A Garden View - The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens

January - February 2014 | NO 6
A Garden View
Oaks share their secrets
Mandrakes: Myths and facts
Out of Africa
Smoke without fire
Tu B’Shvat
From the Director
Contents
Dear Readers,
2
From the Director
The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens have grown significantly over the past few years.
4
Gardens News
The Gardens combine botanical, horticultural and agricultural activities with research,
conservation and education, all in an enchanting, blooming setting. Visitors to the Gardens
are able to enjoy close to 30 acres of exhibits and more than 6,000 different species of plants
from all over the world. The Gardens provide the ideal place in which to learn about the
connection between humans and plants and about our responsibility to look after nature and
the environment - all this, within the framework of recreational, cultural and artistic activities,
and with community involvement.
The number of visitors to the Gardens has increased from around 80,000 in 2008 to more than
200,000 in 2012, more than 90,000 of them children and students. The Gardens have become
a key venue for educational activities in the various core fields of our expertise and for a wide
range of activities for residents of Jerusalem and elsewhere.
We have succeeded in expanding and raising donations for projects that are pioneering on a
national and international scale. These include the Children’s Discovery Trail and renovation
of the tropical conservatory. Both are now being built. A national study on conserving biodiversity is underway. Projects to improve access for the handicapped and to renovate the
Visitor’s Center are in the planning stages.
The conservative financial budgets which we set for ourselves allowed the Gardens to
continue developing new activities while also establishing our institution as a national flagship
project and source of prestige to its founders, the State of Israel and the city of Jerusalem.
Much of this growth had been possible because of the Botanical Gardens Law and support from
the Ministry of Agriculture. This provided us with annual financial support and a substantial
and stable budgetary base.
14 From our volunteers
Haviva Wiener, approaching 90
New gifts
Botanical tour to Cyprus
16 Family Page
6
Plant of the Season
18 Plants Grow People
8
Out of Africa
Mandrake: Myths and facts
The new fynbos exhibit
10 Smoke without Fire
Mimicking bushfires
Tu B’Shvat
Cutting-edge work with autistic
adults
20 Events and courses
22 Thank you to our
12 Oaks reveal their secrets
2013 donors
How research in a botanical
garden can help unlock secrets
of evolution
Editors: Sue Surkes and Levana Fink
Scientific editing: Dr Ori Fragman-Sapir
Hebrew language copy editing: Sara Adar
English language copy editing: Marlin Levin
To our regret, the Agriculture Ministry’s policy has changed over the past two years. This has
led to a major cut in support for the Gardens, from more than NIS 3 million in 2011 to less
than NIS 700,000 in 2013. Hardest hit are our ongoing running costs and all the activities we
have been developing over the past few years.
Despite all this, we are pushing forward…
Editorial Board: Sara Adar, Hannah Cohen, Nehama Foerster, Levana Fink
We thank you, members of the Gardens’ broader community, for your active involvement.
Your participation in the Gardens’ programs, your volunteering and membership, contribute
towards the Gardens’ stability.
Translation: Ofer Grunwald, Professional Translation Services
At times like these, we need you more than ever! Every visit to the Gardens, every donation,
every purchase in the Gardens’ gift shop, each hour of volunteer work, helps. Encouraging
new members to take part in these kinds of activities builds awareness for the Gardens and
helps us in our efforts.
Mailing address: The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, Hebrew University Givat Ram Campus,
See you at the Gardens!
Oren Ben-Yosef
Director General
2
Photography: Maya Abutbul , Lior Almagor, Michael Avishai, Shauly Beckerman, Oren Ben-Yosef,
Jacky Chambers, Ori Fragman-Sapir, Sara Gold (www.wildflowers.co.il), Judith Marcus, Ronen Salmon,
Zion Simantov, Sue Surkes, Yedidia Yerushalmi.
Graphic Design: Keren Shapira-Buzaglo
Printed by: Shimshon Printers
Address: 1 Zalman Shneor Street, Nayot, Jerusalem (via Nayot Petrol Station)
Jerusalem 91904
Telephone: 02 6794012 | Fax: 02 6793941
www.en.botanic.co.il
Winter opening hours:
Sundays through Thursdays
Fridays and holiday eves
Sabbaths and holidays
9.00-17.00
9.00-15.00
9.00-17.00
Hours may be extended for special events - please check our website.
