Bristol's Secret Garden

By Jessicca Houdret

…Classic components of a traditional Chinese garden were incorporated in the design. These include a moongate and a blue pot, strategically placed in line of sight from the entrance. A bamboo screen provides shelter, shade for some plants and reflected heat for others. Trellis work at the side boundaries makes both a fence and a frame for climbing plants. 'We are looking to grow 450 different Chinese herbal plants. We were already growing 160 of those on the initial plant list in our collections - some being mature trees - so here we could concentrate on smaller plants,' says Nick Wray. He emphasised that as well as being a teaching resource the garden has an important conservation role to play, as many of the plants are threatened with extinction in the wild due to over zealous collecting. Plants in the garden are not exclusively natural to China, but the majority are. And all are grown there or have been introduced there. Some, which seem familiar, have become established in Europe. Many have travelled West or East through the centuries and been adopted into local use.