Latest News

Shrub Trail

Curator Ian Turner will lead a tour of the Sheffield Botanical Gardens on Tuesday 22 May, the object will be to point out the shrubs of special interest. Please wear footwear and clothing appropriate for the weather conditions. Free to FOBS Members, Visitors welcome - £3 each.

Bristol Botanic Garden

professor Nick Wray has worked in the botanic gardens for 26 years and has travelled extensively, studying plants in the wild. His vast knowledge of plant life was instumental in the planning and plant selection for the new Bristol Botanic garden, where planting started in 2005. He is also the S. African consultant to the Eden Project. Check the Bristol Botanic Garden website for more details.

FOBS Plant Sale

Some of the plants available at the start of the sale
©A. Hunter 2012

Sunday 6 May was blessed with pleasant sunshine and crowds arrived to inspect FOBS' offerings. Very soon people were staggering away, laden with bags of plants. Some had come for just one or two 'unusual' plants to fill a special niche, some confessed to having a new border to fill and a few claimed to have a whole new garden to plant. FOBS volunteers were delighted to share their expertise and advise on choices for particular garden conditions - whether it was for shade, full sun, alpine planting or boggy patches.
Special thanks to all FOBS volunteers who helped to make this event such a success, especially our hard-working team of dedicated propagators.

Easy Gardening

Saturday 28 April saw a new venture for FOBS, aimed to encourage inexperienced gardeners to come and have some fun learning new skills. Concentrating on a 'cheap and easy' theme, demonstrations included sowing seed, taking cuttings, sharpening tools, weed identification, green roofs and how to make containers by recycling household objects like cans and old wellies. FOBS volunteers and the Gardens' Curator were on hand to answer questions and the event was so successful that FOBS is planning to hold similar demonstrations in the future.

Snowy Photos

FOBS committee are already looking ahead to Christmas 2012. If you have any wintery photos or artwork of the Botanical Gardens that could be suitable for greeting cards, please email the FOBS Committee
Many thanks.

Wanted - Builders Bags

Has anyone got unwanted builders bags available? The Gardens' staff and volunteers need more to collect garden waste in. Please bring on Wednesday mornings - or even to FOBS meetings.
Thanks - Ian Turner, Curator

FOBS Day Out to Ashwood Nursery

The trip to Ashdown Nursery on 19 March, was a very enjoyable day and the highlight was John's Garden. We arrived late and there were fears of no time for refreshment but fortunately these were unfounded and the selection of scones was delightful. The tour of John's Garden, which has the canal as its boundary, was lovely and took longer than planned partly due to the many questions asked. Described as 'a Garden for all seasons' it has been developing for over 10 years and obviously requires many hours of meticulous weeding and pruning to maintain.



John's Garden at Ashwood Nursery. ©P.& M. Marsh

New Patron for the Gardens

The Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust are very pleased to welcome a new Trustee - Miles Stevenson. Miles is Director of Development at the Alumni Department of the University of Sheffield. He lives near the Gardens and enjoys it with his family. He is enthusiastic about the Trust's aims for its further development. He has different skills and experiences to the current trustees which will be very useful in the coming years.

Wednesday Morning Volunteer Gardeners

Wednesday Morning Volunteers
with Curator Ian Turner in
the Woodland Garden
FOBS Training Day
©A. Hunter, 18 January 2012

The New Year got off to a great start with a good attendance on 18 January. Curator Ian Turner led the meeting with a common sense approach to health and safety - if it's going to hurt - don't do it! Practice risk assessment at all times - no more effort than crossing the road - and do be aware of tool safety at all times, especially when our young visitors are around.
He then led the group on a brief tour of the Gardens pointing out the areas which are scheduled for special attention this year. The Prairie Garden section which had been cleared and sprayed to get rid of perennial weeds, has now been sown with an 'eclectic mix' of both North American and South African plants. More Hamamelis shrubs are due to be planted in the Woodland Garden to create a 'Hamamelis Walk'. Information boards have now been ordered for the trail around the Evolution Garden. Work was very noisily in progress around the Mediterranean Garden with some tree clearance and canopy raising, although the replanting project will not start until much later in the year. The 'Autumn' bed in the Four Seasons Garden has been invaded by couch grass and will have to be totally cleared this year to make way for a new planting scheme. The replanting of the Pavilions will continue with work in the East Ridge & Furrow this year. The area of Heritage Garden outside the Reception office is going to be redesigned with more exciting plants. After the demise of several plants in the previous two winters, new trees and shrubs, including a Paulownia tomentosa, will be planted in the Victorian Garden. Sections of the AGM Borders will be cleared and replanted. Add in routine maintenance for the whole Gardens - and it's going to be a busy year for Ian's team of staff and volunteers!