The Friends of Brisbane’s Botanic Gardens 

‘Connect – Promote – Protect’

Contact Us: Website: www.fbbgsa.org.au Email: events@fbbgsa.org.au
FBBGSA PO Box 39 Sherwood QLD 4075 ACN: 607 589 873 ABN: 20 607 589 873

Welcome to our new Acting Curator – Prue McGruther
Prue McGruther is the Acting Curator for Brisbane’s three botanic sites—Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha,
City Botanic Gardens, and Sherwood Arboretum.
Over the past six years, Prue has led the restoration and enhancement of Sherwood Arboretum, a heritage-listed
collection of Australian native trees. Her work focuses on strengthening the botanical collection, restoring wildlife
habitat, enhancing plant interpretation, and fostering community engagement through events and volunteer
plantings.
Prue holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management and has a background in ecological science,
specialising in surveying threatened plant species across Queensland. She is passionate about the role of botanic
gardens in conserving biodiversity, advancing plant science, and connecting people with nature.
In her spare time, Prue enjoys visiting botanic gardens around the world. Her favourite trips have included
networking with teams at Kew (London), Longwood Gardens (Pennsylvania), and Gardens by the Bay (Singapore).
 Please say Hi to her if you see her around the Botanic Gardens.

Happy Volunteer Week 19- 26 May

to all Volunteers

Volunteer Guides & Welcomer Recruitment Details
 
All expressions of interest for prospective Volunteer Guides will need to be emailed please by 31^st May 2025.
Information Session for Prospective Guides – Seminar Room Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha – 10 am – 11.30 am RSVP essential
There will be an interview/selection process and eight week training program commencing July 2025.
Email – Volunteers.brisbanebotanicgardens@brisbane.qld.gov.au
All telephone enquiries to Merilyn Williams, Volunteer Programs Coordinator telephone number 3403 88 88.
 
 
Welcomer positions please also email Merilyn.  Timing of Welcomer Recruitment will be at different dates.

Camellias are flowering now – why not mine?

Can Camellias be grown in pots and flower just as beautifully?

Does the Brisbane Botanic Gardens have Camellias with historical stories to tell?

My Camellia flowers drop off without opening. What can I do to fix it?

I have seen a particular Camellia I would like to grow but don’t see it in the nurseries. How can I grow it from a cutting?

All your questions can be answered by an expert Camellia growers – Darryl & Steph Baptie.

When: Saturday 14 June 2025

Time: 9.30am

Meet: Outside the Botanic Gardens Café, Mt Coot-tha

Bring: Water, hat, Sunscreen, wear flat shoes

Cost: $20 for non FBBGSA members.

RSVP: By Wednesday 11 June
https://fbbgsa.org.au/camellia-walk/#!event-register/2025/6/14/camellia-walk

INTRODUCTION TO FERN CULTIVATION

Do you love ferns but don’t have the confidence to grow them?

Do your Maidenhair ferns die every time?

How do ferns grow and reproduce?

Ferns come in all shapes and sizes, and there’s a fern suitable for nearly every location.

Interested in knowing more?

Then come for a 45 minute walk through the Fern House at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha with Helen Jeremy, SEQ Coordinator of the ANPSA Fern Study Group.

Numbers are limited (max 20 due to space in the Fern House) so get in early.

When: Sunday 29 June 2025

Time: 9am start

Meet: Outside the Fern House (near the Dome entrance)

Cost: $10 for non FBBGSA members

Register: secretary@fbbgsa.org,au or www.fbbgsa.org.au

RSVP: by Wednesday 25 June

NOTE: A small number of terrariums with ferns will be available for sale after the walk.

Monday Nature Walks

The Monday Nature Walks group has enjoyed walks in recent months in:

• Springwood Conservation Park (beautiful sandstone outcrops and flowing stream; varied plant life in different habitats including two types of Banksia and lots of Pultenaea villosa and Acasia)
• J. C. Trotter Memorial Reserve (fascinating small flowering plants including carnivorous sundews, groves of beautiful flowering Banksia spinulosa and Banksia integrifolia and picturesque Melaleucas around the swampy areas and lake)
• Ric Natrass Environmental Park (small park with great variety of Eucalyptus trees including Bloodwoods, Stringybark, Spotted Gum and Ironbarks, and patches that were hot-spots for small birds – wrens, whistlers, fantails).

These are just a few of the 70 or more nature walks we have enjoyed in the last few years, since a small group of FBBGSA members started to meet each Monday morning to walk and talk plants. We walk in and around Brisbane, with the Mt Coot-tha Gardens as our ‘home base’.

