It has been created by drawing, painting and embroidery students from Coleg Sir Gar  and their show has been overseen by tutor Cath Fairgreave.

Four of the students have written about their work and involvement. Please have a look at their words and images.

DANILLE McCULLEY

MEGAN BURNS

JESSICA EDWARDS

SAMANTHA THORNTON 

Last year we started identifying plants from our borders and beds that are very much the essence of the garden display with a view to propagating for plant sale; with much of the autumn and winter work enabling us to lift and divide herbaceous material, a burgeoning of stock ready for sale is underway.

With sustainability and localism very much an agenda item these days it seems obvious that producing our own plants for sale is a positive step in the right direction, the bonus being that we can honestly say that the plants are from the Garden. It is highly unlikely that we could ever become self sufficient in producing plants for sale as we would neither have the range of material or the resources to produce  everything that we may wish our plant sales to offer. Another consideration is that where commercial nurseries operate with economy of scale it does cost us more to produce our own plants in relatively small numbers.

So  with all this in mind we are about to offer a range of our own plants as well as selling plants that have been obtained from other nurseries. Whilst our own plants represent a small range we can guarantee a very high quality product that is environmentally as ethical as it can be and certainly local. They will of course be totally suitable for Welsh gardens  as witnessed by the fact that they have all done well for us. So come and visit and take home a piece of us.

Simon Goodenough

Garden Curator

16th April 2013

photo is courtesy of Mike Walters Photography

Our visits to the National Botanic Garden of Wales are usually in the form volunteering and can be busy with no time for just wandering about.  So we decided to go as visitors on Easter Sunday afternoon.  It was a beautiful day and some of our family were visiting so we all decided that it would be a good place to go.  Well, that is to say the adults thought it would be a good place to go, the children (who are actually teenagers rather than little children) came along with only a bit of a moan.

The first question we were asked when we got there was why are there empty spaces in some areas.  So we explained about the restorative work that is going on and how it is a look to the future sort of project.  If you want to know all about it have a look at the February Curator’s Blog where Simon explains what’s happening.  As for me, well I actually think the beds look great, so neat and orderly.  It reminds me of what I often think when I look at our own garden and that is how great it would be to take everything out and start again.  Some of the plants that are in it now are favourites and would be replaced but others have fallen out of favour and would either go to the big compost heap in the sky or be passed on to anybody that might want them.  Gardens sometimes outgrow themselves and need radical work to get them looking as they were meant to look.  That has certainly happened to our garden.  Whether it will ever get the make over remains to be seen.

The kids enjoyed themselves doing the Easter Egg Trail (anything with chocolate at the end of it is bound to be a winner!) and we only heard one “This is boring, can I go and sit in the car?  Which from four teenagers isn’t bad.  Incidentally, the answer was “No”.  We enjoyed the Quack Pack and Fiddlebox and all the other things that were going on.  The atmosphere was lovely and, for me, one of the great things about the Garden is that there is always such a lovely feel about the place, especially when there are things going on and people are relaxed and enjoying themselves.

I finished up in the Great Glass House with my son and we looked at plants and took photos.  He’s not a gardener but enjoyed the many and varied shapes of the plants and the shades of light within the Glass House.  It was nice to wander with him (it doesn’t happen often) and see what he liked and how he saw things.  We were in two cars and we left before they did (well someone had to cook the dinner!) and left them playing some sort of tag game in the children’s play area.

All in all everyone enjoyed the visit and I mean EVERYONE.

Pam Murden

3 April 2013

I was delighted to take delivery of some new trees for the garden  including Cedrus atlantica, Atlantic  cedar,  Tilia petiolaris silver pendant lime, Alnus incana ‘Aurea’ grey alder, Alnus cordata Italian alder,  Populus balsamifera  balsam poplar and Sorbus alnifolia Japanese rowan.

The Tilia and Cedrus are planted to be stately parkland trees in the sweeping vistas  up to the Great Glasshouse, whilst the alders are planted beside or near the Bog Garden following on from some of the restorative work that we have been undertaking this winter. The Sorbus with its fine autumn colour has been planted at the edge of Spring Woods near to the ice house. The Balsam Poplars are to be planted alongside the road that skirts the lake and provides the boundary to Woods of the World; these erect poplars are hopefully the start of an avenue that will define the natural boundary between the lake and the Woods of the World. One of the delights of these poplars is the sticky buds and balsamic odour, a wonderful and evocative fragrance that can fill the air.

In subsequent years we will start to identify places to plant specimen trees that will enhance our collections and add to the garden landscape. Whilst we are doing this we are also beginning the slow but steady removal of self-sown weed trees that have invaded the landscape during years of neglect, in particular trees at the head of Llyn Mawr have been removed, largely weedy alders and willows. For the first time in many years we are rediscovering the banks of the large lake and in the autumn this year we will begin to reveal more of the lake to reinterpret the Regency landscape of Paxton.

Simon Goodenough

Curator, National Botanic Garden of Wales

Turning our attention to the time of Paxton and latterly the Adams many features of the estate are all but ruined, yet we are piecing together that which is left. With the assistance of grant aid from the Carmarthenshire Landscape and Heritage Grant Scheme we have started to reclaim the carriage drive that runs to the north of the walled garden. With considerable care we wish to ensure that the remains of the Peach House are secured and that the Carriage Drive has its low walled edges reinstated.The long raked border that runs beside the Carriage Drive was presumably an ornamental border; drawing from examples found in other great estates it is likely that the border was filled with flowering shrubs and possibly extensive plantings of material for cut-flower for the house. Sadly we do not have a record of what was planted here and undoubtedly the emphasis of this particular part of the garden would have changed through the decades. Early work to clear and clean up is underway and once we have made safe the Peach House we hope to make access available to the public along the carriage drive. Interpretation of the site will further enhance the visitor experience.

