What I did in my holidays

During the summer holidays the Garden has tried to have some form of activity each weekday.  This has included walks, den building, worms, and pond dipping.
My involvement was to be inside the Physicians Barn and cover 4000 years of plant medicine in 20 minutes!  As a bonus for the younger visitors I had borrowed a couple of medicinal leeches from my friends at Biopharm, Hendy and  showed these.  They had been fed recently, so I was reasonably comfortable having them on my hands.  I noticed that when I took the leeches out of the jar the older people tended to take a step back, while the youngsters moved forward.

The leeches were kept on site,  and the water was replaced twice a week.  Normally I would only do this once a week, but freshly fed leeches can cause the water to get murky very quickly.

Tap water is harmful to the leeches skin, so I used water from the feature in the square;  this is sourced from an underground supply,  and has none of the chemicals that can upset the leeches.
They were obviously comfortable with their living conditions; when I returned the leeches the manager at Biopharm told me that one was pregnant!  Apparently the third segment changes colour slightly, but I couldn't see the difference.

The next step  will be to have live leeches permanenly on display.  The leech jars in the Physicians Hall are great for short-term storage but not ideal for long term.  If anyone has something such as a large sweetie jar or a large pickle onion type jar that I could have......? It must be glass, and if it has a Victorian feel to it that would be brilliant,  although I  have some ideas as to how to make the jar look "leechy".

Lots on at the garden this May Bank Holiday weekend. Walks, talks, bees, childrens entertainers, and LIVE music.

During Sunday and Monday the duo Fiddlebox will be alternating with the Mardi Jug Band in the square.

The Mardi Jug Band evolved from a group of guys who used to turn up at the Mardi Hotel in Gorseinon for an open mic (on a Tuesday, so the band name has a double edge).

They play mainly their own versions of 1920's/1930's blues with a bit of a jazz /rock feel. They were once described as playing miserable songs in a jaunty manner, which is an epithet they are proud of. The band encourages audience participation, so if you want to dance. sing, or even play the boogey stick with the band you will be welcome. The photo was taken at the Queens Hall in Narberth, where the band gave their services for free in a fund raiser for the Red Cross. All the band members love their sort of music, which is why they often give their time to worthy causes.

The bass player is a volunteer at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, and sees the band as a welcome escape from the smutty stuff he does at folk clubs.

Java Jive!

This wee plant is the result of an experiment involving Horticulture/Education/Volunteers.

(this is NOT a photo by D. Boxer!)

Earlier last year (about June) we gathered some of the berries from the coffee tree that is used by Education when they do the "Where does your food come from" day with schoolgroups. The intention was to attempt to get the seeds (aka coffee beans!) to grow. Various methods were tried, with one being successful.

This is what we did:

Separated the beans and carefully removed the mushy bits.

Put them all in water (tap water!) in a glass jam jar with a lid, and left on a South facing kitchen windowsill for about 7 days. Apparently this starts some sort of fermentation process on the outside of the seeds which is necessary for germination.

Drained off water after about 7 days, then without touching the seeds with fingers put them on a triple layer of kitchen roll paper, then placed a triple layer on top and dampened. (apparently the experts use stuff such as felt)

Put the package into a tin (appropriately an old coffee tin!) with slices of cork etc at the base to avoid the wet paper touching the tin and causing rust.

Placed on east facing windowsill (only because that was the only suitable place!) with lid on tin.

Checked weekly to ensure package was still damp and moistened as necessary.

After about 3 months, we unwrapped the package and noted that one of the seeds had developed about a centimetre of root, two of the others had about 1 millimetre of "bud".

Carefully put the rooted seed in a 5 inch pot. with a mix of seedling potting material and home made garden compost

Moistened the soil, placed pot in a polythene bag, than back onto windowsill.

Replaced the other seeds in coffee tin and checked weekly but no further signs of growth so threw them out.

After a further 3 weeks a seed leaf appeared which we positively identified as coffee.

Moved pot to a safe area in the hot greenhouse.

It has now survived several months, and is being well looked after.

The secrets seem to be soaking for several days, warmth moisture and darkness for at least 3 months, warmth, moisture and light when potted for at least a month until seed leaves appear, then lots of TLC. The plant hates sudden temperature change and positively loathes the cold. We have seen the parent plant wilt when it has been exposed to a cold wind for only a few moments.

Welsh language magazine "Golwg" will be publishing an article about my photography in the National Botanic Gardens in their next issue.

Elf caps with Newt

Darren Boxer visited the garden recently to photograph the Scarlet Elf Cap fungi that are growing in the copses by the Aqualab. While setting up his cameras he had a surprise visitor - a newt ambled across the scene!

Star party cancelled

The Star Party for this coming Friday is almost certain to be cancelled because of weather. Please check with Garden to confirm.

NBGW weekend 19th, 20th March

I think that one of the buggies may have been very embarrassed this weekend! On Friday it was decorated in a pinkish theme as part of the preparations for a special (80 years) birthday party in the Glasshouse. Thanks to Steve and Ronny for driving!

On a more scientific note, Education were in the Glasshouse on Saturday and Sunday demonstrating, amongst other things, solar power and how plants feed. The strange daffodil was obtained by adding food colouring to the water it was standing in. All in all, a fun weekend, but we really do need more volunteers who are comfortable chatting to the public!

Things to do in Wales this week

This week (16, 17. 18 Feb) we have "drop in " activities in the Aqualab (aka Discovery Centre). These will include painting, close up looks at plants, and possibly chats about plants and medicine depending on which of our volunteers is present. We are in the grey buildings across the lake just after the Gatehouse - pop in and chat!

The weather looks OK for the week, so should be some good photo opportunities.

birthday presents

We all enjoy receiving presents on our birthday so we, the volunteers and members, are going to give the Garden a 10th. birthday present by collecting our small change and bringing the pennies, or hopefully pounds to Linda by the end of March.
We are also going to raise funds by holding a plant fair in May where volunteers and members will have stalls selling their own homegrown plants. Local gardening groups will be selling their plants.There will be other stalls, books and a raffle.
Volunteers form the largest department in the Garden so let's get saving pennies, sowing seeds and taking cuttings so that we play our part in the birthday celebrations.

Fungus on decayed beech twig

Our resident scientist, Natasha de Vere, examines a tiny fungus discovered on a decayed beech twig. This was on one of the Waxcap Discovery walks in the fields opposite the lakes. We discovered over 18 species of waxcaps and associated fungi, which makes the site nationally, if not internationally, important.

The main field is on a steep slope and partly because of this has been ignored for regular grazing, and never ploughed/fertilized as it is useless for growing cash crops. This is why it is such a species rich area of undeveloped pasture - wild plants/fungi have developed to thrive in such conditions.

Apothecaries Hall

Education Department had a useful "inset day" with Gareth Evans in the Apothecaries Hall. The history of medicines was discussed, with many anecdotes. One of the intentions is to increase the use of the Hall for talks, as it is a great venue to discuss plant medicines. The film show can be changed by replacing the digicard in the player - this has opened up a lot of possibilities.

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