Botanic Garden talk for Lunar New Year Festival of the Ox

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By Alice Maltby

Join the Botanic Garden and Bristol Museum and Art Gallery in an Online Festival of music, dance, talks, craft activities, storytelling, meditation, yoga and more. Events will take place during 16 – 23 February 2021.

According to the Chinese Zodiac people born in a year of the Ox are honest, trustworthy, diligent, dependable, strong and determined.

The Festival is in partnership with Avon Chinese School, BESEA TV, Bristol & Avon Chinese Women’s Group, Bristol & West of England China Bureau, Bristol Shaolin Wushu Academy, Bristol Wutan, North Somerset Inter-Cultural Dance Association, South Gloucestershire Chinese Association and University of Bristol Botanic Garden. (more…)

Bluebells take the stage

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By Andy Winfield

The nodding heads of bluebell flowers

In April everything becomes green again. Leaves are bringing colour to bare branches and a skip to our step.  Spring bulbs are almost at the end of their moment; leaves on trees mean darkness under canopies, but there’s still time, just before the leafy curtains are fully drawn, for one of the most joyful sights. Bluebells. (more…)

Birds of the Botanic Garden

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By Andy Winfield

Long tailed tit taking off from a branch; its wings are open and its looking directly at the camera.
Long tailed tit.

As long as there have been gardens there have been birds in gardens; as gardeners we’re continuing the long relationship that will ever end. There may be some ups and downs, pigeons pecking seedlings or fruit bushes stripped; but on the whole gardeners and garden birds have a bond that goes deep. Here’s how I see some of the birds that visit the Botanic Garden. (more…)

Biological battles in the glasshouses

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By Helen Roberts and Nicola Temple

 
In the calm and serenity of the glasshouses, among the flowering lotus and breathtaking orchids, there is a lethal battle going on – biological warfare between predator and prey. About two months ago, Penny started to use biological control in the glasshouses as a chemical-free means of managing pests like whitefly and aphids. Parasitic wasps and beetles are released in areas of infestation and left to do what comes naturally to them…prey upon pests. (more…)