3
Gardens News... Gardens News... Gardens News...
Snow damage:
A massive snow storm in mid-December
paralyzed much of the country and caused
major damage to plants and infrastructure at
the Gardens. Donations to help renovations
are welcome. To learn how, please see our
website at www.en.botanic.co.il.
Nature’s herb and medicine chest:
An extensive herb and medicinal plant
garden has been created to engage pupils
who come to the Gardens each week from
school. They will explore the connections
between plants and people. The garden is
located within the former butterfly house.
Construction:
The bulldozers have arrived and works have
begun to create the Children’s Discovery
Trail and to expand and renovate the
Dworksky Tropical Conservatory. Follow
our progress by checking out photographic
diaries for each project on our website.
New gifts:
A generous donation from a long-time
English supporter and admirer of the
Botanical Gardens and the Jerusalem
Foundation will enable us to make the
ascent from the Gardens’ main entrance to
the Lake accessible for the handicapped.
It will also fund the colorful displays of
annuals and perennials which greet visitors
as they come into the Gardens. The funds
were raised by the Jerusalem Foundation.
Thanks to support from the Leichtag
Foundation of San Diego, the Gardens will
be developing and piloting a new training
course in horticulture for young Arab men
with emotional and behavioral difficulties.
Forming part of our Plants Grow People
program, the pilot will help to equip the
men with skills for work.
4
The new herb and medicinal plant garden
Consolida pusilla
Rare plants:
Consolida pusilla, a rare plant from Mt
Hermon, was found for the first time in
decades by amateur plant enthusiasts
Shimon
Cohen-Sivan
and
Shauly
Bekerman. The tiny annual forms small
carpets that bloom for only two weeks,
making it very difficult to find. Seeds have
been collected and sown at the Gardens.
When they germinate and flower, we can
expect to have seeds with which to create a
back-up population.
Tour to Cyprus:
Fancy a flower-filled spring trip to Cyprus?
Then sign up for a botanical voyage,
courtesy of the Gardens and Eco Tours.
Led by Hagar Leschner of the Hebrew
University’s herbarium, the trip will take
in different habitats, from the Troodos
mountains and the Valley of Cedars, to the
stunning Akamas peninsula. Discounts are
available for those who book before January
16th. For details, see www.en.botanic.co.il.
Gift ideas:
New books, planters, gardening tools,
children’s gifts and much more await you
at the Gardens’ store!
Changes to publication dates:
The next issue of A Garden View will be
published on March 1, after which the
magazine will continue to appear on a
quarterly basis.
5
Plant of the Season
Mandrake
By Sue Surkes and Malka Bracha Abuloff
“The cry of the mandrake is fatal to humans, so
special care must be taken when growing them.
Even as a baby, the mandrake’s howls can knock
a person out for a couple of hours. “
It is with these words that Prof. Pomona
Sprout warns the fictional Harry Potter and
his classmates as they don earmuffs before
transplanting mandrake seedlings. Prof. Sprout
uses mandrake juice in most of her magical
antidotes.
The idea of a screaming mandrake is deeply
rooted in folklore. The mandrake’s forked root
often resembles a human being and it was
believed that it had human qualities in that
it would scream when dug up, causing those
nearby to go deaf, mad, or even to die.
The mandrake (Mandragora autumnalis)
belongs to the poisonous nightshade family
(Solanaceae). Chemical compounds such as
atropine, stored in the roots, were once extracted
for use in anesthetics and pain killers.
Complicated rules developed to protect those
harvesting mandrake roots. As far back as the first
century AD, the Roman Jewish historian Josephus
Flavius wrote: “A furrow must be dug around the
root until its lower part is exposed, then a dog
is tied to it, after which the person tying the dog
must get away. The dog then endeavors to follow
him, and so easily pulls up the roots, but dies
suddenly instead of his master. After this, the root
can be handled without fear.”
In the 17th century, mandrake roots were dressed
in clothes and used like voodoo dolls.
The plant’s Hebrew name, duda, shares a root
with dodi, meaning beloved. From at least as far
back as biblical times, the mandrake’s fruit was
believed to have aphrodisiac qualities.
6
In the Book of Genesis, the sisters Rachel and
Leah cut a deal over who gets the mandrake fruits
which Leah’s son, Reuben, takes home from the
field. Rachel, Jacob’s beloved but barren second
wife, takes the fruits in an attempt to get pregnant.
