Volunteer Day 2025

SNSB Director General Prof. Dr Jörg Overmann says ‘Thank you!’

Volunteering means people giving their time and skills for the good of the community – without any financial reward. At the SNSB, well over 200 volunteers are passionately and devotedly involved in a wide variety of areas of collection and research. One of them is Karin Rösner: she has been volunteering every Monday at the Munich-Nymphenburg Botanical Garden since 2021. On the occasion of Volunteer Day, SNSB Director General Prof. Dr Jörg Overmann accompanied her in her work.

The meeting began with a special task: in the palm house, Karin Rösner and intern Marlene Dichtl – under the supervision of the responsible gardener Tillmann Lohff – planted a young Cuban royal palm (Roystonea regia) in its new location. It is to become a partner for the Californian Washington palm (Washingtonia filifera), which occupies the full height of the greenhouse right next to it.

After successfully planting the cuttings, Prof. Dr. Overmann accompanied her to her actual workplace: the Tropical Crop House in Hall 2. There, Karin Rösner tends the beds, removes fallen leaves, clears the paths, plants cuttings, fertilises and ensures the correct humidity. She is never really on her own, because if you look closely, you can see mantises and stick insects among the foliage.

The Roystonea regia is being given a new location in the Palm House.
View into the dome of the Palm House
Karin Rösner ensures the right humidity
Karin Rösner and Prof. Jörg Overmann in the Tropical Crop House at the BGM

Why did Ms Rösner choose to volunteer at the Botanical Garden? Because of her passion for plants, her connection as a long-time visitor to the garden and her enjoyment of working outdoors. What she loves most are the quiet morning hours filled with the scents of plants and the sounds of whistling frogs, the collegial atmosphere within the team and the professional exchange, from which she has often benefited in her own garden.

Prof. Dr. Overmann would like to express his sincere thanks to Karin Rösner and, by extension, to all volunteers at the SNSB for their great commitment and important work. Volunteers like Ms Rösner enrich the SNSB every day and contribute significantly to the success of our institution.

Thank you very much!

(photos: J. Fuchs, SNSB)