ABSTRACT
Paul is Senior Horticultural Curator at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Every day he witnesses staff and visitors reap the benefits of decisions made 20, 50 or more than 100 years ago by past gardeners, curators and directors who planted the trees that now dominate the landscape. He has a background in visual arts and for more than 17 years he has worked as a horticulturalist in Gardens. Paul’s special interests include Australian native flora and the aesthetics of natural landscapes.
Located in the western part of Adelaide Botanic Garden next to the Ginkgo Gate, the Garden of Health demonstrates the use of plants to heal and promote health and wellbeing in western and non-western cultures. This garden has been designed to give visitors a sense of how the use of medicinal plants has developed over time, from the Neolithic period to present medical science and pharmacology. In this session you will learn about the complexities of managing over 2,300 plants in such a unique collection and you will be given a glimpse into how important the significant tress in the space are for the surrounding collections. Paul will also present some of the history of the development of the garden.