Amid the gentle hills of Carmarthenshire’s Tywi valley, the domed glasshouse of the National Botanic Garden of Wales sparkles from miles away. Designed by Sir Norman Foster, when the garden opened in 2000 it was the largest single-span glasshouse in the world, set among 230 hectares (570 acres) of themed gardens and a nature reserve – but today, the most special part of the site is actually a modest hillside where Welsh black cattle graze.
At this time of year, there is little to see in the organically managed pasture other than the cows. But in the autumn, this field boasts an astonishing 23 different species of colourful waxcap mushrooms – some of which are considered as endangered as the Siberian tiger or mountain gorilla.
“I’ve been coming here since I was a teenager and one of the reasons I love working here now is because you can see the hard work paying off. Some of the rarest mushrooms and wildflowers here populate more and more of the site every year,” says Dr Kevin McGinn, the garden’s chief botanist.
The garden, which turns 25 this year, is globally recognised for its pioneering conservation efforts since the turn of the millennium. Wales was the first country in the world to create a national DNA database of its native flowering plants and conifers, and the garden’s staff monitor and safeguard flora, pollinators and other biodiversity standards on site and around the country.
As well as waxcaps, the Waun Las nature reserve hosts marshy greenland, wet woodland and lowland meadows, environments that are dying out across Europe; during the Guardian’s visit in June, its hay meadows were stippled by the rare sight of white whorled caraway and greater butterfly orchids, as well as purple meadow clary.
Beyond its conservation work, the National Botanic Garden offers therapeutic gardening programmes in partnership with health boards, and more than 11,000 schoolchildren visit annually despite the rural location near Llanarthne; the garden’s ambitious new goal is to connect every child in Wales to the garden, either through visits or outreach.
A flagship millennium project, it was the first new botanical garden in the UK in 200 years. The novelty attracted 240,000 visitors in 2000, but visitor figures quickly slumped to less than 100,000 a year, and the garden was only saved from closure by emergency funding from the Welsh government, local council and now-defunct Millennium Commission.
Today, after huge efforts from staff and volunteers, loans have been repaid and 80% of the site’s income is self-generated. The gardens have matured into both a spectacular attraction and biodiversity success story.
In recent years a £6m project has allowed for the restoration of the original features of the 18th-century estate, built by Sir William Paxton, a key figure of the East India Company; its lakes and waterfalls were rehabilitated, bringing otters and kingfishers to the garden. Walking trails now wind through Waun Las’s woods and meadows, where visitors are encouraged to note down what they see and feed the data back to the garden’s scientists.
Work is due to begin soon on a £1.3m technical upgrade for the Great Glasshouse. Many of its mechanical panels – state of the art in the 00s – no longer open, making it difficult to regulate temperature and humidity for its huge collection of endemic and endangered plants from around the world.
“Over 25 years the garden has gone from strength to strength and over the next 25 we will continue to build on our reputation as a globally important plant science centre,” said Dr Lucy Sutherland, the garden’s director.
Upcoming priorities include an ambitious project aimed at reversing Welsh-native flora decline, safeguarding Wales’s 58 endemic species from habitat loss, and creating a living native plant collection that will take visitors on a “botanical journey” through the country’s diverse nature, from Pembrokeshire’s coastal cliffs to the peaks of Yr Wyddfa.
