Latest News

Latest update on the 'Early Wins' programe
See report on FOBS holiday in Scotland below
See report on FOBS visit to Sheffield-Tinsley Canal below
See report on FOBS visit to RHS Bridgewater below

Next meeting

Small is beautiful: Imaging in botany - Tuesday 24 September at 10.30

Speaker: Dr Stephen Rolfe
A senior lecturer in Animal and Plant Sciences at Sheffield University, Stephen has a particular interest in microbiology and plant disease. His research focuses on plant responses to a variety of stresses using biological imaging techniques. He leads the P3 Wolfson Centre for Plant Disease Phenomics, using imaging to explore and measure resistance to plant diseases. Chlorophyll fluorescence and multi-spectral imaging is used to quantify disease development and the impact on host plants. Current projects are focused on diseases of Brassicas including clubroot and light leaf spot but also looking at microbial communities in natural environments. This includes plant pathogen populations but also the root microbiome and degradation of pollutants in contaminated environments.
Dorothy Fox Education Centre
FOBS Members free, Visitors £5, Students £2

An evening with Tom Stuart-Smith - Wednesday 9th October at 6.30 pm

Tom is a Landscape Architect with an International reputation. He has designed parks, gardens and landscapes throughout Europe, India, USA and Caribbean. A winner of many Chelsea gold medals including several 'Best in Show', this should prove to be an exciting and stimulating evening.
FOBS Members free, Visitors £5, Students £2

New Chair and Deputy needed for the Friends

We have a number of volunteer vacancies coming up which will be announced over the next few weeks. Most importantly, our current Chair's term of office (3 years) comes to an end in November and we are looking for a new Chair and Deputy Chair - to take over the reins. It is a wonderful opportunity to help steer the organisation and to work with and learn from a splendid bunch of fellow volunteers.
Please contact the Jill if you are interested in taking over, or can suggest someone else who might be by emailing chairfobs@gmail.com

New history book launched on 8 September 2019

Sheffield Botanical Gardens: a history. Volume 2 (1844-1858)
FOBS Historian, Alison Hunter, has just published a 270-page book continuing the story of the Gardens. This was a busy period as a new society took over the management following the financial collapse of the first company in 1844. An improving economic situation and successful business practices meant that all debts were paid off in the first decade. Funds were then available for further developments including a new house for the Curator, extensions to the conservatories and an elegant tea pavilion. This was a time of significant advances horticultural knowledge as shown by the inclusion of newly introduced species listed in the Curator's plant catalogue.
Price £15. Books available at FOBS meetings and at www.amazon.co.uk

Update on the 'Early Wins' Programme - 29 August 2019

New South African Bed, Osborn's Field
Photo ©R. Egglestone

New planting in the AGM Border - R. Egglestone

New planting in one of the
Award of Garden Merit (AGM) beds
Photo ©R. Egglestone

New planting near Victorian beds
next to Curator's House
Photo ©R. Egglestone

Update on the 'Early Wins' Programme - 6 July 2019

Rose Garden
Photo ©R. Egglestone

New planting in one of the
Award of Garden Merit (AGM) beds
Photo ©R. Egglestone

New planting near Victorian beds - R. Egglestone

New planting near Victorian beds
next to Curator's House
Photo ©R. Egglestone

FOBS visit to the Sheffield Tinsley Canal - Friday 16 June 2019

Members of FOBS accompanied Ken Balkow (one of our speakers in April) along the Canal to investigate the plant life. Starting in the pouring rain at Attercliffe, the group made leisurely progress to Meadowhall observing many kinds of flowers and plants. Fortunately the rain stopped at about the half-way mark. We also encountered a pair of Canada geese who were very protective of their goslings.

Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber) and Hemlock Water Dropwort (Oenanthe crocata) Photo ©A. Hunter	Hop Trefoil (Trifolium campestre) Photo ©A. Hunter	Many-flowered Rose (Rosa multiflora) Photo ©A. Hunter
Calla Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) Photo ©A. Hunter	Wall Barley (Hordeum murinum) growing in a car park Photo ©J. Sinclair	Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) and goslings Photo ©J. Sinclair

FOBS Scottish Holiday - 9 - 13 June

The FOBS Photo editor would like more pictures from the gardens members visited on the holiday - please go to Photos for format and contact details.

Gresgarth Photo ©B. Plant	Tyninghame Photo ©J. Dykes	Blackdyke Photo ©B. Plant
Broadwoodside Photo ©B. Plant	Irises, Inveresk Photo ©B. Plant	Green roofed potting shed, Inveresk Photo ©J. Dykes
Amorphophallus titanum Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh Photo ©B. Plant	Arisaema ringens Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh Photo ©B. Plant	Glasshouse Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh Photo ©J. Dykes
Alpine Garden Kevock Garden Plants Photo ©J. Dykes	Meconopsis RHS Harlow Carr Photo ©B. Plant	Candelabra primulas RHS Harlow Carr Photo ©B. Plant

FOBS visit site of RHS Bridgewater - Monday 20 May 2019

FOBS visit RHS Bridgewater - J. Sinclair

Photo ©J. Sinclair

20 lucky FOBS members recently enjoyed a ‘sneak peek’ tour of RHS Bridgewater, the RHS garden being developed in Salford. The garden doesn’t open officially until summer 2020 but RHS Director-General Sue Biggs had suggested the visit when she gave a talk to FOBS last year.

