A gardening training course of CAS Botanical Gardens was organized by the Work Committee of Botanical Gardens of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) during October 10 and 23. More than 30 gardeners from 12 botanical gardens nationwide participated in the course.

The opening ceremony of the training course was held in Kunming Botanical Garden on October 11.

“China is lacking in professional horticulturists and gardeners” said Dr. Chen Jin at the opening ceremony. “Some famous botanical gardens like Kew Royal Botanical Garden and Missouri Botanical Garden offer professional horticulture training courses to improve skills of the gardeners. The Work Committee of CAS Botanical Gardens would like to provide a platform and organize a series of activities to complement it”, added Chen Jin.

The training course was divided into two parts. The first part (October 11-19) in Kunming Botanical Garden focused on “garden design and construction of small garden ornaments”, “pest and disease control in the garden”, “tree census and management”, “ground cover flora, landscape construction, and garden management”.

During October 21-22, the trainees travelled to Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) to learn “use, care, and maintenance of garden machines”.

XTBG gardener expaining how to use the weed cut machine

A trainee practice cutting weed

During the course, the participants were explained essential theory behind the practice and spent most of the time learning practical skills and did it by themselves.

Dr. Zhou Zhekun warmly welcome the trainees