Ethnobotanical Garden
The Ethnobotanical Garden will be established as a collaboration between the Biocultural Education and Research Programme and the Andromeda Botanic Gardens. The site spans an area of 6 acres and 2 'virgin' acres will be developed by installing endemic and indigenous species. The current biodiversity at the Botanic Gardens reflects over 400 species but few are indigenous to the Caribbean region and the two Barbadian endemic species, Phyllanthus andersonii and Metastelma barbadense, are not represented.
The new garden space will be a tool for conservation of Barbadian plant species and for educational strategy to enhance conservation awareness and engagement of stakeholders and communities. In addition to interpretation for the installed species, a learning resource unit will be established for sustainable delivery of programmes.
This map was originally plotted and drawn by one of Andromeda Botanic Gardens’ French interns, the gifted Aurelien Martin. In pink is the area that BERP will convert into the ethnobotanical garden, concentrating on regional plants and their traditional uses.
UPDATE
The Ethnobotanical Garden at Andromeda Botanic Gardens has a beautiful deck for all to enjoy!
Teamwork makes the Dream Work
The Ethnobotanical Garden (EBG) is thriving as a living library, a biodiversity reserve and a biocultural collection. A recent collaboration with Global Resolve at Arizona State University Barrett Honours College saw the refurbishment of a work shed on site that will expand the capacity of the community outreach programme of the EBG.
This refurbishment was executed with assistance from the students from ASU, Staff of ASU Georgette Briggs and Ana Murphy, Jason Briggs Director of Global Resolve, Sharon Cooke Curator at ABG, Peter Browne Contractor, Joanne Simmons-Boyce Programme Assistant BERP.
The African Connections Garden will be a highly ornamental space, mainly highlighting many common decorative plants that have a strong connection to the African continent. Giant Mexican sunflower, gerberas, Strelitzia, Bidens, Thunbergia and more. BERP is excited to continue our collaboration with Andromeda Botanic Gardens, and Curator Sharon Cooke, as we maintain our conservation focus but also celebrate floristic and horticultural beauty while emphasising the importance of the human connection. This African Connections Garden will offer many areas for quiet reflection while immersed in the horticultural species that will offer a transfered visibility of the African continent. It is important to include local species distribution and the work conducted by BERP within our Key Biodiversity Area of the Scotland District will inform that selection. Plants of the Bidens genus, Asteraceae family, are already flourishing within the ACG.
The Ethnobotanical Garden Expansion
The Herbal Spot IV
In 2024, this series of Herbal Spot was entitled ‘The Village Voices’.
The first Village Voice came from across the Atlantic as Tonny Asafo Agyei, Research Scientist from Ghana, shared about our common biocultural heritage. We acknowledged our binding history and paid homage to our ancestors who were taken from the shores of Ghana and landed on the shores of Barbados during the Atlantic Slave Trade. What role did biocultural traditions play for those who survived and what are some that have persisted through time?
Cooling Teas Workshop
