National Botanic Garden of Wales

[apothecary]

After requests from some of the resident Galanthophiles, here are some pics of the place I work.  I'm afraid drifts of snowdrops are out of the question unless the big sprinkler in the sky turns off sometime before they've all gone over.

For those who commented on disappointment at visits to the NBGW in the earliest days, I hope these help to allay the negative associations a little.  It must surely be expected by anyone with an appreciation for plants and gardens that a whole Botanic Garden will not mature overnight.

[Carlo]

Nice eye, Kristina...

[Maggi Young]

Kristina, many thanks for starting this thread. Lovely to begin with some bright photos of better weather.... how wonderful the giant glasshouse is! I've only seen photos of it from the outside, which were pretty impressive but to see inside is super.  You are most welcome to make regular posts here to show what is  happening at the Gardens, what projects you have in train etc... and Good Luck with your work!

[annew]

It looks stunning!

[Brian Ellis]

Super posting Kristina, looking forward to you keeping us up to date through the year. Thanks

[David Nicholson]

Thank you Kristina. I have been to the NBGW once and it was at the time that it's future was by no means certain. At that time it was, I have to say, a bit of a shambles but it looks much better now. I shall go again during the Summer.

[apothecary]

I have been to the NBGW once and it was at the time that it's future was by no means certain. At that time it was, I have to say, a bit of a shambles...

Yes it was.  During the crisis, would you believe, they only kept on 4 gardeners who I think did brilliantly considering.  When we all came back the following spring we had waist high brambles to deal with across all peripheral areas of the garden and around lakes etc.  It took nearly 2 years just to get back to where we'd left off.  Finally we're progressing and developing new areas of the garden although we're still desperately short staffed.

The photos above are all just bits I pulled off the system today.  I'm sure I have some decent ones of my own of other areas of the garden too.  Must hunt.

[apothecary]

Today we've had the Sun!!!!!!!

I'd forgotten what it looked like.  It feels so good to finally have some vitamin D through our veins.

So this would have been a bleak mid-winter pic, except that the sky turned blue for a nice change.

I'll also include a drift of those much beloved snowdrops, although I think they look a bit measly really.

[Rob]

Nice sunny pictures.

Do you work in the science centre, and is it open to the public?

The viewpoint looks to be from up that side.

With your username I expected you to be in the Physicians of Myddfai building

[Maggi Young]

Physicians of Myddfai

Goodness... are you allowed to say that?

Are the Druids in the old house we see in the middle distance, then?

[apothecary]

Do you work in the science centre, and is it open to the public?

The viewpoint looks to be from up that side.

With your username I expected you to be in the Physicians of Myddfai building

I'm based in the horti  building (I'm a gardener) which is a bit further down the hill from the science centre, behind the Apothecaries' Garden in fact which is where I usually work.

The science centre isn't open to the public.  It's basically just laboratories and conference rooms currently being hired by a science company for plant-based research.  We do have our new conservation botanist based up there too though, maybe she has plans for more interactive visitor type things in the future.

The 'Physicians of Myddfai' building (why is it wrong to say that ) is open to the public and includes a couple of exhibitions on medicinal plants.  We are however looking into the possibility of completely refurbishing and extending it to make better use of the wonderful resources here and the many stories we have to tell about the Physicians of Myddfai.

Physicians of Myddfai

Are the Druids in the old house we see in the middle distance, then?

There's just the one old druid in that house - the head of education (it's the education department).

[Maggi Young]

The 'Physicians of Myddfai'  (why is it wrong to say that )

No idea at all what "Myddfai " might mean, so just joking that it might be rude!
Glad to hear you're not over-run with Durids, I hear they make a frightful mess 

[apothecary]

No idea at all what "Myddfai " might mean, so just joking that it might be rude!

Ah ha.  Well that would be because it's Welsh.  In fact, they are correctly referred to as Meddygon Myddfai (pronounced a bit like meh-tha-gonn muth-vie), which I think sounds quite nice and soft (much Welsh can sound so much ruder). 

They are the famous family of physicians who lived in a small village by the name of Myddfai from about C13th to C18th.  Myddfai is just about 12 miles north-east-ish of the NBGW and, although not much more than a bend in the road, marks the home of the earliest records of medical/herbal practice in this country. 

The Physicians were ordered by the regent of Dyfed to write down everything they knew and so the 'Red book of Hergest' began from what was previously an oral tradition.  The book can now be found in Jesus College, Oxford.  It's the best record of herbal history in the UK and tells us a lot about the transfer of herbal knowledge (and plants) from the likes of Dioscorides and Galen in the rest of Europe/Asia.  It also tells us a lot about how advanced medical thinking was in this area at that time (one of the 3 best centres of medicine in Europe according to some), and I'm sure we could learn a lot from the Meddygon about good living today.

Can you tell that I'm on more familiar territory with this?  I shall jump back off the herbal soapbox now.

[Maggi Young]

That is fascinating! I'm so glad I made those comments or you might never have told us all that! I have heard of the Red book of Hergest... but had no notion of this history and connection... really interesting to learn that. I believe a lot of us are keen to learn this sort of thing. Thank you Kristina!

[apothecary]

Well believe me, if people want to know, I'm more than happy to share (and my partner would probably be more than happy for me to find someone else to share with for a change). And if I don't know the answer, I'm liable to spend a good deal of time and energy finding out.  There's just a tad of herbal Aspergers in me so long as I don't have to delve too far into historical context.  My real interest is practical Western herbal medicine, and although the history side is interesting, it's certainly not a talent of mine.