Garden Travel and Visits

BEAUTIFUL BHUTAN
OUR ARTS OF BHUTAN: BOTANY, LANDSCAPE AND TEXTILES TOUR will take place from April 5 - 18 2011. Tour price is approx AUS$ 7,500 per person/twin share and includes airfares from Bangkok, visas, all accommodation and meals, inlcuding at the beautiful Taj Tashi and Uma Paro hotels, trekking, guides, etc. We will be looked after again on this tour by the very experienced Tshewang Rinchen: we will trek to Tiger's Nest, walk through pristine valleys, visit a village where the protection of a bird is so important that electric power is shunned, descend Dochula Pass and visit weavers in the East rarely sighted by outsiders. Because of the restricted availability of visas and Druk airline seats, places on this tour are limited and the tour will be finalised as quickly as possible. For further information email Michael Schischka at Travelforce, on michael@travelforce.com.au or phone 02 8235 5566, or email me at holly@hollyforsyth.com.au 
This beautiful country is a botanical treasure chest, and spring starts in late March. While much can be seen from our small bus, a level of fitness is essential. 

And to whet your appetite, read on!! Bhutan is a country shrouded in mystery, but the thousands of species native to this mountain kingdom – just the size of Switzerland, with a population of 1 million, and wedged between China and India -  are well known to gardeners.
Plant hunters of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries recognised the Himalayan region as a horticultural treasure chest. They journeyed through beautiful, but remote lands, often risking death in their pursuit of rare bounty to return to an increasingly demanding gardening market in the United Kingdom and Europe, and throughout the New World.  
Today we don’t souvenir plants, preferring to capture our treasures on camera to carry back to appreciative colleagues. And there can be few experiences more exhilarating for a gardener than seeing greatly loved and familiar plants growing in their natural environment.
Excitement mounts as you fly past the glory peaks of the Himalaya, glittering white against a clear blue, late winter sky. There is Everest, with its familiar wisp of mist, like a permanent spire of smoke. Lhotse is next, and then Kanchenjunga, at 8586 metres the third highest peak in the world. To land at Bhutan’s Paro airport the pilot must thread through the mountains, executing a last-minute hairpin turn. The cheers from appreciative passengers are just the beginning of the adventure.
The greatest altitude you can reach in Bhutan is the Chelela Pass, at 4000 metres affording perfect views across the tops of the spruce forest to sacred Chomolhari, the highest peak in Bhutan. Just after the Bhutanese New Year, in February, Primula denticulata  (below) is emerging lilac through the melting snow.
As you climb to Taktshang Goemba (Tiger’s Nest monastery) (pictured below) and built in 1692 after  the guru Rinpoche flew there on a tiger’s back, driving out evil spirits and claiming the site for Buddhism, you’ll find several different genera of conifer thriving on the cliffsides.  Forests of the graceful Kashmir cypress (Cupressus cashmeriana) and Bhutan cypress (C. torulosa), chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) and blue pine (P. wallichiana) support dripping curtains of moss, wafting like green veils. Our driver, Pema Loday and guide, Tshewang Rinchen (pictured below), looked after us perfectly.