Garden Studios

The shredding trunks of paperbark and snakebark maples might be seen from the Broadwalk and the restored double walled garden has the last of this season’s harvest on show in addition the dahlias and echinacea which have survived the new heavy rain and winds.

But what makes this award-winning garden much more interesting within the less showy seasons is its excellent programme of events.

This weekend there’s a present Fair within the Great Glass House, so while you’re admiring plants from around the world under the most important single span glasshouse on this planet you can even do some early Christmas shopping.

You can travel across continents under this magnificent dome, seeing plants from places as diverse as Australia and Chile, the Canary Islands and South Africa or the Mediterranean and California.

This weekend there also are two workshops, Willow Crafts for Christmas on Saturday and Welsh Herbs Heritage on Sunday.

These, and other workshops equivalent to flower arranging, jewellery making and photography all must be booked beforehand, however the garden’s Apothecary’s Hall – a late 19th century pharmacy in a handsome stone barn – is open to all and you’ll learn about traditional medicines fabricated from plants.

You could also learn about the Physicians of Myddfai, Welsh physicians renowned for his or her knowledge of herbal plants in Europe between the 14th and 19th centuries – who were said to have received their powers from the woman of the Lake.

A touring exhibitions on fungi would be on the garden until February 28, 2014, and there’s a permanent art installation called Ghost Forest – 10 giant harwood treestumps from Ghana in West Africa – which demonstrates the devastation of worldwide deforrestation.

For additional information concerning the gardens, which might be just off the M4 near Llanarthne, in Carmarthenshire, visit www.gardenofwales.org.uk