RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Hope thousands more young people with disabilities could benefit from grassroots sport as charity Panathlon extends its reach at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Hope thousands more young people with disabilities could benefit from grassroots sport as charity Panathlon extends its reach at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

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  • Disability sports charity teaming up with designer Penelope Walker of Llevelo Garden Design for The Panathlon Joy Garden
  • Wheelchair accessible All About Plants garden at the show to be officially opened by Paralympians Steve Brown, Liz Johnson and Louise Sugden on press day (Monday 20 May)
  • Panathlon’s current fundraising campaign aims to tackle waiting list for its sporting events for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
  • To be relocated to Marjorie McClure School in Chislehurst, London, a school for students aged 4-19 years old with complex medical needs and physical disabilities
  • Supported by Project Giving Back, the grant-making charity that funds gardens for good causes at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the garden is a colourful and uplifting depiction of how Panathlon inspires inclusion and normalises difference, with an overall message that joy is for everyon

Disability sports charity Panathlon is hoping around 5,000 more young people could benefit from the life-changing sporting opportunities it offers, by amplifying awareness of its current campaign to raise an extra £100,000 when it exhibits at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

With a long waiting list for the competitive sporting events it runs across the UK for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), the charity is teaming up with multi-award winning garden designer Penelope Walker for The Panathlon Joy Garden. The aim is to highlight the transformative impact of its work and the drive to secure much-needed funds to help more young people.

Paralympians Steve Brown, Liz Johnson and Louise Sugden will officially open the garden at the show and share their hugely positive experiences of working with the charity. Fellow Panathlon Patron and TV presenter, Alex Brooker, is also providing pre and post-show support.  The Patrons hope the event will offer a unique chance to garner more support from the show’s 150,000 visitors to extend Panathlon’s reach UK-wide.

Already Panathlon is poised to increase its services to help nurture the physical and mental wellbeing of even more children with SEND, and to promote aspiring youngsters with disabilities to become potential future medal winners in competitive disability sport. With greater funding and donations, it is hoped that an additional 5,000 young people can be involved in the 2024/25 school year.

Demand is increasing for Panathlon’s competitive disability sporting events, which the charity has delivered throughout the UK for over 25 years. In 2023 Panathlon achieved a record-breaking year, providing 62,981 young people with disabilities with the opportunity to participate in competitive disability sport.

Panathlon Patron Steve Brown (Wheelchair Rugby Captain at the London 2012 Paralympics and BBC Countryfile presenter), comments: “Providing children with disabilities the opportunities to develop their interests and skills across all sports, allows them to open their minds to the competitive possibilities. The platform and experience that Panathlon creates is awesome, and with greater support, we can do even more nationwide for young, aspiring para-athletes!”

Paralympic Champion and Panathlon Chair, Liz Johnson, says: “Panathlon delivers life-enhancing opportunities for over 60,000 young people every year. Research in 2023 proved that Panathlon massively improves the self-confidence, motivation, mental (and physical) well-being of tens of thousands of children with disabilities and special needs. We want to involve more children, and already we have the demand to expand outside of our current resources. We would love to hear from businesses and individuals who wish to support our work!”

Ashley Iceton from Panathlon, adds: “Panathlon needs to raise £900,000 every year, and as we expand we have to raise even more money! RHS Chelsea Flower Show is our opportunity to tell 150,000 people about Panathlon’s core mission – and we hope to encourage more people to support the charity whilst increasing the number of young people participating in Panathlon. With greater funding, it is hoped that an additional 5,000 young people with disabilities can become involved with Panathlon during the 2024/25 school year.”

The Garden

The Panathlon Joy Garden, in the All About Plants category at the world-famous show, is an uplifting depiction of how the charity inspires inclusion, enables accessibility, and normalises difference. The overall message of the garden is that joy is for everyone.

The garden is a colourful space with tangible and conceptual details to promote and represent joy. Curves dominate in the layout, soft and hard landscaping. Colour is present in the planting and garden features, whilst ‘ribbons’ across the rear boundary represent Panathlon’s use of ribbons in celebration at their sporting events.

The unusual tree shapes symbolise normalising difference; they may look different from the ‘norm’, but this does not impact their ability to function and perform perfectly well and still exude beauty. The pathway connecting both ends of the garden, and the seating area with space next to it for a wheelchair, both promote the message of inclusion. The pathway is also slightly concave to create playfulness, as does a bright orange, organically-shaped rocking bench.

Planting is colourful and undulating to ensure all garden visitors – irrespective of ability or age – connect to the plants, with a better sight line for wheelchair users. Geranium ‘Anne Thomson’, Salvia ‘Neon’, Allium siculum, Heuchera ‘Midnight Rose, Actinidia kolomikta, Trifolium rubens and Asphodeline lutea add pops of colour, and evergreen Portugese laurel shrubs in a ball shape are repeated to create consistency and sense of flow.

Penelope Walker says: “It’s been a pleasure to design The Panathlon Joy Garden and I’m so excited to share this with visitors. I really hope they feel inspired by the garden and take some new ideas home with them.”

Plants are supplied by How Green Nursery in Kent and the trees by Van den Berk Nurseries, and the garden is built by Stewart Landscapes Construction.

Following the show, the garden will be relocated to the Marjorie McClure School in Chislehurst in London, a school for students aged 4-19 years old with complex medical needs and physical disabilities.

The Panathlon charity relies on sponsors, charitable trusts, foundations, and individual giving, to support its work each year. To help the charity create opportunities for more children in 2025, visit https://panathlonfoundationltd.enthuse.com/cf/joygardenchelsea2024.Each donation of £25 will allow another child the opportunity to take part in competitive sport. Donations pay for adapted sports equipment, specialised coaches, and the cost of supplying medals, sports clothing and trophies to reward the competitors.