Leah gets a night with Jacob in return.
The mandrake grows in central and northern
Israel and can be seen in the raised bed opposite
Oak Walk in the Mediterranean Section of the
Gardens from December to April.
Thanks to stores of water and nutrients in the
thick root, the mandrake can bloom in January,
taking advantage of the available pollinators
before other plants begin to flower. A groundhugging rosette of dark green leaves performs the
dual role of collecting rainwater and preventing
any competing plants from growing too close by.
Leaf rosette
For more photos, see Hebrew p.6-7.
The flowers are purple and bell-shaped and lie
close to the ground. As other winter plants are
still quite short, they have no need for tall stems
to catch the attention of pollinators. When it
rains, the flowers close to protect their pollen.
They re-open when the sun shines and the
pollinators come back.
Mandrake fruits are green and look like unripe
cherry tomatoes. When ripe, they turn orange
and emit a fragrance immortalized in the Song of
Songs.
“The mandrakes give forth fragrance. At our
doors are all kinds of precious fruits, new and
old, which I have stored up for you, my beloved.”
(Song of Songs 7:13)
Ripe mandrake fruits
7
From the head gardener
The Gardens’
new fynbos
exhibit
Coastal fynbos, Postberg
Out of
Africa
Cape fynbos is a floral wonder of the world.
It accounts for most of the species within the
Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest of the six
kingdoms into which the world’s plants are
grouped.
Fynbos is the Dutch-Afrikaans word for
shrubs with small, leathery leaves which
have adapted to nutrient-poor soils, natural
wildfires that rage every ten to 14 years, and
a Mediterranean climate of cold, wet winters
and hot, parched summers.
Despite the challenging conditions, the
fynbos is one of the most species-rich areas
in the world. The Cape Floral Kingdom
boasts some 9,000 species, of which 69%
are endemic, growing only there. This
proliferation of species was given a head
start by the fact that the land there has been
above sea level for a relatively long time,
giving plants time to develop and evolve.
Huge variations in altitude, rainfall, soil
type and other factors have also encouraged
biodiversity.
Fynbos cloaks an arc-shaped area of
mountains, valleys and coastal plains that
sweep from the south-western Cape down
to the southern Cape and eastwards to Port
Elizabeth.
See: The Smallest Kingdom: Plants and Plant
Collectors at the Cape of Good Hope, Mike
and Liz Fraser, Kew Publishing, 2011
8
By Eli Becker
The South Africa section is the first
to greet visitors on a train tour of the
Botanical Gardens and the fynbos
subsection is the first habitat exhibit.
In the wild, fynbos vegetation is dominated by
these main groups:
Proteoid: These include large shrubs such as
proteas, leucospermums and leucadendrons.
Ericoid: This includes the Ericaceae family and
medium and small shrubs from the Rutaceae
family.
Restioid: Included are species from the
Restionacae family of sedge-like, evergreen
herbaceous plants.
Asteraceae: The daisy family, whose species
range from shrubs to annual herbaceous plants.
Geophytes: Bulbs and tubers suit both the
wildfire cycle and the extreme summer drought
by being able to disappear underground when
conditions become too harsh. They include many
popular garden plants such as freesia, gladiolus
and sporaxis.
Interesting species in the renovated sub-section
include:
Lobostemon belliformis: Reaching 1.5 meters in
height and planted one meter apart, it produces
reddish flowers in spring. This is a shrub from the
Boraginaceae family which resembles echium
species from the Canary Islands. Considered to
be endangered, it grows only around the Gourits
River in the Western Cape.
Erica chloroloma: This is one of the few erica
species found on chalky soil. It can grow to
80cm. It has fine foliage and red, tubular flowers
which blossom from autumn through spring.
Agricultural and urban development in its natural
habitat has made this plant vulnerable.
Agathosma ovata ‘Kluitjieskraal’:
This low-growing sub-shrub from the Rutaceae
family has fine, fragrant foliage and pink
blossoms in the spring. It is named for the
Kluitjieskraal River from whose banks it
originates.
Protea repens: Despite its name (repens means
prostrate), this species grows to 2.5 meters high
and two meters wide. Its large flowers are red to
cream-colored and bloom in winter or summer.
Thamnochortus pluristachyus: This is an
evergreen plant from the Restionaceae family.
