Insights & Resources
The latest news, insights, resources, & events.
Mendel's Peas, Climate Research and 140 Years of Botanical Discovery: Inside Oldenburg's Botanical Garden
From its beginnings as a teaching garden to its role in university research today, discover how Oldenburg’s 4,500-species living collection supports science, education and future climate research.
The Healing Power of Plants: How San Diego Botanic Garden Is Connecting Science and Conservation
Inside San Diego Botanic Garden’s growing medicinal plant collection, where conservation, research and traditional plant knowledge come together.
Beyond the Animals: How Calgary Zoo's Gardens Support Wildlife Conservation
Gardening in Calgary means contending with temperatures below −30°C, drying winds, and sudden Chinooks. Discover how these challenges have shaped resilient living collections that support native biodiversity, animal wellbeing, and conservation far beyond the garden.
Palms, Orchids and a Piece of Old Florida: Exploring Pinecrest Gardens
A historic tropical garden with a surprising past. This month, we head to Pinecrest Gardens in South Florida.
Mapping a Living Museum: How UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden Is Documenting Its Plant Collections
This month’s Garden of the Month takes us to Los Angeles, California, and the UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden. Set within a natural arroyo on UCLA’s campus, the Garden is home to more than 1,500 species of plants from around the world and is using Hortis as part of The Collections Project, a major inventory of its living collections.
How Volunteers Built a Native Botanic Garden to Safeguard Threatened Species: Shoalhaven Heads
This month's Garden of the Month takes us back to New South Wales, Australia, for our second consecutive feature from Down Under. What began as two neighbours germinating seeds on a council reserve has grown into a thriving collection of over 550 Australian native species, tended entirely by volunteers and open to the community around the clock.
From Farm Paddocks to the Southern Hemisphere’s Largest Cool-Climate Garden: Mayfield Garden
This month’s Garden of the Month takes us to Mayfield Garden in New South Wales, Australia. What began as farmland has grown into one of the largest cool-climate gardens in the Southern Hemisphere, with the team now focused on documenting and managing it as it evolves.
A Garden That Grew with the Land: The Story of Moore Farms Botanical Garden
This month’s Garden of the Month takes us to Moore Farms Botanical Garden in South Carolina. Evan Cook shares how the garden has evolved from former cropland into a thriving living collection, and how digital mapping now plays a key role in supporting its continued growth.
Starting from a Single Notebook: How St. George Village Botanical Garden Rebuilt Its Records
This month’s Garden of the Month comes from the Caribbean. St. George Village Botanical Garden sits on land shaped by many different chapters of history, from early settlement through agriculture to its role today as a botanical garden.
From Experimental Farm to Living Collections: How Cantigny Park Curates Their Plant Stories
We’re opening the 2026 Garden of the Month series with Cantigny Park. It’s a garden with a long habit of testing ideas, paying attention to what works, and learning from experience. This piece looks at how that mindset shows up in the gardens today – from how plants are cared for, to how knowledge is recorded and shared for the long term.
Ferns, Rhododendrons and a Card Index: How Marburg Botanical Garden Is Preserving Five Decades of Knowledge
December’s Garden of the Month brings us to Marburg, where the city’s centuries-old botanical garden, now settled in the Lahn Hills, is steadily reshaping nearly fifty years of records for the future.
Tasmania’s Plant Story, Two Centuries On: Inside the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
This month’s spotlight falls on the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in Hobart, where over 200 years of horticultural history continue to grow into something new.
The Rediscovery of Hidden Treasures: How Holker Hall Is Rebuilding Its Plant Records
We’re continuing our Garden of the Month series with a feature on Holker Hall, a historic estate in Cumbria where a small but dedicated team is tackling one of the biggest challenges a garden can face: rebuilding its plant records.
Cacti, Grasslands and Fifty Years of Records: Inside West Texas’s Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center
We’re thrilled to kick off our new Garden of the Month series with a spotlight on the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center & Botanical Gardens. Nestled in the high-desert foothills of West Texas, this remarkable garden blends breathtaking landscapes with decades of dedication to plant conservation and education. Learn how CDRI is embracing digital curation and setting a powerful example of how gardens can evolve while staying rooted in their mission.
What is Planted, Where It Is, and Why It Matters: Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium Embraces Hortis
With Hortis, the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium is bringing clarity to its botanical records: what’s planted, where it is, and why it matters.
Hortis Supports a Species on the Brink of Extinction
When a critically endangered tree species was found fruiting in an Australian botanic garden, accurate and accessible plant records enabled swift conservation action. Learn how this discovery sparked a collaborative effort to help save Syzygium glenum—a species with fewer than a dozen mature individuals left in the wild—from disappearing forever.
Did You Hear That Pin Drop? Improving the Efficiency and Accessibility of Plant Collections Management
Managing 44,000 plants across 3,000 species was no small feat for the Indianapolis Zoo, but adopting Hortis in 2024 transformed their approach. It has helped them streamline data management, improved collaboration, and opened new opportunities to enhance plant conservation and visitor engagement.
From Root Ball to Cloud
The Muiderslot Castle’s centuries-old gardens are home to rare, historic plants, carefully cultivated since the seventeenth century. With a desire to preserve this “living heritage,” garden director Henk Boers and his team have embarked on a journey to digitally document every plant in the collection. Through the “From Root Ball to Cloud” project, the team has adopted innovative botanical software to protect and share this unique legacy, blending tradition with modern technology to enhance the visitor experience and connect future generations to the past.
From oaks to aviaries: How Micke Grove Zoo’s plant records have grown with Hortis
As we continue celebrating the stories of our diverse users, we delve into the world of zoo horticulture at Micke Grove Zoo, a charming haven located within the picturesque Micke Grove Park in California. Dr Avanti Mallapur, Zoo Curator, shares her insights and experiences on how Hortis has helped their approach to plant management and conservation.
Thriving through change: How Hortis has helped our plant records at Hertfordshire Zoo
In the latest entry of our blog series, we hear about the journey at Hertfordshire Zoo, a family-run institution nestled in the scenic Broxbourne Woods of Hertfordshire, UK. Matt Berridge, Deputy Head Gardener, shares his story.
Making Plant Records Useful Again: A Wave Hill Success Story
In the latest installment of our blog post series, we delve into the Hortis success story at Wave Hill, a renowned public garden nestled in Riverdale, Bronx, NY. Authored by Wave Hill staff (Jess Brey, Ruth Rea Howell Senior Horticultural Interpreter, and Steven Conaway, PhD, Associate Director of Horticulture), the article details the transformative journey undertaken by Wave Hill in resurrecting their plant records.
Plant records and more: Sculpture by the Lakes achieves prestigious botanic garden accreditation
In our third blogpost in a series commemorating the achievements of Hortis gardens, we travel to the UK, where Sculpture by the Lakes in Dorset joins just 83 gardens worldwide with official Botanic Garden status.
Paving the way to a world-class botanic garden: James Cook University's Hortis Success Story
In this second instalment of our blogpost series, we continue our journey into the remarkable successes of Hortis gardens worldwide. Today, we hear from Brandan Espe, Environmental Officer/Supervisor, Grounds at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, about the power of accurate record-keeping and its profound impact on their collection management.
Transforming Record-keeping: Tohono Chul’s Hortis Success Story
Our new blogpost series focuses on the successes of gardens around the world. We invite Hortis gardens to share their experiences with the community, and to help inspire more gardens to improve their record-keeping.
