Friends Of Belfast Botanic Gardens

The Designerie are delighted to announce that we are supporting Friends of Botanic Gardens, with the launch of their brooch and necklace collection.  

These beautiful pieces are each individually handmade and imprinted with fern leaves grown in Botanic Gardens.

As a social enterprise that supports small businesses, it's great for us to have the opportunity to showcase the work Friends of Botanic Gardens do to protect and preserve the wonderful collection of plants. 

Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens (FOBBG) is a small volunteer support group founded to promote and aid the conservation of Belfast Botanic Gardens, its architectural heritage and plants. 

It liaises with Belfast City Council to encourage the conservation of a Botanic Gardens for our city, the wider population of Northern Ireland and a special destination for visitors to our country.

The expertise and knowledge of several plantspeople and gardeners in the group give amateur gardeners the chance to keep learning.

A recent project, led by several of these plantspeople has been the creation of a Global Medicinal Herb Garden in the Victorian tradition. Situated just outside the Tropical Ravine and is a testament to the dedication of volunteers, that despite work being halted at the beginning of the first lockdown, the planting has just been completed.

FOBBG raises money through plant sales, guided walks and talks, donations and recently, sales of our fern ceramic products. 

The group is pleased to be able to donate £20,000 towards the restoration of the Tropical Ravine and the next major architectural project will be the restoration of the Palm House.

Through the collaboration, the beautiful handmade brooches and necklaces will be available in store @ The Designerie.