservers free of charge, for which we thank him and his partners very much indeed - this is a huge saving for us and makes it all possible! His farm is blossoming and he is drowning in plants almost ready to sell! Danielle Woolf went to Cape Town with her little family. We welcomed Hazel Botes in the office and as book-keeper, it has not been an easy time for her and we hope that 2007 gets better and things settle down.

Sydney Ngcankana was accepted as student intern at Compton Herbarium at Kirstenbosch from December to February, he was then kept on until August and learnt a huge amount about curating herbaria, as well as digitising data, he is now back with us and digitising the whole Southern Cape Herbarium! Sylvia Zemva is still busy with propagation and selling plants, she is also now being trained by Sydney as herbarium assistant and learning to press and mount specimens. Wally, William, Willem, David and Stanford have had a busy year, with Gerry Burger facilitating the work in the garden - it looked magnificent for the October Event thanks to them all for their hard work. There has been much unhappiness due to the possibility of retrenchment due to lack of funds, however this has been put in abeyance for now.

3) The GRBGTrust Board - This has been a very difficult and unsettled year. Yvette van Wijk resigned from the Trust Board in February, but not from being a very active volunteer, organising courses and workshops, and running the Herbarium, as well as overseeing developments re the Medicinal Mound and Khoisan Maze. The Trust then co-opted Ena McIntyre, Liesl Stokes and Alice Strydom onto the board. Dudley King has been very ill indeed (though at this date he seems full of energy and is looking well considering the two very serious operations he has had in the last few months) we all wish him all the best and say once again "Thank You for all you have done over the years for the GRBGTrust". Audrey Moriarty died suddenly in September, see the tribute to her click here We miss her and cannot express our thanks adequately for all she did for us. David Day has not been at all well either, and Hennie van Heerden resigned from the Trust after being a Trustee from the very beginning -Thanks to Oom Hennie too for his long years on the Board and many words of sage advice.

3) Join the Listserver Enviro Chat to get all the latest news about the contentious issues surrounding Developments along the Garden Route + other environmental news + you can have your say as well - To subscribe to this newslist send a blank email with the word "subscribe" as the subject to enviroadmin@environment.co.za

4) Past Events & Courses for 2006 click here - to see the list and some pics from the courses and events (if you were on one or more of the courses & would like a pic of yourself or whatever, please send an email to yvwijk@mweb.co.za giving the title and we will email it back).

5) Funding - we are very very low at the moment and waiting with bated breath for the results of 3 proposals we have sent out to various funders. The worst problem is salaries for the gardeners - few funders will give for salaries (difficult to understand how they think a project can run without employees!!?) but this is a very big hurdle always and one we have managed to surmount over the past 10 years with great difficulty. The Lottery as most of you will know has just not functioned effectively for the past 2 years and so our proposal to them is still lying somewhere waiting for assessment! Hopefully they will get their act together and appoint a responsible new organisation to disburse funds in 2007, by now though our proposal is out of date and needs rewriting which is a really huge task! We are pleased to say that the george Municipality has donated some funds for labour in the garden for 2006 which is a huge help but not a long term solution. We still hope to come to an agreement where we are contracted to manage the Bot Garden on the Municipalities behalf with our basic expenses covered - we have also approached the Eden Municipality and have hopes there! The Herbarium has had funding this year from SANBI and from NRF / SABI for digitising Red Data and all other species in the Herbarium, this is great and the work is progressing well using the SANBI PRECIS Data-base.

PLEA for more Garden volunteers and people to help in many ways - please come in to the office and chat about this, we do need you, especially if you love indigenous plants and gardening! The company is great and you learn a lot too. Contact us by clicking here

Here is your update at long last and thank you for your patience. In the face of very severe financial constraints the Botanical Garden and the Moriarty Environmental Centre have experienced a challenging year that has of necessity been characterized by improvisation, resourcefulness and resolve.

Both Mitchell Krog (Garden Manager and IT whiz) and Danielle Woolf (admin clerk) moved on and Hazel Botes joined as Administrator and Bookkeeper in July. Doreen Court’s contract as curator of the Southern Cape Herbarium expired end March, however Doreen remains as taxonomic consultant, and “Tuesday morning” volunteer in the Southern Cape Herbarium.

Lorraine McGibbon, longstanding associate moved to new quarters at the Outeniqua Nature Reserve. We all wish Lorraine great success in her continued environmental education work under the Garden Route Environmental Education Network (GREEN) banner and as always the Garden will remain a very special outdoor classroom available to all the schools of the region.