The focus is the plant-life that surrounds us, from tiny flowers and fungi to giant eucalypts. This is not walking for exercise. We travel slowly, and for fairly short distances (2 to 4 km) because we stop frequently to look at plants of interest.

We would love you to join us! FBBGSA members and non-members are both welcome. No obligation – come on any of the walks that interest you.

We usually meet at about 8.30 am or 9 am and finish each walk around 12 midday, with a coffee break and chat. When there is travel involved, car-sharing is available.

Want more information? See the FBBGSA website. Or contact Anne on 0408093307 or aelliott@powerup.com.au

The Big Butterfly Count 2025

Have you heard about the Butterfly Count? Well between 18 July and 10 August everyone can count the number of butterflies and moths they see over a 15 minute interval (best times are from 10.45am to 3.45pm). Dr Jeannie Sim, past FBBGSA Director, suggested we get involved this year.

And what a great idea!

So why is this happening? Well the aim is for conservation of our Butterfly species and the way we do this is by gathering data on their distribution. See https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org for more info.

To contribute towards this Count this year and beyond FBBGSA is going to increase our knowledge (via Lilygram) of Butterflies spotted in the Botanic Gardens. If you have a sighting between Newsletters and want more information please send a description of the Butterfly to secretary@fbbgsa.org.au .

The following information is taken from the book “The Butterflies of Australia by Dr Albert Orr and Professor Roger Kitching.

There are 400 + species of Australian Butterflies in five families:-

• The Skippers – Hesperiidae
• The Swallowtails and birdwings – Papilionidae
• The Whites and Yellows – Pieridae
• The Nymphs and their allies – Nymphalidae and
• The Blues and Hairstreaks – Lycaenidae (p21).

This month I have selected the Common Browns/ Heteronympha merope (Family Nymphalidae) as one flew around the marquee site on Tuesday during BGANZ Open Week near the Herbarium.

• They are one of the best known in southern Australia.
• They like open woodland and gardens.
• The females are 34 mm long and may live up to 8 months duration; the males are 38mm long and fly 1-4 m+ above the ground whilst maintaining territories and female chasing!
• They have a vigorous, jinking flight often feeding from flowers.
• They mate once and eggs are laid singly mostly on leaves of host plants.
• The larvae vary in colour and pattern and feed by night usually on common grasses.
• Pupa form among loose litter at the base of the host plant.

Included in the Southern Browns are also Solander’s Brown, Bank’s Brown and Wonder Brown. So guess who first collected the Common Brown? Sir Joseph Banks at Botany Bay in 1770! (p186)

A Guided Bee Walk by Lemise Guide, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha (written by Patty FBBGSA)

On Sunday, 18th May, Friends of the Botanic Gardens and other visitors to the gardens joined the Bee Walk with Lemise.   We saw Leaf Cutter bees, Hover flies, European honey bees, wasps and Australian Native stingless bees.  We stopped for a look at a native bee nest in a dead stump where the entrance hole is made to a specific size which is waxed and narrow to prevent predators entering and their nest is made in spirals as opposed to the European honey bee which use rows .

Native bees pollinate macadamias, blueberries and avocado among other plants.  They only fly about 500m and are not as fussy about pollen as are other bees eg the blue banded bees.

We found palm tree flowers on attracting a lot of bees including the leaf cutter bees. The Salvia section of the garden attracts a lot of bees as do the Aloes and the Bixa orellana (Lipstick tree) growing opposite the Aloes.

The Friends had a small stall selling Salvias.

Bees, Bugs and Wasps – Pollinators for all to know in 2 Children’s Books

I enjoy going to the Mt Coot-tha / Brisbane City Council Library as I always find such interesting books on gardens and anything related. And the plus is if you live elsewhere you can always take them back to your local Library for them to send them home to Mt Coot-tha.

With the Bee talk coming up by one of the Guides at Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha and having young grandchildren I was so pleased to see the 2 books below:-

Our Bugs by Bronwyn Bancroft (Picture NF) a Bundjalung author and illustrator is probably aimed at 1-3years old children with colourful drawings and short sentences to identify key aspects of each of the bugs including the vulnerable Spiny Leaf Insect.

The second children’s book is Wonderful Wasps by Katrina Germein (Illustrated by Suzanne Houghton) – also Picture NF. This is aimed at 3-6 year olds though younger ones may enjoy the pictures too. It covers 11 wasps and highlights that they are pollinators too – even adults may not know this. Not all of the wasps are locals though the book highlights their breeding grounds and some of their homes. The illustrations are very detailed with the first 2 pages showing them all for comparisons. The last 2 pages covers much more detail for adults and little naturalists in the making!

So next time you are at the Botanic Gardens check out the Library. They have a Reference area as well where I looked up Walter Hill and found some very interesting information. Tell your friends!