Designated as ‘vulnerable’ in its natural habitats
because of the threat of invasive species, this has
a copper-colored inflorescence and can grow
to 1.5 high. We have planted it at 1.5 meter
intervals.
Metalasia fastigiata. This bush from the
Asteraceae family grows to 1.5 meters high and a
meter wide. It has fine foliage and produces pink,
umbrella-like flower heads (as pictured below)
in spring.
Fynbos vegetation in the Cedarberg
For more photos, see p. 8-9 in Hebrew.
Metalasia fastigiata in bloom
Many of the fynbos plants in the Gardens’
subsection died in the snows and frosts of winter
2008. Furthermore, without the wildfires that
keep the populations going in nature by enabling
seeds to germinate (see page 10), many of our
fynbos plants have been nearing the end of their
lifecycles. For these reasons, we decided two
years ago to renovate the section. The first step
was to order seeds from South Africa.
Fynbos soils are usually acidic to neutral, while
the Gardens’ soil is lime-based. To maximize our
chances of success, we chose species from the
few South African enclaves which have relatively
chalky soils. One of these is Cape Agulhas, the
southernmost tip of the African continent.
9
From the Director of the Nursery
Smoke Without Fire
Mimicking bushfires
Natural wildfires are part of the cycle of life in
places like Australia and South Africa and plants
have had to adapt to them in order to survive and
reproduce.
Researchers noticed already some time ago that
fires accelerate the germination of certain seeds
and help stable populations to endure.
The connection between fire and germination
makes sense: Fire and heat crack the fruit (a cone,
for example), and the seeds are ejected or blown
away by the wind. An added benefit is that the
soil is enriched by large quantities of ash - an
outstanding organic fertilizer – enabling seeds to
germinate with the onset of rain.
For certain species of plants, though, that is not
enough. For some seeds, it is the smoke created
by the fire that is a decisive factor in inducing
germination.
Here at the Gardens, these plants will not
germinate naturally since there are no fires and
the populations cannot spontaneously perpetuate
themselves.
In the past, nursery workers would imitate nature
by burning special “smoke papers” in a sealed
room where the as yet un-germinated seeds were
kept. Yehiel Baras, the Gardens’ former nursery
director, told me that he used ash water - water
in which ordinary barbeque coal had been left to
soak.
Today, we use smoked vermiculite to mimic
the natural process. Vermiculite is a mineral
which becomes porous when submitted to high
temperatures and pressure. We usually use
ordinary vermiculite when we need to cover
newly-sown seeds because of its relatively high
water retention, aeration and low weight. It
retains the right amount of moisture for seeds,
10
By Maya Abutbul
which initially require a lot of water. Aeration
enables oxygen molecules to enter and
allow the seeds to breathe. Vermiculite’s light
weight makes it easier for new shoots to grow
upwards.
I order special smoke-infused vermiculite directly
from Australia. When the soil is watered, the
smoke in the vermiculite is released and it
“smoke-soaks”the seed. This type of vermiculite
is darker and has a burnt smell. Once the smoke
has been washed out, the vermiculite becomes
lighter.
In preliminary trials with Protea repens,
I prepared two germination trays. One was
treated with smoke-infused vermiculite, the
other not, and 120 seeds were sown in each tray.
Although germination rates were low, the results
were clear: 5% of the seeds germinated in the
smoke-treated tray but none in the untreated tray.
Regular vermiculite
and the testimony from Australia suggests that
smoke treatment does not necessarily yield better
germination rates for these banksias.
At this stage, we are better able to understand
what we need to do, without necessarily
understanding why. Research is still underway
to try to identify the mechanisms that drive the
germination of plants from fire-prone regions.
Smoke-infused vermiculite
Wild Australian banksias after a bushfire
Seeds of plants for the Gardens’ South African
Cape fynbos sub-section (see page 8) are smoketreated. These include various species from the
Restionaceae family, such as Chondropetalum
tectorum and Thamnochortus insignis.
Banksias, members of the Protea family, are
unique to Australia. The botanical literature says
that numerous species from this genus also need
smoke treatment. That said, two seasoned nursery
experts in Israel and in Australia have noted that
banksia seeds will germinate just as well without
smoke treatment. It is enough to put the cone into
an oven heated to 30-40ºC for ten minutes, allow
it to cool, and then repeat the same steps several
times.
