The teaching garden at the Chinese Herb Garden was opened on July 3rd this year. It has been the culmination of 10 years collecting and construction. The event also marked the opening of the ‘Pavilion of New Horizons'. We were honoured that the minister attaché for science Chen Fu Tao from the Chinese Embassy cut the ribbon. Also present was Colin Smith, mayor of Bristol , who is the chairman of the Bristol Guangzhou Partnership. Professor Len Hall, University of Bristol pro-vice chancellor, gave an opening address to welcome the guests and outline the many research links which already exist with Chinese universities. This was followed by the Prof. Simon Hiscock, Scientific Director of the Botanic Gardens, who expressed interest in developing links with Guangzhou Botanic Gardens. The garden also has an official collaboration agreement with Nanjing Botanic Gardens.

Minister Attaché Chen Fu Tao opening the garden in the Pavilion of New Horizons.

Tony Harrison, Bristol Chinese Herb Garden Manager, gave a presentation illustrating developments in China to encourage sustainability of supply of endangered herb species. Conservation is a keystone of the Chinese Herb Garden as it is for Botanic Gardens across the world.

The event was a time of celebration with demonstrations of tai chi and a lion dance . The energy of the tai chi and lion dance were perfect examples of yin and yang and this was greatly appreciated by the minister. It was an authentic slice of Chinese arts promoting the next phase of the garden. Equally important to the opening of the teaching garden were informal discussions and general support for a programme to enlarge the garden to form a Chinese Culture Garden . The first of these new developments is the planning of a dedicated peony garden in Suzhou style.

The lively ‘Shaolin style' lion dance was used to attract good fortune for the years ahead.

The Bristol tai chi school brought stillness to the ceremony

It was clear from the day, that the opening was not so much an end as a beginning. The potential for education, research and PR is enormous and it is really only limited by human and financial resources.

USES OF TEACHING GARDEN
Now that the teaching garden is operational, we can start to use it in several different areas.

Education
There are two distinct levels of education being developed in the teaching garden:

1) Public
The Botanic Garden is visited by 10,000 members of the public annually. Public interpretation boards are now in place. These bear the logos of the RCHM and University of Bristol to signify the close partnership. The first board states the overall aims and history of the garden since starting in 2000.

A second board shows the layout of the teaching garden and attempts to elucidate the principles of yin and yang and the classification system for Chinese herbal medicine.

2) Undergraduate
The Dispensary and Pharmacognosy module is now embedded into 4 Chinese herb teaching colleges in the UK and Ireland and gives students contact with the plants and their processing and identification. It requires specialist facilities and teaching material not available in most colleges. The course is also open to practicing herbalists as part of their CPD training.

A detailed Handbook has been written tailored for this course.

The Chinese Herb Garden is unique in Europe as a teaching base. It will take some time to enlarge this base. A dedicated teaching room has now been finished with the latest in digital 3D whiteboard technology to assist with teaching of live plant material. If you would like to use these facilities for your teaching then contact the RCHM office.

Visiting students from The China Medical University also found many interesting species which do not grow easily in Taiwan 

Research
The garden is developing a research programme which can be carried out by college students in their MSc year at the colleges.

This currently focuses on issues relating to herb supply and phamacognosy. There is also a growing interest in comparisons between Chinese and European herbs which share the same species or genus. The University of Bristol is not currently engaged in research using the garden but are becoming aware that there is potential for biochemical, taxonomic and ethno-botanical education and research using this living pharmacy.

Public relations
There is ample opportunity for PR in the garden and considerable publicity for the garden on the open day from local TV, radio and newspapers. It is only the start as the garden becomes known. Promotion of the garden and hence the RCHM is being carefully handled by both the RCHM and University PR department and they are beginning to work closely together. Conservation is also built into the PR programme. By enlarging attention from the strictly medical use onto the plants themselves, you can reach a whole new audience and news stories. We are a nation of gardeners and many Chinese herbs are also well known garden plants.

Plant list

The use-class interpretation board with backdrop of Alisma
plantago aquatica(ze xie) and Tetrapanax papyrifera
(tong cao) from the drain damp section.

One of the first requirements for accurate education and research is an up to date plant list. Tony Harrison, Bristol Chinese Herb Garden Manager has included this below as the first attempt. It will also be posted on the RCHM website and updated every year as it is likely to change.

There are 200 species of Chinese herb in the Botanic Gardens. Most are situated in the external display beds in the teaching garden. This is indicated with (d) in the table below. A few are found in other collections in the Botanic Gardens indicated by (o). The more tender species are housed in the greenhouse complex marked with (g). Over time this will become more specific as to location, to enable visitors to find any plant easily.

View the table of plant species here as a pdf
or here as an excel spreadsheet.
With this original table, as it is in Excel, it is possible to sort the list according to pinyin/latin or location.


Contacts:
Bristol Tai Chi School: www.bristoltaichi.com
Lion Dance Troup: www.shaolinway.com

You can view the news archive of the garden below:
Winter 2004 - Garden Newsletter
Newsletter 1 - Spring 2007 - archive web page
Newsletter 2 - Winter 2007 - archive web page
October 2008 - RCHM Journal article on growing your own Chinese herbs
May 2009 - RCHM Journal article on the garden's lotus collection
Summer 2010 - archive web page