The University of Bristol Botanic Garden will hold its National Gardens Scheme (NGS) open day this Sunday [July 1].
Visitors to the garden, winner of the SW Britain in Bloom Best Special Project Award 2011, will enjoy the collections of Mediterranean flora, unique native plants, many rare to the Bristol area, useful plants (including European and Chinese herbs) and those that illustrate plant evolution.
Large floral diversity displays illustrate pollination and flowering plant evolution. The garden will be ablaze with summer colour.
The garden is home to the Giant Amazon Water Lily, Victoria amazonica, with leaves 1.5 metres in diameter, the exquisite Sacred Lotus collection, many tropical fruits and medicinal plants, and Wolly, the famous Wollemi Pine.
Nick Wray, Curator of the Botanic Garden, said: “Our NGS open day is an opportunity to have a guided tour of the garden at the height of the season and when the garden will be ablaze with summer colour. Tours, by experienced guides, will be run at regular intervals throughout the day and visitors can learn about some of the wonders of the plant world.”
There will be an exhibition of quilts by a local stitched textile group, botanic-themed displays, special tours of the garden, plant sales and refreshments.
Entry to the Botanic Garden NGS open day is £4.50 (including Friends of the Garden), children free. The admission fee includes a tour of the garden.
Proceeds from the NGS open day will go to the NGS and the University of Bristol Botanic Garden.
The garden will be open from 10 am until 4.30 pm at the University Botanic Garden, The Holmes, Stoke Park Road, Stoke Bishop, Bristol BS8 1JG. For further information please telephone (0117) 331 4906.
Further information
Directions to The Holmes
From the city centre go to the top of Whiteladies Road, at the junction and traffic lights go straight ahead across Durdham Down towards Stoke Bishop. At the traffic lights go straight ahead and take the first turning on the right into Stoke Park Road, The Holmes is 150 m on the right.
Members of the public wishing to support the work of the Botanic Garden should join the Friends of the Garden. For more information go to www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/BotanicGardens/friends/who.htm or write to Susan Redfern, The Membership Secretary, 24 Dublin Crescent, Henleaze, Bristol BS9 4NA.
About the National Gardens Scheme (NGS)
NGS gardens across England and Wales welcome around 750,000 visitors every year. Some are privately owned and open just a few times a year; some open as part of a group with the whole community involved; and others, such as the University of Bristol Botanic Garden, are usually open to the public but choose to support the NGS on certain days.
The proceeds from NGS Open Gardens; including admission, plant sales and refreshments; are donated directly to the charity (although a small proportion may be donated to a nominated local charity). The NGS currently gives away more than £2.5 million each year to nursing, caring and gardening charities, a total of more than £25 million over the past 15 years. Office overheads are small and most of the scheme’s work is carried out by volunteers in county teams so more than 80p in every pound raised goes directly to the NGS’s beneficiaries.
