A symbol of International Women’s Day

Posted on by andy.winfield

By Irene Cambi

Irene Cambi, A woman with her hair in a plait and wearing glasses, smiles broadly. She is holding the foliage of a yellow feathery plant, Acacia dealbata.
With the delicate feathery foliage and flowers of Acacia dealbata on International Women’s Day

My name is Irene Cambi and I have the incredible honour of being Bristol Botanic Garden new trainee. I studied politics and human rights before becoming completely and totally amazed by plants. As a woman, and considering my interests in politics, today is a very important day to me.

Today, 8th of March 2019, is the International Women’s Day (IWD). This is a date that brings women (and men) together to fight for a more equal world and celebrate the political and social rights achieved. Although the United Nations began celebrating the IWD only in 1975, this day had been celebrated all around the world long before then. Indeed, the first National Women’s Day was observed in the United States, on the 28th of February 1909, to honour the 1908 female garment workers’ strike in New York. (more…)

Tea, thatch and early spring

Posted on by andy.winfield

By Andy Winfield

Crocus appearing in the Garden.

Today as I write this the sun is shining, the birds are in full voice singing, cawing and screeching around the Garden. Bulbs are popping up, crocus are the first with daffodils a week away from carpeting the ground with yellow. Primroses are dotting grassy areas and bees are beginning to forage in the middle of the day; the minimum temperature that a bee can fly is said to be 13 degrees, so when you see one out and about you know the season is changing. (more…)

Winter wildlife in the darkest days

Posted on by andy.winfield

By Andy Winfield

Robin
Friendly robin

I’ve just been turning the compost heap, it’s pretty much the darkest day of the year. I’ve been joined by three bickering robins and a scurrying blackbird. Compost heap turning is a feast for them with all the bugs and worms who themselves are eating the soft plant material in the heap. The Garden is full of wildlife and at this time of year as the bees and butterflies disappear and many birds migrate, we notice the residents that stay around.

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Winter is coming.

Posted on by andy.winfield

By Andy Winfield

pink peony in bloom
One of the showstoppers of the Peony display

This weekend we begin our winter opening hours; this means the Garden will be closed at weekends until the beginning of February 2019. We’ll still be open during week days but on a Saturday and Sunday the gates will be closed. This is a reflective time for us as the plants shut down with the Garden and we look back through the summer when the now leafless trees were all life and energy.

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