Last Thursday, while at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, I was prepared to scrub the cut offs of metal slatted Venetian blinds on which we had written the name of vegetables. They needed to be cleaned for reuse. We use these as identifying stakes in the garden. They do the job perfectly well and provide an incentive for home gardeners to use what is at hand.

Coordinator Adam explained new signs were in production with the expectation these might be ready for the Food Garden later this year. The intent of the organisation is to standardise the look around the many hectares and across the many different plant areas.

Already the section devoted to Tasmanian native plants, on the other side of the Gardens, has its new signs. At the end of my day, I wandered over to have a look.

These are practical and flexible. The stake is separate from the sign, and the curly head of the stake allows for a sign to be threaded on in such a way that strong winds and nosy native animals won’t knock them off.

In addition there are yellow circular signs which provided information about the uses of some plants, using indigenous knowledge.

Directional signs through the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens will help you find the Tasmanian collection of native plants and everything else.