The importance of climate-resilient urban green spaces, sustainable plants in space and on Earth, and ways to tackle real-world agricultural challenges will be showcased at the Perth Garden Show this week.
The University of Western Australia’s ‘Wild Plants, Big Harvests & Cosmic Super Crops’ stall will highlight biodiversity and plant science as researchers aim to plant seeds of knowledge with attendees to encourage climate change and sustainable practices to grow and enable future generations to thrive.
Associate Professor Nic Taylor is the director of the Australian Plant Phenomics Network node at UWA, which supports world-class plant science and helps accelerate research outcomes to address agricultural challenges.
“By providing access to advanced technologies, specialist facilities and expert support, our network is helping drive innovations in crop resilience, productivity and sustainable agriculture,” Associate Professor Taylor said.
“Together we’re driving innovative research in plant science and biodiversity, with strong relevance to sustainability, agriculture and future food systems.”
Dr Conny Hooper’s research is focused on unravelling the genetic diversity and visual traits of Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos) varieties to improve climate-resilient urban green spaces.
“We are using advanced genomic tools to predict which Kangaroo Paw varieties will thrive in future climates,” Dr Hopper said.
“In collaboration with Kings Park, we want to accelerate breeding by genetically monitoring key traits through each generation, allowing us to combine them faster and more precisely.
For gardeners, this means tougher, more reliable Kangaroo Paws with a wider range of leaf and flower colours and well-suited sizes for different garden spaces.”
Professor Ian Small, from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space at UWA, said innovative research to develop on-demand, zero-waste, high-efficiency plants and plant-based products could help address major sustainability challenges in space and on Earth.
“From supporting future life-support systems and resilient food production in extreme environments, to creating biobank plants that could deliver medicines and plant-based building materials, the centre is reimagining the role of plants in our future both on and off Earth,” Professor Small said.
Perth Garden Show brings together WA’s largest plant market, creative landscape displays and a showcase of home, outdoor-living and garden products.
This year it features expanded activations on sustainability, recycling, composting and growing edible plants.
The event runs from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 April at McCallum Park in Perth. See here for more details and to buy tickets. Enter the code “uwa” at the checkout to receive a discount.