The botanist Shangguan Fazhi is a senior “foodie”. He built an “eatable” garden at home.

In early summer, at the foot of Yuanbao Mountain in Kunming, Shangguan’s home was full of pink geraniums, purple lavender, yellow rue, and red roses. In his small courtyard of 30 square meters, nearly 100 kinds of edible plants are all in full bloom. 

“Biodiversity is not only in the nature, but also in our backyards. The spices and ingredients here can be used to make delicious and special drinks from all over the world without leaving home.” Shangguan Fazhi began to introduce his eatable botanical garden.

These are curry leaves, a must for Indian cuisine, especially when the dishes are just out of the pot, add a handful of curry leaves, the flavor of the curry will come out.

This is Chuanxiong, a traditional Chinese medicinal plant. Chuanxiong has a magical effect: when stewing mutton, add a little leaf of Chuanxiong, it will reduce the mutton’s odour.

This is arugula, a vegetable that is often used in salads, and has a strong sesame flavor.

This is stevia, one leaf can make a whole cup of milk tea have enough sweetness. A great substitute for sugar to make drinks.

This is wood ginger, one of the seasoning of Guizhou Sour Soup Fish. Its fruit, bark and roots can all be used to stew soup.

Different from other people’s gardens, Shangguan has put a brand name for every plant. The Chinese name, common name, Latin name, even the genus and family name are marked.

Shangguan is a well-known scientist in the spice industry. In October 2021, at the first stage meeting of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) held in Kunming, as the curator of the main venue of the Yunnan Special Exhibition, he showed the guests hundreds of spices, among them, more than half of the spice plants come from his garden.

Spraying medicine, pruning, fertilizing, picking and cooking have become part of Shangguan Fazhi’s life. Under his meticulous care, there are plants to eat every season. Shangguan feels grateful for the fun that biodiversity brings.

“Protecting and making good use of biodiversity is also benefiting ourselves. Under the epidemic, everyone can create an interesting biodiversity space at home, even a balcony or a corner can make our lives colorful!” Shangguan said. (Photos by Hu Chao Zhou Lei/Xinhua)

Click here to view Chinese report

(Editors: Amy, Christine)