We’re delighted to welcome Carolyn Clark as the new Chair of the Friends of the Botanical Gardens. Carolyn was formally voted in by members at today’s meeting (28 June). She takes over from Acting Chair Peter Kohn, who was warmly thanked by our President Sue Kohler for stepping in over the last 8 months.

Join us tomorrow (28 June) for a talk on garden pests, a public tour of the Gardens with a focus on early summer flowers, and the election of a new chair for the Friends!

Our next pop-up Plant Sale will be on Sunday 19th June from 1pm at 75 Dalewood Avenue in Beauchief (S8 0EG). Some familiar plants for sale as well as some very unusual ones, all grown by our volunteers in peat-free compost and offered at reasonable prices.

Many thanks to local crime author Russ Thomas who joined us for a splendid session last night (13 June). We heard readings from two of his Sheffield-based novels and talked about why he chose the Botanical Gardens as the setting for his best-selling murder-mystery NightHawking.

It was great to welcome two groups to the Gardens for our Earthshot tours, run as part of the Broomhill Festival. If you missed the in-person events, you can still follow the tour digitally at https://sbg.gardenexplorer.org/tour.aspx and learn about environmentally friendly practices and activities in the Gardens.

Join us on Monday 13th June for lunchtime walks and an evening talk. We’re running two public tours as part of the Broomhill Festival, looking at activities and practices inspired by the Earthshot goals, and then An Evening With Russ Thomas, whose last novel involved a body buried in the Botanical Gardens!

Do you know a Sorbus from a Sorbaria? Or a Fagus from a Ficus? And are you passionate about plants? Sheffield Botanical Gardens has recently transferred its plant records onto a new system, IrisBG, and is now looking for a plant records officer to take on the exciting challenge of maintaining the records of the collection of over 4000 different taxa.

We’re holding one of our pop-up plant sales on Sunday 29th May from 1pm on the lower lawns of the Botanical Gardens. Everyone is welcome!

Join us on Tuesday (24 May) for our monthly lecture and public walk pairing. Our talk is at 10.30 - a Behind the Scenes glimpse from members of the Chatsworth production team - followed by a woodland walk at 1pm.

Laura, our new education and engagement co-ordinator, is looking for volunteers to join two new working groups. One group will work on event planning and organisation in the Gardens, and the other group will develop ideas for interpretation and signage.

We’ll be running a stall at the lovely Pollen Market on Castlegate on Sunday 15 May. There will be lots of garden plants for sale, plus vintage books, heirloom seeds and much else - as well as a chance to chat with the Gardens’ new education co-ordinator Laura from 10am.

Thanks to Prof Ian Rotherham for an expansive lecture on how we can help address the current challenges to the natural world through changing the way we garden. A recording of the lecture is now available in the password-protected Friends Area of this website.

Our lecture tonight (Monday 9th May) is by Professor Ian Rotherham and will explore how to support nature and improve our own well-being in the way we garden.

The Friends are proposing to build a volunteer centre for all the volunteers who work in the Gardens. It will be adjacent to the cold frames, replacing an old shed, just below the Dorothy Fox Centre.

We’re looking for some new tour guides to help us run our programme of public and private Gardens tours. As a newcomer, you’ll join an existing group of experienced guides, and will be offered formal training and support.