In the nursery, we do not have the kind of
large seed populations that would be required
for controlled clinical trials. However, the
combination of our experience with banksias
11
Oaks share their secrets
How research in a botanical garden can help unlock secrets of evolution
By Dr. Michael Avishai
For a century, we’ve known that the distribution
of plants and animals on earth has been shaped
largely by the movement of land masses across
the face of the globe. North America, for example
– and especially the west coast - was once
connected to Asia via the now-submerged Bering
Bridge. It was linked to Europe via Greenland,
Iceland and other pieces of land that are now
under the sea. All this has been demonstrated by
the distribution of oaks.
The oak genus, with its 450 species, is a
dominant member of many plant communities
in much of the northern hemisphere, all the way
from Columbia in South America to Oregon
in the northwest United States and from China
westwards to Portugal.
In the Mediterranean part of Israel, oaks cloak the
hills, providing food and shelter for a long list of
living creatures and other plants.
A single oak tree cannot fertilize itself, even
though it has both male and female reproductive
organs. This is an evolutionary answer to the
genetic problems associated with inbreeding.
Acorns are usually produced after one oak
pollinates another oak of the same species.
Understanding how and why particular oak
species can or cannot cross breed will help
scientists to piece together how oaks in general
have evolved into so many species and groups
of species over some 40 million years and across
different parts of the northern hemisphere.
Modern technology is now helping to further
unravel the secrets of life by allowing us to probe
the genetic character of a species by mapping its
molecular makeup.
Here’s a conundrum. Two distinct species of
oak grow on Mount Hermon north of the Golan
Heights and they do not cross breed. The Mount
Hermon oak (Quercus look) is related to species
from the high mountains of the Middle East and
from the Himalayas. The Turkish Oak (Quercus
Cerris), by contrast, forms part of a group whose
members grow in North Africa, Spain, southern
and central Europe, Turkey, northern Iran, China,
12
Japan and Korea.
Under the cultivated conditions of the Jerusalem
Botanical Gardens, however, there are several
cases of specimens among our 60 oak species
that have successfully undergone fertilization and
produced viable acorns even though there are no
other individuals of the same species nearby.
Many years ago, for example, I obtained a
seedling of a Kurdish Oak (Quercus brantii) from
the UK’s Kew Gardens and planted it in our
Gardens in Jerusalem. Now a fully grown-tree,
it is our only Kurdish oak. As we know that it
cannot pollinate itself, we are trying to explain
how it manages to produce viable acorns each
year as well as seedlings that look remarkably
similar to the mother plant. In short, we are trying
to identify the father. My candidates are either the
Mount Tabor Oak (Quercus ithaburensis) or the
Valonia Oak (Quercus macrolepis).
The hybrid offspring
Tabor oak: Could this be the father? (See photos p.13 Hebrew)
Mother: The Kurdish Oak
Put another way, why is it that two species, which
live thousands of miles apart in nature, manage
to reproduce with one another in the Gardens,
while two groups of oak that live together on
Mount Hermon cannot interbreed?
To answer these and other questions, the
Jerusalem Botanical Gardens have joined forces
with scientists from Italy, Sweden and the United
States to gather oak samples for genetic testing.
We send fresh oak samples for analysis, along
with detailed written documentation. Through
genetic mapping, we hope to learn more about
the history and evolution of oaks and the genetic
relationships between different species and
groups.
One day, we may be able to use this information
to genetically modify, or fine-tune, oak species
that can better withstand conditions such as
extreme drought or pollution.
In the meantime, this project spotlights one of
the many scientific advantages of a geographical
botanical garden like ours, which brings together
species from all over the world that we can
research.
13
From our Volunteers
Going on 90 and
still volunteering
course, and has since expanded her education on
the subject at every opportunity - through field
trips, courses and lectures.
The Hebrew University
Herbarium
By Hannah Cohen
Haviva notes with satisfaction that the Gardens
have improved over the years. They are neat and
well-organized, and everyone she works with
knows what his or her place and responsibilities
are.
Herbaria house collections of dried plant
specimens for teaching and research. They are
critical to the study of how plant life evolved
on earth.
Haviva Wiener is one of our veteran volunteers.
For more than 20 years, she has been dedicating
one day out of her work week to the Gardens.
All these years, she has worked diligently in the
Mediterranean Section. It is only in the past three
years, as she has approached the age of 90, that
Haviva has switched to helping Maya Abutbul,
director of the propagation nursery.
