There is something in a name when it comes to gardens, Clare Fraser writes.
Dunedin Botanic Garden has a place in many people's hearts.
In the latest residents' opinion survey, it achieved 98% visitor satisfaction and there is little doubt its natural beauty plays a part in this.
We enjoy a garden's beauty but what is the difference between a beautiful park and a botanic garden? What makes a garden ''botanic''?
Botanic gardens are a European concept with their roots in the academic study of medicinal plants. The first was created in 1543 at Italy's University of Pisa and, by the following century, these medicinal gardens had spread to universities and medical practices throughout central Europe.
By the 16th and 17th centuries, Europe was exploring the world and discovering exciting new species. Gardens such as England's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, were set up to cultivate the exotic curiosities and they took to actively encouraging botanical exploration.
As the British Empire grew, so did its need for wealth and it began trading extensively. New gardens were established in tropical regions, such as Calcutta Botanic Gardens in 1787, almost solely to cultivate commercial crops such as cloves, tea, coffee, palm oil and cocoa.
This focus on commercial plants was essential at the time but nearly led to the gardens' decline as institutions and schools of agriculture developed independently, with a more scientific focus, leaving the ''cultivational'' gardens almost redundant.
However, in the 18th century, pleasure gardens were created throughout Europe and the British Commonwealth.
Some were tea gardens, some connected to natural springs, spas or public houses and others were entertainment centres in their own right with hot-air balloon ascents, and displays of balancing and rope-dancing.
In Victorian times, there was a desire to improve public conditions in the new industrial towns. Green areas were inserted into the framework of smoky streets, mills and factories and, by the 19th and 20th centuries, public gardens had popped up throughout Europe and the British Commonwealth.
These were mostly pleasure gardens and the only botanical activities were labelling collections and exchanging seeds.
These historic influences are visible in modern botanic gardens. While botanic gardens around the world offer visitors recreation, they retain an underlying connection with scientific research, education and conservation.
The need to protect the world's plant species from extinction has amplified the role of botanic gardens. Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, for example, is preparing for a worst-case scenario, aiming to store seed of 25% of the world's plants by 2020.
Many gardens without seed-banking facilities have a role in wild or ''in-situ'' conservation, in which living plants of known wild origin are grown and protected in a garden environment.
Dunedin Botanic Garden does not have a seed bank, but contributes to the collection and distribution of seed for conservation. It also runs community workshops and revegetation projects and trains apprentices.
Usually in New Zealand, government-funded or government-sponsored bodies conduct research and conservation, rather than botanic gardens, which are funded by ratepayers.
An advantage of New Zealand's funding system is that, unlike other countries where often there is a fence and an entry fee, our botanic gardens can be enjoyed free of charge.
The success of many botanic gardens is due to the generosity of visitors, benefactors, volunteers and groups such as Friends of the Botanic Garden, for example, the Dunedin Botanic Garden information centre is staffed by volunteers 363 days a year and whole developments have been funded by private donors.
However, New Zealand doesn't differ in the traditional defining point of a botanic garden, the grouping of plants in educationally themed, labelled collections.
Dunedin Botanic Garden displays 16 main plant collections, arranged either horticulturally, aesthetically or taxonomically (the science of categorising organisms according to their features).
Some collections are themed by plant habit, such as the native plant collection's divaricating border; others by natural habitat, such as the coastal borders.
In the geographic collection, visitors can glimpse the wild lands of the world, seeing species as they grow naturally, as opposed to cultivated varieties.
Like encyclopaedias for home gardeners, some collections are sorted into horticultural use, such as the rock garden.
Tucked away near the main entrance to the lower botanic garden, the theme borders take this concept to a particularly useful conclusion with displays of ''plants for foliage colour'', ''plants for dry shade'' and ''plants for fragrance''.
Easier than an internet search, these borders demonstrate at a glance plants that will live in local conditions.
In the same way that modern museums have moved beyond orderly rows of objects, Dunedin Botanic Garden incorporates aesthetic elements to stimulate the eye, not just the brain, for example the southern African garden.
Arranged in biological communities according to habitat type such as desert and forest, it is landscaped among rocks on a gorgeous sun-soaked hillside.
Tracks wind through the area, incorporating peaceful glimpses of distant views.
Each of the plant collections is managed by a curator and new developments are planned years in advance.
Plants and seeds are ordered in time for the propagation service to raise them on site. Planting maps are maintained for each bed in the garden and a new accession record made about the provenance of each plant, something essential for the integrity of the collection.
Educational information is another defining feature of a botanic garden and the Dunedin Botanic Garden has a plethora of signs containing information about plants, collections and other features.
Schools, garden groups, polytechnics and universities use the collections as a study resource and there are tours, workshops, musical events, displays, exhibitions, public lectures and a horticultural question-and-answer service.
Even with all this science, conservation and education, the pleasure garden concept still has its place.
Dunedin's answer to Central Park, this 28ha central city oasis manages to be a peaceful haven as well as a place for casual fun, organised recreational events and serious botanical, conservation and horticultural activity.
It also has a silver award for accessibility from Be. Accessible.
Clare Fraser is information services officer at Dunedin Botanic Garden.
