Dr. Bradley White, Canada Research Chair in Conservation Genetics and Biodiversity, Trent University

Royal Botanical Gardens education and horticultural highlights
How you can help
Make a donation
A few quick facts

Royal Botanical Gardens is much more than a place with over 2,700 acres of spectacular gardens and nature sanctuaries. We are a living museum. But what does that mean in today’s world?

It means that we collect, preserve and display living collections of plants for the purposes of research and education. Our cultivated gardens and nature sanctuaries have become valuable living laboratories training Ontario’s next generation of horticulturists, gardeners and environmental stewards.

It has never been more important and timely to engage and involve the next generation in these important activities. Royal Botanical Gardens has recently introduced a Junior Ecology Leaders program, which provides children of newcomers with positive experiences in the outdoors, and helps them to learn to respect and care for their environment. Royal Botanical Gardens is also working with a local high school to pilot an innovative ECO-Studies program. Over the course of one semester, students learn environmental theory in a traditional classroom setting, and spend their afternoons in Royal Botanical Gardens’ outdoor classroom applying theory through hands-on fieldwork and stewardship projects.

Our leading-edge Horticultural Therapy program is training health care professionals to use plants and gardening activities as a therapeutic modality — with great success. Using our cultivated gardens as a test site, Royal Botanical Gardens is planning new research programs which focus on controlling the spread of invasive plants and monitoring the effects of human activity on natural ecosystems.

Our biggest challenge? All of these training and research programs are dependent upon external funding. Each year, Royal Botanical Gardens must raise almost 60% of its operating budget. These funds are generated through memberships and admissions, special events, program fees and grants. We thank all donors who have made contributions over the last 12 months. We count on donations from people like you for the rest of our support.

For more than 60 years we’ve been bringing people and plants together. Help us sustain our living laboratory and train the next generation by generously supporting our Nurturing Nature appeal.

Please make a donation.


Royal Botanical Gardens education and horticultural highlights

• The Nature Interpretive Centre is the hub of environmental education and gateway to outdoor education learning at Royal Botanical Gardens. In 2006, over 15,000 children and families learned about nature, plants and wildlife while participating in school, camps and public education programs.

• In 2007, Royal Botanical Gardens launches its newest educational program — interactive virtual field trips using video conferencing technology — to reach out beyond our borders to offer learning opportunities.

• Royal Botanical Gardens is becoming a leader in sustainable horticulture through reduced pesticide use, control of invasive plants and the use of native plant species.

• Royal Botanical Gardens and Fanshawe College will offer co-operative Horticultural Studies work placement programs beginning in 2007 to facilitate training the next generation of horticulture professionals.

• In 2007, Royal Botanical Gardens will receive a specimen of the world’s rarest tree, the Wollemi Pine, (Wollemia nobilis). The tree, long thought to be extinct, flourished when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Please donate today.


HOW YOU CAN HELP

Educating our youth
Research has shown that lifelong bonds with the environment are forged in childhood. Children need first-hand experience with nature and the latest studies demonstrate that these interactions actually promote optimal brain development.


Discovery Carts give learners of all ages a hands-on experience at the Gardens. Your donation helps maintain and add new Discovery Carts at Royal Botanical Gardens.



Horticulture
Studies are now proving what we’ve all intuitively known, that plants and natural landscapes improve our health, our sense of self, our communities and our economy.


Audio tours and other programming funded from this appeal, will allow us to provide more in-depth descriptions about our collections, adding a new dimension for garden experts and beginners alike.


Interpretation is a key component of the visitor experience. Royal Botanical Gardens is challenged to have sufficient funds to expand its interpretive signage.


Working under the direction of our horticulture staff, students learn and earn over a summer work period spent at Royal Botancial Gardens. Scholarship funding through the Nurturing Nature appeal will increase our ability to attract top students to the Gardens.

Please make a donation.


A few quick facts

Opened: 1932

Size: 1,100 hectares (2,700 acres or 11 square kilometres)

Species at risk: Over 35 species at risk can be found on Royal Botanical Gardens’ properties.

Plants: 1,108 species — 15% of native Canadian species, and over 20% of Ontario’s native species.

Funding: