Interpreting collections: giving plants a voice

This presentation was given at the Botanic Gardens of Australia and New Zealand (BGANZ) National Conference held in Hobart from 29 October to 1 November 2005. My main reason for including it here is to record some of the wonderful displays, exhibitions and public programs that were on offer at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney at the time.

This paper uses a theatre analogy and like most theatrical performances, these events are ephemeral. Fortunately, like most theatres, the sets and many of the props (established trees and other living collections) are still around and will be for decades to come.

Janelle Hatherly 2021

Abstract

At the heart of every botanic garden is its living collection. If plants could talk, what stories would they tell? Would they speak of their remarkable biology or would they recount their origins and how they came to be in the collection? Or would they relate the historical changes they have witnessed as part of a cultivated landscape? Would they implore us to recognise that all life depends on plants and plead for a sustainable future?

Plants cannot speak, and so it falls to those who maintain them and manage botanic gardens to determine which, if any, of their stories are told and to whom. Helping visitors understand the value of collections and the significance of the place is called interpretation and is one of the contemporary roles of botanic gardens and other cultural institutions. This paper draws on the analogy of a theatrical experience as it brings plants centre-stage, and we visit the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney to see their current repertoire and upcoming blockbusters.

Introduction

Botanic gardens are synonymous with living collections. For as long as botanic gardens have existed, plants have been collected, selected, bred, accumulated and displayed for a multitude of purposes. In the past, plants were collected and researched for their medicinal properties as in the traditional physic gardens, or cultivated in colonial botanic gardens to see if they would acclimatise and if they had any economic potential. Plants were also collected for their aesthetic appeal and novelty, with some botanic garden directors – like others with a collecting obsession – compelled to acquire one of each kind of their particular plant group for their very special garden.

Today, botanic gardens primarily exist for public recreation, education and scientific research. While there are many reasons to establish new botanic gardens, most gardens are old and their focus has changed from plant collecting to stewardship of heritage collections.

Those who work in botanic gardens must manage, maintain and rationalise extensive and ageing collections. To remain relevant, they have the added challenge of fitting contemporary messages to old specimens. Whether new or old, gardens today are people-focused and their missions and values aim to:

• provide places for peace and tranquillity and venues for community events,

• inspire an appreciation of plants and the natural world,

• promote environmental sustainability and conservation, and

• celebrate the history of the place and its importance to today’s society.

A theatrical experience

Interpretation is the art of helping visitors understand the value and significance of the collections and the place. As far back as 1957 Freeman Tilden explained the principles of interpretive philosophy that had a profound effect on the park conservation movement in America. To put a new spin on this now very familiar term, please indulge me while I draw an analogy with the theatre.

If the botanic garden itself is the theatre, then the grounds are the stage, and the living collections are the sets and props. The organisation’s mission manifests itself in the type of plays on show at this particular theatre and the play scripts convey the organisation’s values. The corporate plan outlines the suite of plays that will be performed over the coming year/s and those of us who work in gardens – the governing board and executive, the staff, volunteers and Friends – are the producers, directors, actors and crew. Collectively we must render the interpretation of the suite of plays selected so that they appeal to today’s audiences as well as reflect what is important to this type of theatre, botanic gardens.

The audience are the visitors who choose to come to our public gardens. They come to enjoy our theatre’s ambience and to attend (and hopefully find memorable) the plays on offer. If the plays are unscripted or not sufficiently developed for performance, the audience can simply marvel at the beauty of the old theatre, look at the sets and props and curiously wonder what they might be for.  Some will recognise them from past productions and enjoy a moment of nostalgia.

However, like theatre folk, botanic gardens’ staff are creative and versatile and use existing sets and props (and buy in new pieces if they can afford them) in a variety of ways. They don’t tear down their theatre and start from scratch, but work with the stage configuration, existing props (and even old actors) to put on plays that hold relevance and appeal to a contemporary audience.

Now let’s visit the theatre where I work: the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) in Sydney. It performs similar plays to other botanic gardens around the world but is unique in its location, collections and history. It is situated on magnificent Sydney Harbour and was founded in 1816 when Sydney was a fledgling colony. In 2016 the RBG will celebrate its 200th anniversary.

Its living collections (the sets and props) are a mix of old and new/native and exotic plants, and it is the role of the staff, Friends and volunteer guides (the cast and crew) to use and arrange these to perform historical and contemporary plays, plays of cultural significance and plays that ‘inspire the appreciation and conservation of plants’. Here are a few productions currently on show at the RBG.  

There are the old favourites such as The Spring Walk and the Palm Grove. The stage for the former was first planted with azaleas and other spring flowering shrubs in 1855 but was recently refurbished because of persistent pests and diseases such as phytophthora. The sets had to be completely demolished and the curtain was down for two years before new sets were constructed. There are nostalgic photos around the theatre (and in publications) to remind visitors of the old production. The new set will herald the arrival of Spring for at least the next 100 years.

The Palm Grove established in 1862, has one of the world’s finest collections of palms. Several of the RBG’s oldest trees, grown from wild plants collected in the 1820s and 1850s, live here. It has historical significance but horticulturists struggle to keep up appearances because of the unwelcome presence of bats and ibises, hell bent on destroying the sets and props.  We can’t ban the bats and ibises from visiting our theatre but we are trying to discourage them. Meanwhile the cast and crew have written scripts around them and present visitors with the animals’ story, the antique trees’ story and our peculiar dilemma.

We’re also holding an arts festival for a limited season to coincide with the hugely popular exhibition Margaret Preston: art and life at the nearby Art Gallery of NSW. This is the first major retrospective of Margaret Preston (1875-1963), one of Australia's most celebrated artists. The cast and crew of both organisations have produced a series of programs Celebrating Margaret Preston in the Gardens for people to enjoy after visiting the Art Gallery. Because our props are scattered around the garden, visitors are invited to take a self-guided tour at their leisure. There’s an accompanying brochure and interpretive signage at each stop. Educators and Volunteer Guides have also developed five intimate workshops and school holiday craft activities for those interested in going a little deeper into the plants in Margaret Preston’s still lifes.

In our indoor theatre annexe, the Red Box Gallery, we are showcasing Margaret Preston artworks (borrowed from the AGNSW) and complementing them with identical living floral arrangements prepared by Pearson’s floristry students.

Margaret Preston, Australian Rock Lily, 1933

Margaret Preston, West Australian Banksia, 1929

Such partnerships are mutually beneficial – the programs are jointly promoted and costs are shared. Both partners double their audiences and the audience have the opportunity of doubling its pleasure.

An upcoming blockbuster

Every reputable theatre stages the occasional blockbuster. From 1 December 2005 the RBG will present Sex and Death: starring orchids and carnivorous plants in its Tropical Centre. As with all blockbusters we have a financial backer – The Friends of the Gardens – and we’re hoping to attract big audiences and make lots of money.

The Tropical Centre consists of a Pyramid glasshouse (one of the first of its kind in the world) which was built in 1972 and an Arc (featuring three climatic zones– cool montane, lowland tropics and temperate rainforest) which was added in 1989. However by 2005, the displays are looking tired and attendances are low. A project team was formed to come up with a new attraction that would encourage repeat attendances to both the Tropical Centre and the Gardens in general.

The project team (LtoR): Ross Clark Curator Nursery and Tropical Centre, Janelle Hatherly, Community Education Manager (Chair), Karen Rinkel, Graphic Designer, Melanie Sifton, Voluntary Student Intern, Niagara BG, Irene Bodell, Volunteer and orchid grower, Peter Weston, Principal Research Scientist, Not pictured: Julio Himede, Team Event Designer, Randy Sing, Snr Supervisor Projects and Gareth Hambridge, Horticulturist Nursery and Tropical Centre.

We thought about what would appeal to a modern audience … and came up with ‘Sex and Death’. Sex and death are topics that fascinate humans most and there are compelling biological reasons for this. Fecundity and mortality are two of the most important evolutionary processes. As a botanic garden we’re about plants and, as the British novelist Sam Llewellyn wrote in his thriller The Sea Garden, “In gardens, beauty is a by-product. The main business is sex and death.”

We also realised orchids and carnivorous plants illustrate these fundamental biological processes better than any other plant groups and RBG have wonderful collections of both. There are over 30,000 natural orchid species and more than 600 species of carnivorous plants in the world today. Hence our blockbuster exhibition starring orchids and carnivorous plants could tell the story of plant sex by exploring the fascinating pollination mechanisms of orchids, one of the largest and most complex families of plants, and our extensive Nursery collection of bizarre-looking carnivorous plants is perfect for interpreting the concept of death.

The relationship between orchids and their pollinators (which, surprising to some people, includes humans!) is interpreted in three very clear themes: Seduction, Cooperation and Deception. The fourth theme, Death, predominately features carnivorous plants.

The existing greenery in the Arc of the Tropical Centre creates the backdrop. About 2,000 orchids and carnivorous plants from our Nursery or, on loan from orchid societies and specialist nurseries, took centre-stage as each of them comes into bloom.

These four themes are elaborated below:

SEDUCTION: Beauty can be its own reward

This section showcases the alluring beauty of cultivated orchid hybrids and shows how humans are responsible for their very existence. The orchids in this section rely on people for everything:

• Birth (germination in a sterile flask of agar)

• Environment (a nursery)

• Sex (artificial cross-pollination)

• Dispersal (international trade, local sales)

COOPERATION: You scratch my back – I’ll scratch yours

A wonderful relationship exists between orchids and their pollinators where both parties benefit. The orchids displayed in this section “buy” sexual favours from their pollinators by offering:

• Nectar

• Pseudopollen

• Oil

• Fragrant chemicals.

DECEPTION: Prepare to be conned!

Some plants are capable of quite sophisticated forms of deception to trick other organisms into pollinating them. The orchids displayed in this section deceive their pollinators by offering but not delivering:

• Food

• Sex

• Brood sites

DEATH: Enter the dark side!

In this carnivorous plant section, we explain why some plants have to resort to trapping and killing other organisms and how humans can kill plants without much effort at all!

Dionaea muscipula

Nepenthes ampullaria

Utricularia alpina

Drosera binata

Conclusion

The aim of this exhibition was simply to create a satisfying visitor experience that encourages further exploration of the natural world and justifies repeat visitation to the Tropical Centre and the RBG in general. However, Sex and Death is not a typical orchid show with masses of orchid hybrids creating a riot of colour and only on show for a limited time.

Instead, this exhibition is planned to last for three years and is primarily an entertaining educational experience which will showcase, at any one time, approximately 100 orchids and carnivorous plants including the lesser known and more diminutive Australian varieties. The RBG’s orchid research also features strongly. Visitors are encouraged to return in different seasons to see different ‘star’ species and to take part in an evolving public program.

Sex and Death opened to the public on 1 December 2005 and, in the first ten weeks, visitation to the Tropical Centre increased by 11% and income doubled.

©  Janelle Hatherly

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