I tagged this Mopane tree 29 years ago. Back then its diameter was 6cm. Today it is 9cm. Densest wood and slowest growing tree in Africa?

Red listing workshop being run by ⁦Botanic Gardens Conservation International⁩ at the AETFAT conference in Livingstone, Zambia

An unexpected guest joined us at the AETFAT Congress yesterday….

Kirsty Shaw from ⁦Botanic Gardens Conservation International⁩ kicking off a day of workshops focusing on the African Botanic Gardens Network here at AETFAT 22.

Mpendulo Gabayi from ⁦SA Biodiversity⁩ speaking about living plant and seed collecting resources from ⁦Botanic Gardens Conservation International⁩ and ⁦kewMSB⁩ at AETFAT Congress in Zambia.

Tour day today at AETFAT in Livingstone. The magnificent Victoria Falls in full flow.

Wasp’s nest between two house martin nests in the eaves of our house - all occupied. Interesting that insects are living next door to insectivorous birds!

Mopane wood, which only grows in Africa, for sale (at a premium) in our local aquarium shop but it comes from China. How is that possible?

Trees: From Root to Leaf, Smith, Macfarlane. Very excited about my new Trees book. Out in October and available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book…

Le Jardin Marjorelle in Marrakech. Hard to regard visiting a place as beautiful as this as a bus man's holiday!

How do we adapt our management of living plant collections and landscapes to have reduced impact on the environment whilst responding to a future climate? Find out from the outstanding array of global specialists speaking at 7GBGC in Melbourne! 7gbgc.org/program-themes

And we’re off! See you in Melbourne for 7GBGC, and stay tuned for regular updates throughout the week!

Big thanks to Andrea Kee for showing Steve Blackmore and I around Gardens by the Bay in Singapore today. What a fabulous garden this is!

Cristina Lopez-Gallego speaking to a packed house at #7GBGC in Melbourne. Really selling the biodiversity of Colombia!

Patricia Malcolm from ⁦Botanic Gardens Conservation International⁩ speaking about BGCI’s accreditation schemes at #7GBGC

Dave Kendal launching the Climate Assessment Tool at #7GBGC. Very exciting tool for the world’s 60,000 tree species!

'Trees' is available to buy now and to review. See thamesandhudson.com/trees-from-roo…

It’s 4am in Montreal and after several years of negotiations, governments have just adopted an historic Global Biodiversity Framework for saving nature. Here’s a thread with my take on what's good and what's bad in it.

At BGCI, we are devastated by the news of the recent earthquake in Morocco. If you can, we urge you to support relief efforts for these High Atlas communities through Global Diversity Foundation and its local partners. ow.ly/uujh50PKsbU.