Bougainvillea Natalia

The William Poulton Library

The William Poulton Library remains unsurpassed in the City as
a specialist horticultural collection and supports the wide ranging
functions of the Parks, Leisure and Cemetries Department from indoor
decorative plant display, to specialist botanical collections, landscape
design and urban agriculture.

The library is a key resource and support for horticultural students as
part of their training as it provides an organizational framework and an active forum for institutions and individuals concerned with fostering the advancement of botanical and horticultural information and services.

The collection consists of approximately 10 000 books and a significant aggregate of journals dealing with plant taxonomy, systematic botany, gardening, gardening for biodiversity, garden design, ethnobotany and pest management.

In addition, the library acquires and maintains a comprehensive
reference collection including books, periodicals, pamphlets and videos.

LIBRARY HOURS • 08.00 - 16.00
LIBRARIAN • Mohini Padayachee
TEL. NO • 031-322 4000
FAX • 031 - 201 7382
EMAIL • Padayacheem@durban.gov.za

History of the library

William Poulton before his retirement was a horticulturalist at the Durban Botanic Gardens. Poulton very successfully hybridised several new species of bougainvilleas about which he and Killie Campbell, a supporter of Poulton's work, was fascinated by. His first triumph was Natalia, a dusty pink, to be followed by Killie Campbell, then Gladys Hepburn (Killie's sister) and then Poultonia. Poulton's final hybrid was Brilliance, renamed Remembrance by his widow (who had been the housekeeper at Muckleneuk) in memory of the propagator. Many of these varieties have been exceptionally successfully grown in other parts of Africa.

Killie Campbell owned Muckleneuk house, in the early 1980's Muckleneuk and its garden had been bequeathed to the City of Durban after Killie's death in 1965.

William Poulton was also a Trustee of the City's Parks Department who bequeathed money to be spent every year.

The William Poulton Library was established in 1990.

William Poulton Library online