Insights & Resources

Tips to revitalize your plant collection data

Accurate plant records are the backbone of every botanic garden, yet many institutions struggle with incomplete or outdated data. How can you tackle this challenge and transform your collection management?

Highlights from the APGA Symposium, AZH Conference and BIAZA Meeting

Read about our key takeaways from APGA Plant Collection Symposium, the AZH annual conference and BIAZA Records Group Meeting.

Engaging with American Botanic Gardens and European Zoos

Video calls have made it much easier for us to stay connected with the community, but nothing beats in-person interaction. In late June, we had two great opportunities to engage directly with the botanic garden and zoo community about their challenges and gain more insight into how technological innovation might help us address some of these problems.

Threatened Plant Species: Stories of 9 species you may find in a botanic garden near you

Plants serve as the foundation, sustaining ecosystems and life itself. Despite their pivotal role, many plant species face extinction, threatening the balance of entire ecosystems. In this critical era, plant conservation is paramount, yet often overshadowed by other environmental concerns. However, the urgency to conserve threatened plant species is undeniable, driven by habitat destruction, climate change, and other human activities.

Plant Taxonomy in Botanic Gardens

Humans have been occupied by the desire to understand our natural environment since ancient times, spurring many discoveries and new disciplines. One such discipline is the biological classification of plants, also known as plant systematics or plant taxonomy.

Hortis for Education: Nurturing the Next Generation of Botanists

Botanic gardens have long been hailed as the guardians of biodiversity, preserving our planet's plant species for future generations. Among the myriad challenges, one often overlooked aspect is the power of education in fostering a broader understanding and appreciation of the world of plants.

How Botanic Gardens Are Preserving Biodiversity

Plant biodiversity sustains our lives, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear, the medicines we take, and the air we breathe. Yet, biodiversity is being lost at a rapid pace with two in five plant species at risk of extinction worldwide. What role can botanic gardens play in safeguarding the future loss of biodiversity?

Plant Records Webinar: Keeping Up With Plant Names & the Impact of Shared Taxonomy

Do you struggle to keep pace with changing plant names and the challenges of plant taxonomy? Don't miss our upcoming webinar, where we’ll discuss how to stay current with plant names and how shared taxonomy might impact your daily record-keeping workflows.

Hortis at the 2023 APGA annual conference

Earlier this month, we were very excited to have the opportunity to join the annual American Public Gardens Association (APGA) conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

Plant Records Webinar – Kickstarting your plant records inventory

Inventorying your collections at regular intervals is crucial to ensure that you have reliable plant records data. Our last webinar covered this important topic with three case studies from The Dawes Arboretum, Utrecht University Botanic Garden, and Tohono Chul.

Best wishes from the Hortis Team

As we approach the end of 2022, we would like to thank all our members for their continued support. 2022 has been a very exciting year for us at Hortis, we started onboarding the first users in late 2021 and now have gardens using the product on 5 continents.

Plant Records Webinar – Image Management And The Bigger Picture

In many regions of the world, more than 75% of the population has a smartphone. Consequently, with the technological advancements in smartphone photography, most people have a very good camera within easy reach. Is it thought that since 2010, digital camera sales have dropped by 87% and smartphone sales have increased by 600% in the same period.

Plant Records Webinar – Healthy Plant Records: Are they achievable?

A healthy plant records database is vital for the effective management of a plant collection. With a neglected database, there are increased chances of running into a series of problems and underutilisation of your collection.

Plant Records Webinar – Collection Value Scoring

Our last webinar on the 12th of August was all about Collection Value Scoring. No matter the mission and focus of your garden and collection, there is always the question of how you can better understand and communicate the value of your plant collection.

Hortis: How We’re Rethinking Plant Records

n June, we launched Hortis, our next generation plant collection platform. This was announced at our sponsored workshop during the virtual annual American Public Gardens Association conference. We were pleased that the event, titled “Rethinking Plant Records”, was fully booked with 60 delegates.

Floria Handheld update and Upcoming Webinar on Collection Value Scoring

Can technology improve collaboration?

In botanic gardens and collection management, we often find that fruitful collaboration can play a vital role in the garden’s pursuit to reach its goals. The importance of having the ability to innovate and adapt in our industry cannot be overstated. We are continuously presented with exciting new innovations, many of which can radically change the way we perceive actions and processes.

Augmented Reality: Is this the Future of Plant Records?

The Plant Records Webinar series kicked off on Thursday 3rd December with Dr Waheed Arshad discussing the exciting future of Augmented Reality (AR) in the context of plastic-free plant labelling, botanic garden visitation and the communication of plant collections.