British - Irish Botanical Expedition to Tasmania 2018

This January representatives from several horticultural and botanical institutions will be making a field trip to Tasmania, following in the footsteps of plant hunter Harold Comber and his trip to of the 1930s.

Representatives from Nymans will be working in partnership with NT Mount Stewart (Northern Ireland), the National Botanic Garden of Wales, the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland and the International Conifer Conservation programme, who work to conserve and protect endangered conifers (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh).

Generously funded by the RHS, Cotswold Outdoors and a group of private sponsors, the aim is to reintroduce some of the 147 species Harold Comber collected on his original trip. Sadly, many of the specimens he collected have been lost to cultivation. The 2018 expedition looks to retrace his steps and reintroduce lost collections back into UK horticulture. Following the field trip the team at Nymans will be able to replant Tasmanian Walk in the Wild Garden. They'll also be looking to collect alpines as part of the Rock Garden redevelopment project :

The Messel family at Nymans planted their garden with plants from all over the world. They supported many plant hunting trips, such as Harold Comber’s expeditions to Tasmania and the Andes, Frank Kingdom Ward’s trips to the Far East and Ernest Henry Wilson's ground breaking expeditions to China. Many of Harold’s original specimens have contributed to  collections which are on view in National Trust and botanic gardens across the country.

On Harold’s return to the UK he had slides of his trip made from the photos he took while in Tasmania. He used the slides to give illustrated talks about his trip. His daughter, Mary Comber-Miles, a successful botanical illustrator, has recently donated the collection of slides to Nymans.     

The expedition will start out from Hobart and move around the island for around three and half weeks. On route the team will be collecting any viable seed, herbarium material and any DNA material required. All work will be carried out with Hobart Botanic Garden under their permits and any other collections will be under permits presented by the Australian Government

Follow the trip on Instagram at NymansNT or if you’re on Twitter, watch out for updates on NymansNT with the hashtag #BIBIET2018 .

You can visit the wild garden during normal garden opening hours. Please ask for details at Reception.