An American group has come to the aid of the Botanical Gardens with a donation of Boxwood trees.

They will also provide college students who will volunteer to help with the parks clean-up.

The donation will be used to restore the formal gardens ? which attract approximately 100,000 visitors a year ?after they sustained heavy damage during Hurricane Fabian.

Fabian caused the loss of thousands of trees in parks and nature reserves across the Island.

Parks Department park planner Andrew Pettit said one of the worst hit parks was the Botanical Gardens where most of the roofs on its buildings were lost, 30 major specimen trees, mango trees, 100-year-old cedars and 30,000 trees in parks around the Island.

?After the hurricane the Parks Department was contacted by Hank Hofford, chairman of the South Carolina Maritime Heritage Foundation and organisers of this year?s Charleston to Bermuda Yacht Race, and also on behalf of the Charleston Foundation, to ask if they could assist us in anyway,? Mr. Pettit said.

Executive director of the ACE Foundation and member of the Charleston to Bermuda Yacht Race reception committee, Ralph Richardson, was invited to the reception in Charleston that was held on the building site of Charleston?s new sail training ship, the . The building of the new tall ship coincides with the Bermuda Sloop Foundation initiative.

?Mr. Hofford was able to raise funds for the project and expects that some $15,000 worth of Boxwood plants will be sent to Bermuda next spring,? said Mr. Richardson, who was presented with a symbolic cheque.

?Some 150 race participants, sponsors and Charleston dignitaries attended the reception, and special guests were South Carolina Congressman Henry Brown and his wife, Susan Ford.

?Our communities share a common maritime heritage and this gift would further cement the relationship developed during the lead-up to this year?s yacht race, which saw some 200 race participants and Charleston dignitaries visit our shores in May.?

Mr. Richardson added that college students will also come from Charleston on their spring break to help clean up the parks.

Mr. Pettit said plant importation regulation tightly controls what types of plants can be brought into the Island.

?Recognising this, the Charleston Foundation agreed to donate a large number of Boxwood hedging for the redevelopment of the Formal Gardens in the Botanical Gardens, which is one of the major projects outlined in the Botanical Gardens management plan,? said Mr. Pettit.

?The renovation of the Formal Gardens will add a lot of interest to the park while it recovers over the next three to five years.

?I would like to say that the Parks staff have done an incredible job putting the gardens back together, but nature can only be helped so much, and things will take time to recover.?

Mr. Pettit said the proposed renovations are intended to take place after the Parks Department has addressed damage done to public beaches.

?A recognised indirect benefit for Government is that with a reduced need for bedding plants typically used in the existing Formal Garden displays, the Government Plant Nursery will be able to concentrate on producing native and endemic trees for reforesting the park system,? said Mr. Pettit.

?All Government nurseries were severely damaged and any assistance would be welcomed.?