Haviva was three years old when her family
emigrated from Berlin to New York. From an early
age, she developed an interest in nature and
botany and she went on to study agriculture at
Cornell University.
Following her marriage, she and her husband
immigrated to Israel in 1949. Driven by Zionist
ideals, they were among the founders of Kibbutz
Gesher Haziv.
Haviva was among the founders of the Nature
Lovers’ Hiking Club, which still meets for hikes
all over the country. If you want to discover the
hidden spots where wildflowers abound, Haviva
is the address, and we highly recommend her!
We wish Haviva excellent health, and many more
happy years of working with us at the Gardens!
To members of the
Friends organization and
all the volunteers
Greetings and Happy New Year!
A whole year has passed since our newsletter
moved to its new home. It’s good to look at
ourselves and our activities via A Garden View to
appreciate just how important our contribution
is to the development of the Gardens. Our
activities include gardening and guiding, as well
as broadening and sharing of knowledge through
lectures, courses and tours. And the shop? This
is a jewel in terms of its unique and beautiful
products!
The family eventually settled in Jerusalem, where
Haviva worked as a research assistant at the
Hebrew University medical school.
Our aim for these pages is to provide up-to-date
information about the various activities of the
Friends organization and of the volunteers.
Haviva has supported the Gardens from their
humble beginnings in a shack on the Hebrew
University’s Givat Ram campus to this day. She
first studied the flora of Israel on a Gardens’
Take this as a personal invitation! Write, tell and
respond. Impressions, comments, articles – all
will be happily accepted.
14
Just talk to any of us – Levana, Hannah, Nehama
or Sara.
Israel’s national herbarium is located on the
Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus.
In this article, collection manager Hagar
Leschner introduces us to its work.
By Hagar Leschner
A herbarium is a scientific collection of
dried plant specimens which are preserved,
described, sorted and organized according
to their systematic affinity and geographical
distribution. Each specimen is labeled with
details such as the date and location of
collection, environmental notes, and other
related data.
The collections are used for various kinds of
botanical research - taxonomy, systematics,
genetics, geo-botany, ecology and
conservation. They are also used for teaching
and for research related to pharmacology,
medicine, and other fields by Hebrew
University staff, as well as researchers from
other institutions in Israel and overseas.
The Hebrew University’s Herbarium is named
after Alexander Eig, who started a collection
in 1920. This became part of the university
in 1928 when Eig joined the faculty of the
botany department, which opened in 1925.
The herbarium documents the ecological
biodiversity of Israel’s flora. Within the collections
are paper sheets carrying specimens of Israeli
plants which are already extinct in the wild,
plants which are at risk of extinction (on the
‘Red List’), and plants which are rare. Included
are many specimens of the wild or nearly-wild
ancestors of cultivated plants such as wheat,
barley and lily.
The herbarium works alongside the Israeli Gene
Bank at the Ministry of Agriculture, housing
its voucher specimens and providing scientific
identification services and guidance to its
researchers The herbarium collaborates with the
Botanical Gardens.
The herbarium’s main sections are:
| Vascular plants from Israel and neighboring
countries
| Comparative collections of vascular plants from
other areas
| Prof. C. C. Heyn’s bryophytes collection
| Prof. T. Reiss’s fungi collection
(mainly phyto-pathological fungi)
| Algae
| Prof. Zeichick’s medicinal plant collection
and index
| Prof. A. Fahn’s collection of tree trunks
and anatomical sections
| Aharonson’s collection
| T. Johanssen’s collection of Scandinavian plants
Today, the herbarium is Israel’s national
herbarium and the only one in Israel
located in an academic institution. It
holds some 700,000 specimen sheets,
among which is the world’s most
comprehensive collection of wild plants
from the Near East, including Israel.
15
Family Page
Tu B’Shvat
The Bible commanded the Israelites to pay taxes
to help the poor and to remunerate Temple
workers who were not allowed to hold land and
therefore could not grow food.
Tu B’Shvat marked the cut-off point between
one year of fruit production and the next for
the purposes of levying a fruit tax. At this time
of year, no fruit was to be found on the Land of
Israel’s trees. That made it easy for the taxman to
determine that fruit found on Tu B’Shvat (literally
the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat) was
grown and picked during the agricultural year
just ended and was therefore taxable.
