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Midwinter thoughts.

Posted on by andy.winfield

By Andy Winfield

A dull December scene, leafless trees, but part of a rainbow giving colour to the image.

It’s been very dark and very wet lately, like, very dark. I’ve just come in from cutting back mistletoe and the rain began falling heavily, completely in line with the yellow weather warning for rain that the Met Office put in place. I thought, dark, wet, and cutting mistletoe, what can be more midwinter than that; there was a robin hopping around nearby as well just to add some festive card chic to the occasion. Throughout human history here in the northern hemisphere, getting to, and past, midwinter has been something to celebrate, and we’ve made it to another one. It won’t be long until the signposts out of winter begin to appear. (more…)

Traditional Chinese Herb Garden: Plant Spotlight, Coix Lacryma jobi

Posted on by andy.winfield

By Tony Harrison

Tony Harrison in the Traditional Chinese Herb Garden.Tony Harrison is the joint founder of the Chinese Herb Garden and the current garden co-ordinator for the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine (RCHM); this is the first in a series of plant spotlights.

If you go into the Chinese Herb Garden in late summer you may find the seeds of Coix lacryma-jobi, otherwise known as jobs tears. There are several species and variations of Coix lacryma-jobi species. Coix lacryma-jobi var. lacryma-jobi was introduced into the Middle East from Asia and it gets this name for the use of the hard white ripe seeds which are threaded into rosary beads for Muslim devotional prayer. (more…)

Have we had a good summer?

Posted on by andy.winfield
By Andy Winfield

Weather symbol for rain, sun, cloud, and storms.

We keep records of rain here in the Botanic Garden. We have a little rain collection pot with measurements on the side, and record whenever there is any rain, every day. We have accurate records for here of the rainfall from each day of the last twenty years. The total rainfall for the year so far is 329mm, while last year up to this point (September 7th)  692mm of rain had fallen. It’s been so dry, although right now I hear what sounds like all the water in the world angrily hurling itself at Bristol. Who knows what will happen next year; it feels like we’ve reached a stage of hyper unpredictability, the seasons just aren’t being the seasons I remember. Normal is changing. Is normal very wet weather, or very dry weather, or very windy weather? Gone are March winds and April showers, in are named storms and record temperatures.

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Green on the inside

Posted on by andy.winfield

By Andy Winfield

A meadow with yellow, red, and blue flowers.

At the end of May this year, my colleague Nicola Rathbone (aka Froggie) and I together with Maisie Brett, a demonstrator from the School of Biological Sciences who has an expertise in the lives of pollinators, went to visit HMP Eastwood Park. We were to meet someone called Gary Stone who, since 1996, has been running horticultural activities with prisoners. In recent years Gary and his group have developed an interest in attracting pollinators and working with nature rather than against it. The visit was inspiring; what they’ve done there was wonderful, and nature was responding. (more…)