The Garden Route Botanical Garden Trust gained new blood and Trustees took on a more visible role. Mandy Fick, Liesel Stokes and Ena McIntyre all took on operational functions in their respective fields of expertise, while Dudley King continues with treasury and Alice Strydom, longtime enthusiastic supporter, came on board with her set of practical skills and contacts.

The management function was restructured to improve practical operational efficiency and promote cooperation. Routine daily activities are the responsibility of the Operations Group which meets once a month and is attended by those actively involved in running the enterprise. Our Partners Forum meets half yearly and is focused on building and nurturing our relationships with those instances and individuals with an interest in the activities of the Trust: Local Authorities – George and Eden Municipalities, Provincial and National authorities e.g. Cape Nature, SA National Parks, Dept of Water Affairs and Forestry, as well as the George campus (Saasveld) of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) etc.

The most sudden and visual impact has been the change in the face of the Garden, in which volunteers Gerry Burger and Thornton Booth have taken on Garden Management. Hard organised work put in by the gardening staff and volunteers has turned neglected patches into areas glowing with life and colour. The Mound (a public favourite) and the maze area in particular have been tidied up, pruned back and clearly shows the effect of weekly attention. During periods of heavy rainfall Gerry took his team indoors, and moved the Herbarium Library into a larger room. The original small library room was adapted for the Herbarium volunteers specializing in plant identifications and data recording as a working area – now deserving of and named the Research Room!

The spectacular rockery at the entrance to the Botanical Garden has now been extended to the site of the new public convenience building, provided by the George Municipality.

As ever the Herbarium in the Moriarty Centre remains a hive of activity with at least 6 volunteers in regular attendance on Tuesdays. Subsequent to attending a course on database procedure presented by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Yvette Van Wijk organised short-term funding from that institute for two Cape Nature students to digitise the specimens of Red Data species held in the Southern Cape Herbarium. This information subsequently forms part of the SANBI PRECIS data base. In the interim Yvette also secured funding from the National Research Foundation that made it possible to employ Sydney Ngcakana on a six-month contract following an intensive training period as intern at the Compton Herbarium in Kirstenbosch. Sydney will be responsible for digitising the Southern Cape Herbarium’s main collection using the SANBI PRECIS data-base.

26th January: The first event in 2006 was a Digital Camera workshop presented by Mitch Krog & Yvette van Wijk. It was attended by an enthusiastic group of people nmost of whom were grappling with the new technology and how to use their PC's to edit and manipulate their pics.

2nd February: a one-day workshop on Herbarium Management presented by Doreen Court to members of Dept of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), SanParks and Cape Nature Conservation.

23rd February: Due to all the disastrous Eskom blackouts we did not advertise the Talk & Slideshow by Hugo Leggatt on Rock Art in the Southern Cape - however some die-hard supporters came anyway and we managed to see the first half with electricity! The second half was shown on a laptop which sadly did not have enough battery power for Yvette's slides about the plants associated with the sites! We will try this evening again in 2007!

8th April: Autumn Plant Fair - BotSoc Garden Route Branch’s annual contribution to the GRBG, organised by Ena McIntyre, Chairman of the Garden Route Branch of the Botanical Society of South Africa. "Under the Oaks" as usual, from 8am to 12 noon on the Saturday, the rain stood off until 11:10, and in those few hours a remarkable R 47 250 in turnover was achieved. What was most important was of course that “Bottom Line”. The event put a net profit of R 28 000 in the Trust’s coffers.

5 - 6th May: A small group left on an Erica weekend in the Bonniedale and Attakwaskloof region. This was much enjoyed and was followed by a very successful Erica workshop on the following Thursday.

13th May: Moonlight Meander with Judy Dixon. A truly magical evening with a lovely big crowd of enthusiastic people, wandering along the Swartvlei beach to Gericke's Point. The moon was full as can be, Judy her bouncy enthusiastic & knowledeable self, and all sorts of colourful sea-life was on view, in the light of the moon and torches. Judy donated much of the proceeds to the GRBGTrust and we still plan to do her Starlight Stroll in 2007!

23 - 25th June: Annual Karoo Trip (Anysberg). Report (edited) by Charlotta Douglas: The party met at the turn-off to Laingsburg just beyond Ladismith with the usual air of excitement and dread because of the ominous weather forecasts. The reserve manager met the party at the camp site and the following day led them to places with abundant succulents, “in a shallow dried pool, hundreds of pin-sized seedlings were growing”. On Sunday a convoy of some 16 people set off to visit the Meiring farm. Here they found large rock slabs with erosion pockets which form natural pots where succulents grow. The party was treated to tea and koeksusters in typical South African farm style before leaving this special flora area.