For a tasty Tu B’Shvat table decoration, make
a candy tree, where the canopy is made either
out of candies/sweets or dried fruits stuck onto
toothpicks!
Materials:
Two polystyrene balls (available in crafts stores)
Plant pot
Stick (eg. an ice lolly stick or a chopstick)
Toothpicks (which you can break in half)
Sweets/candies and/or dried fruit
Method:
Push a sweet/candy or piece of dried fruit (eg. a
date) on to one end of the toothpick and insert
the other end into the polystyrene ball. Repeat
until the ball is almost covered with sweets/
candies and/or dried fruit.
Push the stick into the ball. You now have a tree
trunk and a canopy.
Cut the second ball in half and push it into the
plant pot (with the flat side up) to provide support
for your tree.
Insert the tree trunk stick into the polystyrene in
the pot, and fill up the pot with sweets/candies.
For this and other great ideas,
see challahcrumbs.com
Try coloring this
16
17
Breaking the mold
Integrating autistic adults
into the community
By Sue Surkes
A group of special men come to the Jerusalem
Botanical Gardens (JBG) every day to take part in
the first project of its kind in the world to integrate
severely autistic young adults into the community
and the world of work.
The program is being funded and run by the Israel
National Autism Association (ALUT) in a JBG
classroom which has its own yard. The impetus
came from parents.
“The world of autism is a closed one,” explains
Tami Yona, chairwoman of ALUT Jerusalem and one
of the project initiators. “For years, people have not
believed in the abilities of young adults like these.
In Israel, the Education Law ends at age 21 and
after that, the State of Israel directs youngsters like
ours to protected, closed occupational centers and
provides only a fraction of the financial support it
gave previously.”
ALUT’s project at the Gardens is testing a new,
community-based alternative for low-functioning
and severely autistic young men aged over 21. All
the participants live in an ALUT-operated hostel. “We thought we would better help to strengthen
their abilities if we gave these individuals improved
physical conditions and provided them with
more professional staff. We know that contact
with nature calms them and contributes towards
improving their abilities. We know that they are
capable of continuing to learn after the age of
21. Our parents want their children to be in the
community, at the Gardens. And if youngsters
without disabilities have access to occupational
training, our youngsters should have it as well.
“Perhaps it’s the Israeli chutzpah (sense of daring)
that enables us to knock unscheduled on the
Botanical Gardens’ director’s door to present him
with our idea. Many places wouldn’t want to
accept our youngsters, but with Oren Ben-Yosef we
found a listening ear and a lot of willingness. The
program at the Gardens is a first in the world. From
the moment we started, many of the authorities in
Israel came quickly to see what we were doing.”
18
Now, one year after the project began,
Tami says that the results have exceeded all
expectations. “You see it in the participants’
calmness, their cooperation, their ability
to work in the Gardens alongside regular
activities, visitors, volunteers and staff.
“Autism is about communication, not only of
the verbal kind, and when we’re surrounded by
people who are sensitive, patient and caring,
it really helps our participants to develop and
improve.”
The participants – all men - come five days
a week for a six-hour day. They work on
strengthening skills for work and for life and
practice basic math and reading.
In addition, they are being exposed to as many
fields of work in the Gardens as possible. These
include a range of tasks in their own and the
Gardens’ planting beds (preparation, planting,
weeding and irrigation, ); maintenance work,
such as cleaning plant labels, plant pots and
petrie dishes; collecting seeds for the Gardens’
propagation nursery and seed bank; preparing
lavender flowers for aromatic sachets; and
sweeping the Gardens’ paths and plazas.
Nature is known to calm people with autism
Collecting seeds
Observing the project and supporting the team
is Dr. Anat Lau, a doctor of education and
retired former special needs inspector at the
Israeli Ministry of Education.
Says Tami: “We want to bring in more young
adults when we have the room to accommodate
them. Our dream is to create a new center
at the Gardens which will serve us as well as
regular groups from the community.”
Gardens’ director Oren Ben-Yosef says: “We’re
proud to be partners in such an innovative
project…..My hope is that some graduates of
this program will join our maintenance team
to look after parts of the Gardens such as the
Children’s Discovery Trail and the tropical
conservatory. This will make us the first tourist
site where maintenance is carried out by people
with special needs.”
