Celebrating Fascination of Plants Day 2024

Fascination of plants day is right around the corner, and we wanted to let you know a little bit about Fascination of Plants Day, and how we will be celebrating it this year!

Fascination of Plants Day aims to celebrate and raise awareness of the role of plants in natural processes and how they impact our every day lives. The Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden are hosting a lecture on the 16th of May, delivered by Caroline Holmes “Impressionists in their Garden – Living light and colour”. The annual Spring plant sale is being held on Fascination of plants day itself, with a wide variety of plants (and some books) available for you to take home.

For more information about Fascination of Plants Day, please see the information below and visit the main website here.

To find out what other events are being hosted in Aberdeen to celebrate Fascination of Plants Day, visit the University of Aberdeen Fascination of plants day web page here.

“A series of events across Aberdeen will highlight the importance of plants to society. Activities range from plant sales to workshops exploring the impact of plants on our senses from testing your sense of smell in ‘a herb identifying challenge’ to identifying whether you are a super-taster and might have the bitter-tasting version of the TAS2R38 gene. Visually an open lecture will view gardens through the senses of the Impressionists from Europe, North America and Australia.

The programme is part of the annual Fascination of Plants Day, which encourages people to learn more about the importance of plants and plant science from providing the air we breathe to the sustainable production of nutritious food. In our workshops we will explore the huge range of biodiversity that depends on our plants and how plants themselves interact with animals and fungi to improve the diets and health of humans and animals.

Founded in 2012, Fascination of Plants Day, has become a global movement, with organisations across 56 countries taking part. The programme for this year’s event runs from the 16th to 19th May.

Event co-ordinator Dr Morag McFadyen of Robert Gordon University said: “The programme provides a range of fun and interesting events across several local venues.

“There are opportunities for everyone to get involved and find out more about the many thousands of plant species that exist and how we use them in everyday life.

“We are really looking forward to welcoming visitors and showcasing the truly fascinating world of plants.”

Organisations running events include the University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University, Friends of the Cruickshank Garden, Duthie Park Ranger Service, SRUC, and James Hutton Institute.

Venues include Duthie Park, Zoology building University of Aberdeen, Cruickshank Botanic Garden.”