27th June: A two day workshop for teachers from the area was arranged by Annemarie Gebhardt of the Dept of Education in the Moriarty Environmental Centre & Bot Garden. The presenters were Margie Herron, Yvette van Wijk and Lorraine McGibbon. This was a great success and teachers all appreciated the environmental and ecological information. A CD is in process of preparation on the Southern Cape Environment and hopefully will be available in 2007.

24th August: A successful one-day “Botany for Gardeners” workshop was run in the Garden by Yvette and Margie Herron. This was attended by garden employees as well as some of our own gardeners and a few garden owners aspiring to indigenous gardens!

14th & 15th October: Our 2006 Spring Fundraising Event took on a completely new format. Run over two days between 10h00 to 16h00 (10:00am – 04:00pm) – the event had a distinct community focus with a full programme of activities. It was all there - pony rides, trailer rides, guided walks and golf cart rides, presentations that included the topics Landscape rehabilitation and Alien vegetation control and Imithi product preparation demos. Choir members of Thembalethu High and MM Mateza Primary Schools entertained us with singing and dancing. We had our own beautiful indigenous flora displays and named specimens as well as displays by the Orchid and Clivia Societies. Refreshments were taken care of by the Lions Club and plant sales were run by the Propagation Group and also independently. Saturday was fine and warm, but on Sunday the rain had us all seeking shelter. Thankfully our Sunday was brightened by the School Choirs who sang and danced to their hearts content, their performance thoroughly enjoyed by a few brave souls and all the faithful helpers and participants on duty. Despite the rain, the event still realized over R 10 000 – not a fortune but rather that in the bank than nothing. Many thanks to all concerned – helpers, volunteers, participants, and sponsors - we all had a great time.

30th November: Snakes, Reptiles and Frogging in the Bot Garden presented by Dale Holder. This a verty different sort of event. 22 participants were entranced by Dale's enthusiasm for these cold-blooded creatures. Some people really enjoyed the close encounters with live snakes and only a few did not! Hearing how to treat bites according to the lates findings was good. The forgs in the Dam & Wetland outdid themselves calling and Dale was able to identify at least 5 different species just on sound - the little tree frogs, beautifully marked, gold dusted and red footed, were a hit in the Ficus sur trees as always.

Patron of the Trust and benefactor, Audrey Moriarty, was laid to rest on 15th September 2006 after a moving service in St Mark’s Cathedral where friends gathered to pay tribute to a remarkable lady. Audrey was an interesting and exceptionally generous person – her interest in our indigenous flora was only one of her many interests. On behalf of the Trust we reiterate our deep gratitude and sincere thanks for the very significant role she played in the Trust’s wellbeing.

The multi-talented Selma Wastell passed away earlier this year after an extended period of ill health. A large crowd attended her memorial service in the Garden on 9th March 2006. The service was conducted at the magnificent rockery built by Selma and the gardeners.

Our appeal to our City fathers did not fall on deaf ears. The Trust was allocated a monthly grant for the current financial period 01 July 2006 – 30 June 2007 and construction work on the Municipal public facility allocated to the Garden in the 2005/6 Municipal Budget was eventually completed by the time of the Spring Fundraising event. Although the grant does not meet our basic maintenance needs, it has kept the wolf from the door and certainly confirms that the Garden has gained recognition as a valuable community and tourism asset to George as well as the Garden Route region.

We ventured forth with new ideas which put us in touch with a whole range of new contacts and many new possibilities. We enjoyed extensive publicity in the local and regional press and the Tourism network particularly during the period August - October; we also made it into the October George Focus - the George Municipality’s newsletter that accompanies your services account. Our displays at the Garden Route Mall have played a significant role in raising awareness about the Garden and our activities to a very broad sector of the regional community.

Finally we thank our ever-loyal volunteers and friends for their continued support and wish you all a happy and peaceful Festive Season and lots of good cheer for 2007.

Friends subscriptions for 2007 are payable by 31 December 2006. Family R 60, Single R 40

Cheques are payable to: Garden Route Botanical Garden Trust
Standard Bank: George – Account number: 281 859 183 Branch code: 050 214
You may post your payment to our address above or make a direct deposit or online payment

For direct deposits or online payments:
Please notify us of your payment by faxing (044 874 1558) or posting to us a copy of the deposit slip or payment advice clearly reflecting your name

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