Expansion of southern hemisphere plants

Southern hemisphere plants are somewhat of a challenge in our climate. However, the current Southern hemisphere bed in the Rock garden has been a great success. So much so that we have decided to expand the area into the old cultivar beds. Execution of the lay out starts beginning of September.

The expansion takes place to the cultivation beds left of the dam to Fort Hoofddijk. While cultivars are important in a garden, Utrecht University Botanic Gardens are focused on conservation, education and research. Therefore, we want to expand the collection of hardy species from alpine areas in Chile, South Africa and New Zealand. This is a good opportunity to see the diversity within species not commonly grown outside in The Netherlands.

Super continent

Around 300 million years ago, Gondwanaland was the super continent comprised of the present-day southern hemisphere and India. When Gondwanaland fell apart into South America, Australia and Africa, the plant life diversified. However, today we can still see plant species and plant families that are found on two or even all three southern continents. For example, two species of Southern beech (Nothofagus antarctica and N. obliqua) are currently planted in the Southern hemisphere bed, but we would also like to try Nothofagus cunninghamii (Australia) and N. solandri (New Zealand) . With the ability to show all the species in the same location, we are able to explain evolution, ecology, plant family, genus taxonomy, co-evolution and adaptions. This allows us to expand the range of teaching both to students and visitors. Another example is Fuchsia (Fuchsia spp.): the well known species are cultivars of South American species that are pollinated by hummingbirds. The three species of Fuchsia from New Zealand are much less known. These species have a vividly blue pollen and are pollinated by honeyeaters.

New challenges

Interesting families that grow in the southern hemisphere are i.a. Proteaceae, Myrtle family (Myrtaceae) and Rose family (Rosaceae). The genus Rubus belonging to the Rosaceae is very noteworthy because it exists on all three southern continents. Alpine species that we grow successfully already in the Gardens are Milford everlasting (Helichrysum milfordiae), Acaena spp., Azorella spp., Torch lily (Kniphofia spp.), Knawels (Scleranthus spp.) and Ice plant (Delosperma spp.). New challenges we would like to try are i.a. Benthamiella spp., New Zealand daisy (Celmisia spp.) and Felicia spp