Over the long winter months in Scotland my pond can be a bit uninspiring without the presence of the Victorias and Nymphaeas, so it was my great pleasure to learn that the RBGE glasshouses had been chosen to host the launch of "China Now in Scotland".

This is a year-long festival and the most important festival ever devoted to China in our country. Its aims are to create a lasting legacy which will see closer links forged between both nations. The RBGE was chosen because we have a long history with China going back well over a century. Indeed over a third of the plants grown at our four Scottish sites are originally from China making this the richest collection of wild-origin Chinese plants outside their native country. The Garden has also been twined with the Kunming Institute of Botany since 1991.

It is a tradition in China to have the Spring Lantern Festival 15 days after New Year to mark the end of the celebrations. Chinese New Year was 7 February in 2008, so 22 February was the correct date to begin (the date on which Spirit opened to the public). It is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the return of light after the darkness of winter.

I, of course, had the unenviable task of removing several hundred origami lotuses every morning and discarding everyone's wishes. At least they went on the compost heap so hopefully it hasn't affected my karma too much.

Over the course of 13 evenings we had 6443 visitors and the response was overwhelming. The visitors all entered at staggered intervals so it was never too crowded to lose the ambience and unique atmosphere.