Posted: 16/04/2013 at 14:01
Ah, nothing better for me to talk about than my half acre and the Bristol university Botanic Garden. i love them both. Next year I will have been tending my garden for fifty years and, as I open it to clubs, I am planning a Golden Jubilee Year like the National trust had at Barrington Court. I like to take my inspiration from te best! Hence the interest in all things golden.
As for the Bristol Botanic Garden, since taking my Certificate in Biology at Bristol university in 1986 i had wanted to do voluntary work there but it was over the suspension bridge and two and a half hour's bus journey so impossible. none the less I ecame Friend and, when their site was sold for development in 2005 and the new garden was on this side of the river and i can get there in 15 minutes on one bus, I volunteered to garden there every Thursday at the age of 76. I also trained to be a Guide to take groups round the Garden and have enjoyed especially taking round school parties. I attended a workshop at the University on improving my photographic skills and go rund the garden getting amazing shots for blogs like this one and the talks i give to ladies and gadening groups. Being eighty five shortly and there being a very long waiting list of volunteer gardeners I have resigned from the gardening duties but just go and photograph nd write poetry or my book if I am itching just to be there with my friends. We have the most wonderful greenhouses as well as a beautiful garden dedicated to plant diversityand evolution, Mediterranean type plants, useful plants and native and rare native plants which abound in the Bristol Gorge a few minutes walk from the garden. I did warn you. This afternoon i am off to meet up with the other Guides for our yearly upgrade with the Curator, Nick Wray whom you may have seen some time back on GW. His hor borders are astounding!
