Student Project: Interpreting Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation: a Case Study of Interpretation Panels at a Range of Gardens in Britain

This article examines how interpretation panels communicate plant conservation to garden visitors. The focus of the study is on interpretation themes and stories, messages conveyed, and textual and visual devices used. Special attention is paid to how the information on Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation is presented. The case study focused on interpretation panels at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) and its three Regional Gardens. An assessment of the display panels at RBGE was carried out for visitor opinion and perception and these were replicated and compared with similar panels in three other gardens in the UK. The results of these assessments and a brief study of visitor behaviour contributed to a set of suggestions for future interpretation provided here. This article is an extract from the author’s HND Specialist Project written for the RBGE Diploma in Horticulture with Plantsmanship in June 2013.