19
Events January-February
7
13
14
15
Tue
Mon
Tue
Wed
15:00
14:30
07:00
16:00
Jan
16-18
21
Tue 15:00
25
Sat
28
Tue 15:00
07:00
Walking Tour In search of winter hibernation in the Gardens
Botanical Tour Winter in the Gardens
Hiking Club “Lost” gardens of the Sharon, with Hagar Leschner
Coffee Club ALUT - Rehabilitation in the Gardens,
with Ronen Salmon, Director, “Skills”
program for autistic adults
Tu B’Shvat in the Gardens
Walking Tour Like a lily among the thorns:
Tour of the South Africa Section
Hiking Club Northern Negev; Mamshit, Mamshit River,
and blossoms in the eastern Negev,
with Hagar Leschner
Walking Tour To the upper areas of the North America
and Australia sections
Courses
Courses starting January 2014
Flower arranging for beginners: Sundays 10:30am – 12:00 noon.
Bonsai: Tuesdays 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Courses starting March 2014
Advanced flower arranging: Wednesdays 18.45-20.15
*Changes are possible.
The Jordan Valley and hyacinthella blooms,
with Dr. Ori Fragman-Sapir
4
Tue 15:00 Walking Tour “The flowers appear on the earth…”:
A tour of the Bible Path, with Yedidia Yerushalmi
11
Tue 15:00 Walking Tour Blossoms in the Central and SW Asia
and the Mediterranean sections
17
Mon 14:30 Botanical Tour Flowering aloes and winter’s end
18
Tue 15:00 Walking Tour The South Africa Section
20-22
Sakura - Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival
25
Tue 15:30 Walking Tour Flowering trees in the Gardens
26
Wed 15:00
Field trip in memory of Nehama Ben-Zeev
Trees on the Givat Ram Campus with Hagar Leschner.
Meet at the entrance to the Hebrew University’s
Givat Ram Campus.
Sun
08:00
Hiking Club
Feb
2
Information and registration: 073-2438942 | [email protected] | www.en.botanic.co.il
Check out these and many other new items at the shop
All tours depart from the Visitor’s Center unless otherwise specified | The Coffee Club takes place in the Visitor’s Center
Auditorium | Botanical tours are guided by the Gardens’ science staff | Walking tours, lasting around 90 minutes, are
organized by the Israeli Friends of the Botanical Gardens or the Education Dept. | For further info, please contact Ilana at
02 6480049 or the Gardens’ administrator on 02 6794012. There are no walking tours on rainy days. Please note that all
botanical tours will start at 14.30 and will include a 30-minute tour and a 30-minute lecture-conversation.
20
21
www.en.botanic.co.il
We thank the following donors for their support in 2013
Agon Shu, Japan | ASA Bulbs, Israel | Check Point, Israel | Christians for Israel, Holland
Custodian General’s office | Israel Dead Sea Drainage Authority: Kidron Valley- Wadi el Nar Basin Action
Plan | Jose and David Dent, London, UK | Danziger - “Dan” Flower Farm
Professor Marshall Devor, Jerusalem, Israel | Leon Fink, Sydney, Australia
The Friedman Family, New Jersey, USA | The Galinson Advised Fund, San Diego, USA
Government Tourism Authority, Israel
Haimaki-Cohen Family, Salonika, Greece, through the Jerusalem Foundation
The Hebrew University, Jerusalem| The Jewish National Fund - KKL
The Kaplan-Kushlick Foundation | Keren Hayesod - United Israel Appeal
Julia and Henry Koschitzky, through Keren Hayesod - United Israel appeal
Estate of the late Bat Sheva (Beatriz) Kohon | Jill Kowal and Bill Benjamin, London, UK
Seyma Lederman and Family, Australia | The Leichtag Family Foundation, San Diego, USA
A long-time UK supporter and admirer of the Botanical Gardens and the Jerusalem Foundation
The Stella and Alexander Margulies Charitable Trust, UK, through the Jerusalem Foundation
Municipality of Jerusalem | Supreme Court Judge Mira Naor | Professor Arie Naor
The Naphtali Family Foundation, Australia | National Insurance Institute, Israel
Mr. David Neuman. President of the Rotary Club, Jerusalem
Aviva Rabinovich, Jerusalem, Israel | Sheila and Eric Samson, through Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal
The Spitzer Family, New York, USA, through the Jerusalem Foundation | Dr. Alexander Winokur
Della and the late Fred Worms OBE, Israel, formerly London, through the Jerusalem Foundation
22