What society takes you on a plant shop crawl around the city, hosts chill matcha hours, and plants daffodils? If you guessed the Botanical Society, you would be correct!
Trinity College’s Botanical Society revolves around all things botany related, so if you have ever thought about testing out your green thumb, or have just had an interest in learning more about the plants around you, this is the place for you!
“An easy way to get involved in the society would be to attend their ‘Matcha Moments’ which is often paired with botanical drawings”
This is a great time to catch up with other members of the society, meet a few people on the committee, and take a moment for yourself in the fast pace standard of college life. Their only ask is that you bring your own keep cup (gotta look out for the environment)!
Two quite popular events that the society hosted this school year was their plant shop crawl (Michaelmas term) and their daffodil plating with Trinity’s Cancer Society (Hilary term). During the plant shop crawl, the society took members to different shops around the city to find the plant that suited them! For daffodil planting, they collaborated with Cancer Soc to plant miniature daffodils in the Trinity Urban Garden. During this, participants had the opportunity to get involved with other members of the society and the nature around them.
Not only is the Botanical Society a way to connect with other people, it is also an excellent opportunity to get to better know the earth and plants around you! Being able to connect with your environment is a vital part of feeling comfortable in it. If you are ever feeling aloof or out of touch with your surroundings, attending a Bot Soc event is perfect, because interacting with products of the earth is one of the best ways to become more grounded.
Besides their cool events, there is also a surplus of knowledge to be gained from becoming a member of the Botanical Society. Recently they hosted a workshop to learn about caring for herbs! They also have given tours of the Plant-Climate Lab, Botanical Fossil Museum, and Trinity College Herbarium, to name a few. These are great opportunities to learn more about the history and science of plants and our interactions with them.
I had the great pleasure of sitting down with Bot Soc and asking them a few key questions about their society and events. This is what they had to say:
Honey: With spring around the corner, if a student is looking to start some planting of their own, what plants would you recommend that are dorm friendly?
Botanical Soc: Herbs are always useful! But the supermarket ones can be a bit tricky to keep alive. If you’re just getting started with your plant collection, a wee succulent or a philodendron always do well on a windowsill!
Honey: With that being said, where are the best places around Dublin (possibly from your plant shop crawl last year) to purchase plants?
Botanical Soc: Urban plant life is super cute! Or Howbert and Mays is super close to campus.
“But if you really want to stock up come to our plant swap during Green Week!”
You can bring your own plant and swap it for another one or you can make a donation to our charity (this year’s one is TBD but a previous favourite was Irish Seed Savers), in exchange!
Honey: What is the best part of Matcha moments with the society?
Botanical Soc: My favourite part is just getting to meet new members and having the chats! The other day someone was telling us about their crazy cool PhD project about botany and computer science. There’s always something new! It’s also so fun to snoop around the Botany Library, look at the botanical illustrations and do some of our own! And obviously the free tea, coffee and matcha don’t hurt either.
Honey: If someone was new to the society, what would they be able to expect coming to a Matcha moment?
Botanical Soc: It’s a really casual event! There’s always new people coming along and it is the perfect way to get introduced to the society!
Honey: For Hilary Term, are there any events that Trinity News readers should keep an eye out for?
Botanical Soc: We’ve got some pretty cool ones coming up! The big one is Wild Ball which is our annual ball with the other environmental societies and natural sciences students, and this year it’s going to be very cool, if we do say so ourselves.
End Interview
You can find all of Botanical Soc’s information on their Instagram page @tcdbotsoc!
