One of the major aims of BGANZ is to build capacity and actively support regional botanic gardens. We offer membership to botanic gardens, arboreta, herbaria, Friends associations, industry organisations, institutions and individuals. BGANZ Members receive a wide range of fantastic benefits, including the opportunity to network and connect with like-minded institutions and individuals in your professional community.

Benefits differ between member categories and are outlined in the three member brochures linked above.

You will be joining a network of national and international botanic gardens, a wide range of institutions and associated professional bodies and groups such as Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), universities, local councils, garden Friends’ groups and other organisations with an interest in horticulture.

You will also receive subscription to The BOTANIC GARDENer, which is published electronically twice a year. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to submit your own feature articles and news items for publication.

Other member benefits may include:

• Training and development opportunities
• A weekly eNewsletter
• Professional development supported through BGANZ Prizes and Awards programs
• A purpose-built botanical gardens plant database, Hortis, for individual member botanic gardens. Institutional and Associate BGANZ members are eligible for an exclusive special offer: doubled editing capacity for the first year of your subscription
• Development of a Living Collections Toolkit, an online/interactive resource to allow regional gardens to better manage their living collections.

Networking, training and development opportunities

The greatest membership benefit for BGANZ members is the potential for networking with other botanic gardens, with the opportunity to learn from the experience of others, and to have access to a wide variety of shared knowledge and resources.

BGANZ was awarded funding in 2021 by the Victorian State Government (as part of its Growing Victoria’s Botanic Gardens program) to develop a Victorian Regional Gardens Plant Record Management System. The Hortis plant collection database platform is a purpose-built botanic gardens plant database for individual botanic gardens capturing information on plant numbers, species diversity and rare and threatened species held within collections. The grant facilitated the design, development, implementation and training for the database, which has since been successfully rolled out to almost 30 BGANZ member gardens. The database has greatly enhanced the accuracy of collections. Institutional and Associate BGANZ members are eligible for an exclusive special offer: doubled editing capacity for the first year of your subscription.

With excess funds from the Growing Victoria’s Botanic Gardens program grant, BGANZ Vic and BCARM are collaborating to develop a Living Collections Toolkit. The toolkit will support regional botanic gardens to better manage their living collections through an online/interactive resource hosted on the BGANZ website. Initially available to Victorian members, the toolkit will later be released to all members.

Professional development programs are mainly organised through regional group events. Members are encouraged to attend their nearest event.

Specialist Networks

BGANZ has several specialist groups that have been set up for the benefit of BGANZ members — Botanic Gardens Education Network Australia and New Zealand (BGEN) is the specialist development network for botanic gardens staff and volunteers working in the areas of education, interpretation, visitor and public programs, outreach and community engagement, and adult learning. The goal of BGEN is to provide a forum for people to share experiences and resources. Contact us to join the BGEN network.

BGANZ Collections and Record Management Working Group (BCARM) is the BGANZ Collections and Records Management group fostering collaboration and advocating for best practices in collections and associated records management (collections management) across the BGANZ. It supports the need for collective action across all BGANZ gardens to ensure the development of appropriate strategies for the security of the living collections.

BGANZ Arboriculture Group (BARB) is a pilot specialist group that works together in advancing tree management and conservation across the BGANZ network.

Communications Network. BGANZ is always on the lookout for members who want to contribute to the website and social media platforms we operate including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Contact Dr Rebecca Harcourt at media@bganz.org.au to see how you can get involved promoting botanic gardens in your region. We’re interested in hearing from all types of industry professionals especially those with different points of view. Join the conversation!