Bridgewater is apparently the biggest garden project in Europe. Members were treated to a private tour of the vast grounds, once a stylish Victorian estate that has been derelict for many years. It is now being redeveloped in line with a masterplan by designer Tom Stuart-Smith (due to lecture for us later this year. It is still very much a building site, and we needed to don stout footwear and high-vis jackets for our tour. We saw progress on the first phase of works which include enormous walled gardens that will contain a paradise garden, and adjoining kitchen garden, orchards, a new lake and restored old lake, the site of the planned welcome centre, and old bothies and potting sheds that will become display areas.

The tour also included the wilder areas of the estate that will be tamed for future phases of work. We met the pigs who are helping clear the garden of invasive Rhododendron ponticum, saw where the Scouts had once created an open-air chapel, and glimpsed an island folly, a listed ice-house and the site of a lost fountain that had been brought to Salford from the Great Exhibition. It is a mammoth undertaking, being carried forward with great enthusiasm and expertise. We look forward to arranging another trip for members next year, to see the garden once it has officially opened.

Update on the 'Early Wins' Programme - 7 May 2019

South African Bed, Osborn's Field - R. Egglestone

New South African Bed
Photo ©R. Egglestone

New planting near Victorian beds
next to Curator's House
Photo ©R. Egglestone

Education at the Gardens

We’re embarking on a new initiative in partnership with Sheffield City Council and the Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust. We’ll be developing and piloting a programme of events and engagement activities at the Gardens, with a particular focus on currently hard-to-reach groups. The work will be undertaken by a new paid education officer, funded for 12 months by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Trust. More details and the full job advert are here:
sheffield.gov.uk/home/job-vacancies/Joblistings/project-officer
The closing date for applications was 15th May and we hope to have someone in post by the summer.

Update on the 'Early Wins' Programme - 2 March 2019

Snowdrop planting near Lucombe Oak - R. Egglestone

Work on the 'Early Wins' programme continues with the erection of a supporting wall in Osborn's Field for the new South African Bed and clumps of snowdrops planted around the Lucombe Oak near the edge of the West Lawn.

Time for a change - FOBS will be updating this year

FOBS Logo 1 (1984-1995)
FOBS Logo1

FOBS Logo 2 (1996-2003)
FOBS Logo2

FOBS Logo 3 (2004-2018)
FOBS Logo3

FOBS Logo 4 - a new look coming in 2019
FOBS Logo4

Volunteer Briefing - 9 January 2019

Curator Ian Turner welcomed the group and expressed gratitude for the work done by volunteers. In the past year total hours had exceeded 4000 and the number of volunteers was over 100. There had been no days completely lost to the weather. The highest number of attendees on any one day had been 42, the lowest 11. Volunteer hours now included those working at other times, not just the Wednesday morning team. Group members were asked to contact the FOBS Chair with ideas for increasing the number of volunteers, to improve training and to help plan for additional sessions of work on other days, including weekends.

Ian then went on to review health and safety issues, which are essentially risk assessment and common sense. Always select the correct tool for the job, if any task involves strain don't do it, keep your work area tidy, be aware of other people and don't leave tools lying around. Trips and slips can cause accidents. Ask for help if something is too heavy to lift. Please don't overfill the dumpy bags - think about the safety of the staff too.

It was a lovely bright day, occasionally sunny, but cold. After pausing to admire the Acacia baileyana in bud, near the gate on the way out from the Education Centre, Ian led a tour to inspect the projects currently in progress, many of them funded and supported by FOBS. The group eventually returned to the Centre in time for a very welcome hot drink.

AGM Bed - has been cleared after the plants had grown too large. Will be dug over again and replanted with perennials. It is likely that many of the beautiful allium bulbs will persist.	Newly planted scree bed in the Marnock Garden	A new project in Osborn's Field, this sheltered south-facing patch, backed by a stone wall, has a relatively warm micro-climate. A new South African Bed will be home to plants from both the Western and Eastern Cape.
Also in Osborn's Field is the current Plant of the Month. Sophora microphylla is a member of the pea family and provides a welcome splash of colour at this time of year.	New planting next to the Curator's House cafe includes a eucalyptus tree which will provide shade in summer.	Trees and overgrown shrubs along the wall will be replaced to provide a more pleasing background to the colourful bedding plants. The bedding is planted out twice a year and is very popular with visitors.
Outside the central pavilion Ian stopped to talk about the gardens in general. It was noted that the clock had stopped due to a power cut. Apparently there is quite a complicated procedure to restart it at the proper time!	A view across the East Lawn reveals the trees spaced out in the "Gardenesque" style, each having suffient space to develop without tangling with its neighbours. Our original curator, Robert Marnock, was an exponent of this design.	Now that the thicket of shrubs around its base has been removed, the semi-evergreen hybrid Lucombe Oak can be really appreciated.