Simon Goodenough

Curator

This is not a quick fix approach and a great deal of forward planning has gone in to this. The beds most weed infested and altered from the original planting plans have been targeted first. This has also given us the opportunity to ameliorate the soil with the addition of compost and manure to improve the structure and promote healthy growth when we come to replant in the autumn. During this year the opportunity is going to be taken to eradicate as much of the weed problem as possible and after planting we now have a ready-made supply of mulch from arisings from our woodland maintenance programme that can be utilised to assist in keeping the beds weed free. This will be a rolling programme that is likely to take 4 to 5 seasons to complete.

The staff has been working extremely hard in trying conditions but is making headway. Much pleasure will be had when all the planting can be done into refreshed and weeded beds. Follow progress as all this much needed work continues.

In my next blog I want to take a look at the numerous grant funded schemes that are making it possible to undertake some radical new work that will set the scene for years to come. As we advanced into the second decade of our existence the future is looking very promising.

Simon Goodenough

Curator, National Botanic Garden of Wales

I thought I would take the opportunity to take some photos of the birds.  As often happens things didn’t quite go to plan because there was a class of noisy five year olds having their lunch and the birds seemed reluctant to come down where we were sitting.    I’m not sure whether it was the noise from the children or it may have been that the pickings were richer under the tables where the children were eating.  I am a big fan of the birds but I was particularly interested to get some pictures of them because some of them have been ringed.  An MSc student from Aberystwyth University is carrying out a project to find out if the birds in the Great Glass House are evolving differently from the birds outside. (It’s more technical than that but I think that’s basically it – apologies if it isn’t).  Most of the birds are sparrows, but I have seen chaffinches and robins and last week there was a wren in there, but we don’t know if they live in the Great Glass House or if, like the rest of us, they’re just visitors.

So as I said some of the birds have been ringed and, before anyone starts thinking that you can’t just catch birds and ring them, this has been carried out in conjunction with The British Trust for Ornithology, so it’s all above board and official.  The rings are colour coded so, in theory, we should be able to identify individual birds by the colours of their rings.

A nice little terrace of desirable residences (nest boxes if you’d rather) have been located in the newly planted Canary Islands zone.  I don’t think it was replanted specifically for the birds but it is very attractive nevertheless, so perhaps Mr and Mrs Sparrow would like to take a holiday home in the Canary Islands.  There’s inbuilt CCTV as well, so if they do deign to nest in there we will be able to see how they are getting on.  There’s a screen at the end of the concourse near the nest boxes.

So next time you are visiting the Garden do go and have a look to see whether the birds have chosen to nest in our ‘des res’ or perhaps see if you can spot the rings on their legs.

Pam Murden

30/01/2013

I went into the Wallace Garden, where my husband was working, and was blown away by the cabbages!  Now that has to be a first.  In an earlier blog I was on about the cabbages in the Wallace Garden because of their beautiful colours.  Their still colourful leaves were edged with diamonds – all provided by Jack Frost.

I suppose that our weather will get worse before it gets better but when I look at the calendar I see that it will not be too many weeks before the first snowdrops will be pushing through the soil and after the 21^st of the month it will start to get lighter in the evenings and we all look forward to that.  In the meantime I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy 2013.

Pam Murden

15 December 2012

to see more of Pam’s Garden Blogs for 2012, go to our Blog page.

I was there yesterday, which was a fairly grey day, and I went out with my camera  after we had eaten our sandwiches on a bench outside the Great Glasshouse and had a good panoramic view over the Garden down towards the Tropical House.  What struck me was how colourful it is. It’s some time since I last wrote a blog so I thought I’d go out and look around.  I went to the Aqualab by way of the Broadwalk, to do a job with my fellow volunteer, Carol.  After we had finished I made my way back via the Japanese Garden and the Double Walled Garden and was amazed at how colourful it still is.  Not only were the trees showing their lovely colours but there were lots of other things to look at.

One disappointment this year is the lack of conkers.  The tree, which grows in the children’s play area and sheds its leaves and conkers over the car park, is usually a good source for them.  Normally, we take care not to park beneath its branches for fear of denting the car but this year there is no need to worry.  Other years we have not been able to walk without treading on conkers, there have been literally hundreds.  This year I have seen none at all.  What a shame.   I haven’t looked for acorns but I will!

Pam Murden

The train was going around and the buggies were up and down the Broadwalk ferrying people up to the Great Glass House.  There wasn’t much to do in the office so I thought I would take the opportunity to go and visit the dig.  For those of you who don’t know; archaeologists are hoping to find out about the regency mansion that stood just inside Waun Las NNR.  Last year they uncovered what they believe to be a cobbled area at the front of the house and this year they hope to find more about the extent of the building and its gardens.  Perhaps it’s the romantic in me but I can just imagine ladies with beautiful gowns and parasols walking in the gardens (it doesn’t rain in my imagination) and gentlemen doing whatever gentlemen did in those days.  Carriages rumbling into the stable block and gardeners picking fruit in the walled garden.  Yes, I have got a vivid imagination, too much “Pride and Prejudice” I expect.  Presently, there is nothing to see of the original garden but the archaeologists believe that there were water gardens and hope to find evidence to back this up.  I wonder what plants they would have had; old fashioned roses, lavender, hollyhocks, who knows but with DNA for our plants now available who knows what we might find out.

Pam Murden