Welcome to the premiere issue of Education E-update! As a U.S. member or friend of Botanic Gardens Conservation International, you can expect to receive every month the latest news about BGCI (U.S.) education programs, as well as information to enhance your skills and understanding as a plant conservation or botanic garden educator. We will also keep you up to date on education opportunities from the institutions that make up, along with BGCI (U.S.), the Partnership for Plants in North America: the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta, the Center for Plant Conservation, and the Canadian Botanical Conservation Network. The content of each issue of Education E-update will change, but you can expect the same format and sections each month.

BGCI (U.S.) kicks off Plant for the Planet! public awareness campaign: BGCI (U.S.) has launched its newest public awareness campaign, Plant for the Planet!, aimed at promoting actions home gardeners can take to help save threatened plants. The first part of the campaign features the publication of A Plant Conservation Checklist for Gardeners, which highlights simple conservation recommendations for gardeners. The Checklist is being distributed free to BGCI member gardens in the United States to use in programs and to give to visitors. The campaign website, www.plantfortheplanet.org, features additional tips and information. To receive free copies of the Checklist for use in your programs, email brian.johnson@bgci.org.

Save the date! BGCI's Sixth International Congress on Education in Botanic Gardens, "The Nature of Success, Success for Nature": Hosted by the University of Oxford Botanic Gardens in Oxford, England, the Congress will take place Sept. 10-14, 2006. Themes being addressed during the Congress include achieving sustainability; public awareness of plants; reflection on practice; and working with challenging groups. To register your interest in the Congress, sign up at http://www.bgci.org/educationcongress/register.html. Workshop, poster and paper submissions for the Congress can also be made at http://www.bgci.org/educationcongress/contribute.html.

Get them while they're hot! Gorgeous "Plants for Life" posters: The "Plants for Life" education campaign was launched last year to raise awareness of our dependence on plants. As part of the campaign, BGCI produced thousands of visually stunning posters of close-up images of plants for use in education programs, classrooms, offices, meeting rooms, and more. For more information on the "Plants for Life" campaign, visit www.plantsforlife.net. To request posters, email brian.johnson@bgci.org.

BGCI (U.S.) promotes plant conservation to zoos: Many zoos house extensive plant collections, and some are home to leading plant research facilities. For this reason, BGCI (U.S.) this spring has been reaching out to zoo horticulturists, educators and administrators at two regional conferences of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. Brian Johnson, Education Officer for BGCI (U.S.), presented "A Natural Fit: Incorporating Plant Conservation Into Zoo Education Programs" at AZA meetings in Kansas City and Knoxville.

Have you seen these publications? Make sure you stay informed about current issues in botanic garden and plant conservation education by reading Roots, BGCI's education review. Published twice a year, Roots features articles by authors from around the world. If you are a member but not receiving Roots, email education@bgci.org to find out to whom each issue is being addressed. You can also get your own copy of Roots by joining BGCI as an individual member. For more information on membership options: http://www.bgci.org/home/individualmembership.htm.

Plant: The Ultimate Visual Reference to Plants and Flowers of the World: From Janet Marinelli, Director of Publishing at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, comes an extensive encyclopedia of 2,000 of the most spectacular and imperiled plants on the planet. Plant also shows gardeners how they can play a personal and important role in helping to save them. This beautiful text is published in association with BGCI and is available at Brooklyn Botanic Garden's online shop at www.bbg.org.

Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust: Proposals are now being accepted for 2005 grants from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust. The foundation supports education and research in ornamental horticulture at not-for-profit, tax-exempt institutions, primarily in North and South America. Proposals are due Aug. 15, 2005. For more information or for a copy of the grant guidelines, email Thomas Daniel, Grants Director, tdaniel@calacademy.org.

Photography - The Power of Plants: The U.S. Botanic Garden is conducting a search for compelling color or black-and-white images that demonstrate the power of plants. An equal-award honorarium will be given to eight winning images. Additionally, the eight winning images will become part of a touring exhibit, "The Power of Plants. For more information: www.slowlife-exhibit.org.

Have a botanic garden or plant conservation education question that you've always wanted answered? Submit your questions to Education E-update, and we'll choose one each month to answer. (We can't promise to be able to answer them all!) You may be wondering where to find professional development, or you may simply be curious about a piece of botanic garden trivia. Send your questions to e-update@bgci.org.

This month's question comes from Gail Manning, Education Director at Texas Discovery Gardens, a BGCI member institution in Dallas. Gail asks:

Q: "How can I label or describe plants in a way that works throughout the year?"
A: Focusing your interpretation on conservation is an easy way to avoid seasonal confusion in your messaging. For practical reasons, you won't be able to interpret every plant in your garden, but you can highlight plants with compelling conservation stories. For example, gardens are home to many plants that are thriving in cultivation, but struggling in the wild. This presents an opportunity to showcase garden efforts in conservation. Your visitors can also play a significant role in saving some of your garden's plants in their native habitats. Use your interpretive messaging to connect with visitors by making the plant relevant to their lives and gardening practices.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an email to e-update@bgci.org.

To reuse content from Education E-update in your own publication, contact e-update@bgci.org. Feel free to forward this newsletter, however.

To reach a real person, send an email to Brian Johnson, Education Officer, at brian.johnson@bgci.org or call 718-623-7215.

Check out BGCI's newest public awareness campaign, Plant for the Planet!

Plant: The Ultimate Visual Reference to Plants and Flowers of the World