Great news!
By popular demand, the inspirational and informative exhibition by the Garden’s Stitching Botanicals group is back on public view.
Located in the Apothecary Hall, the Plant Pharmacy Patchwork exhibition features nearly 100 plants used to treat ailments, both historically and in modern times.
In the past three years, over 80 volunteers, meeting twice a month, and led by Marilyn Caruana, have created a series of special collections of stunning and evocative squares. These feature Welsh county flowers, plants in our rare Welsh plants project, meadow plants, many beautiful fungi and most recently, a large panel featuring South African plants in bloom, to celebrate the outstanding South African collection in the Great Glasshouse.
These depictions of medicinal plants were first shown here in 2014 and were exhibited at Liverpool’s National Wildflower Centre in 2015. They’ve now returned and have been supplemented by some new additions.
The Stitching Botanicals volunteers use the excellent collections in the Garden’s botanical library as technical and reference support, providing them with black and white drawings, botanical art, stories about the plants, and details of their uses and habitats.
A collection of greeting cards featuring many of the stitched pieces are available in the shop at the Garden. Thanks to other keen Garden volunteers with skills in photography and social media, you can follow the group’s progress on the Stitching Botanicals Facebook page, which shows all the work created, as well as photos of the monthly sessions.
New members are always welcome and anyone wishing to join the group should contact Jane Down at jane.down@gardenofwales.org.uk or call 01558 667118 for details.