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A festival of plants, health and well-being

Do plants help us feel well?  During May, a varied programme of public events at the National Botanic Garden of Wales will provide an answer.

With guided tours, special lectures, courses, exhibitions and art trails - there is something for everybody so why not come along to one of our themed days in May.
Wales has a rich heritage of using medicinal plants, from the medieval Physicians of Myddfai, the pharmacists who dispensed herbal remedies and the families who passed on knowledge of medicinal herbs down the generations.
Medicines in May will build on these traditions and will look forward to the role plants might have in our lives in the 21st century. 

What’s On during ‘Medicines in May’ 2008
Saturday 3rd May 2008
1-1.30pm
Exhibition Launch: ‘Images from the Apiary’
A group show in which artists investigate the inter-relationship between honey bees and plants. Featuring sculpture, ceramics, painting, illustration and photography.
Venue:  Stables Gallery
1.30-2pm
Talk: ‘A Lighthearted View of Plants in Medicine’ with Bob Edwards
Venue:  The Apothecary’s Hall
2-3pm  
Guided Walk with Gareth Evans: The honey plants of the Great Glasshouse
Venue:  Great Glasshouse  – meet at the Western Entrance
Sunday 4th May
11 - 4pm
Film Shows: A unique chance to see 3 new films about Welsh plants and medicine. Myddfai’s Memories: Plants, People and Places lasts one hour, Remembered Remedies 30 minutes and  Medicine Woman 15 minutes. After each repeated showing, you have the chance to tell us how your family traditions of using plants to treat ailments. Listings are available on the day.
This event forms part of a UK wide Ethnomedica project.
Venue:  Theatr Botanica
Bank Holiday Monday 5th May
10.30–12.30pm ‘Foraging for a Lunchtime Feast’
2 – 4pm            ‘Hunting for High Tea’
Cookery: Let food be your medicine, medicine be your food’ – collecting
and cooking wild plants with medicinal herbalist Lara Bernays &
gastronomer Thomas Benn
Venue:  Stables Courtyard and Botanic Garden meadows
Tuesday 6th May
2 - 3pm 
Talk by Dr Natasha De Vere: Conservation of Medicinal Plants
Venue:  Theatr Botanica
Wednesday 7th May
2 - 3pm 
Guided Walk with Gareth Evans: The honey plants of the Great
Glasshouse
Venue:  Great Glasshouse – meet at the Western Entrance

Thursday 8th May
2 - 3pm
Talk by Professor Terry Turner: ‘Green Medicine’
Venue: Theatr Botanica
Friday 9th May
2 - 3pm
Talk by Professor Rose Cooper, UWIC: ‘Honey & Healing: Ancient &
Modern’
Venue: Theatr Botanica
Saturday 10th May
12 - 2pm 
Informal talk by Lynda Christie (Carmarthenshire Bee Keepers): How to be a
Beekeeper – Have you ever thought of becoming a beekeeper? Here’s your
chance to find out how to be one.
Venue:  Bee Garden
 2 - 2.30pm
Talk: ‘A Lighthearted View of Plants in Medicine’with Bob Edwards
Venue:  The Apothecary’s Hall
Sunday 11th May
10.30am - 3pm 
Guided Walk with Medical Botanist Lara Bernays: The Physicians of
Myddfai A special opportunity to visit the meadow and spring where the
renowned physicians gathered their medicinal herbs. Please book in
advance – send £6 cheque to Education Dept at the Botanic Garden or ring
01558 667150.
Venue: Meet at Myddfai village hall car park at 10.30am. The walk lasts
about 6 miles – you’ll need to suitable footwear and clothing, and packed
lunch.
 
All talks and tours are free with admission except where indicated.
For more information, ring 01558 667150 or email interpretation@gardenofwales.org.uk