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Notes to Editors

  • Arsenal amputee footballer Isaac Addai has credited Panathlon with kick-starting his career by giving him the opportunity to compete in disability sport at school. Last season Isaac was voted Arsenal’s ‘Player of the Year’ when the Gunners won the England Amputee Football League Cup.
  • Great Britain wheelchair racer Michael McCabe began his dream of becoming an athlete while competing with Panathlon during his school years. He finished fourteenth in the London Marathon 2024 men’s wheelchair race.
  • In the last 12 months Panathlon’s UK reach has broken records! In 2023 Panathlon’s programmes featured: 62,981 participants; 7,359 young leaders; 3,012 schools; and took place across 44 English counties and 10 areas of Wales.
  • March 2024 saw Panathlon deliver 142 sports events across the country, involving 6,303 competitors with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) Additionally a further 1,387 young leaders were involved, providing those children with new responsibilities and leadership qualities.
  • Panathlon’s sporting programmes include: multi-skills, swimming, football, 10-pin bowling and boccia and a range of impairment specific sports.
  • Panathlon needs to raise £900,000 every year.

Media Enquiries

For more information about Panathlon

Contact Helen Stock – helen@foxredmedia.co.uk

For more information about The Panathlon Joy Garden or Penelope Walker

Contact Emma Mason – emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk / 07762 117433

Press Images

Images for media use can be found by clicking here. If you require more, please get in touch with the media contacts above.

About Panathlon
Panathlon delivers over 950 days of sporting activity each year, across every English county, into North and South Wales and Northern Ireland.

Independent Research in October 2023 reported that due to Panathlon:

  • 92% of schools reported increased self-belief and pride in themselves
  • 88% increased confidence and resilience
  • 82% increased teamwork and leadership skills
  • 79% of participants had their first-ever competitive sporting experience
  • 77% increase in social interaction

Moreover, the research also found an additional 51,164 children have benefitted from Panathlon-inspired activities, with schools making PE curricula more inclusive; investing in equipment; developing assessment tools; creating leadership roles for SEND children; building new inter-school sports fixtures and opening school facilities to the community.

This ripple-effect shows the work of Panathlon to promote inclusivity in sport will continue to extend to even more pupils in the future. This provision to at least 114,145 children and young people this year is more crucial than ever, given the barriers of cost, resources, and local authority support to physical education among children and young people with special needs are increasing, emphasising the lens through which the growing impact of Panathlon should be viewed.

Panathlon Touchpoints

Web – https://panathlon.com/

Email – enquiries@panathlon.com

X – https://twitter.com/Panathlon

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/PanathlonChallenge

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/panathlonchallenge/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/panathlon-challenge/

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/user/Panathlon1

The Designer

Penelope Walker is an award-winning landscape and garden designer based in the UK who set up her own practice in 2016.  Driven by a passion for design, Penelope has an eye for style; her trade stand design at the Chelsea Flower Show 2022 was featured in an article titled ‘Five Trends to Watch Out for in 2022’ by Homes and Gardens UK. Penelope is a pre-registered member of the Society of Garden Designers and has passed the first stage of adjudication.

Penelope’s strength lies in her spatial awareness and ability to make a space fit for purpose as well as beautiful and reflective of its setting. After graduating from the English Gardening School at the Chelsea Physic Garden, Penelope spent a year working at The Place for Plants; a highly reputable independent Plant Nursery selling everyday and unusual plants from perennials to shrubs and trees.

One of Penelope’s core beliefs is that design has the strength to evoke powerful emotions. With a particular affinity for designing wellbeing gardens and ‘feel good’ gardens in the faith that a little joy can go a long way.

With extensive experience of listening to clients’ needs and delivering quality work, Penelope has vast knowledge of what is required to design and implement a range of gardens and landscapes as well as a real eye for style.

Web – www.llevelogardendesign.co.uk

Email – penelope@llevelo.co.uk

Instagram – www.instagram.com/llevelo_garden_design

Tel – 01206 625330

Project Giving Back

Project Giving Back (PGB) is a unique grant-making charity that provides funding for gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. PGB was launched in May 2021 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its devastating effects on UK charitable fundraising – effects that have since been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis. PGB will fund a total of 15 gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2024 and intends to fund up to 60 gardens inspired by a range of good causes at the show from 2022 – 2026.

Find out more at www.givingback.org.uk.

Celebrity Panathlon patrons

Liz Johnson – a triple Paralympic medallist, became a Panathlon patron in 2010 and, since then, has attended dozens of competitions around the country, inspiring a new generation of athletes. She is now chair of the charity. Liz, a 100m breaststroke S6 swimmer, won the gold medal at the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008, to add to her silver medal from Athens 2004. She then went on to complete a hat trick of medals in front of a home crowd at London 2012, where she won bronze.

Steve Brown – the Great Britain wheelchair rugby captain at the London 2012 Olympics, Steve is a Panathlon Patron. He was a TV host/presenter at the Paralympics in Rio as well as a regular on BBC’s Countryfile and Springwatch programmes.

Alex Brooker – co-hosts award-winning show The Last Leg, and has been a Panathlon patron since 2013. He rose to fame as a reporter for Channel 4 at the 2012 London Paralympic Games.

Plant List

Trees

Platanus x hispanica ‘Malburg

Plants

Actinidia kolomikta

Alchemilla sericata ‘Gold Strike’

Allium cyathophorum var. farreri

Allium siculum

Asphodeline lutea

Asplenium trichomanes subsp. trichomanes

Astrantia ‘Buckland’

Astrantia major ‘Star of Beauty’

Blechnum spicant

Carex testacea

Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’

Epimedium pubigerum

Erigeron ‘Lavender Lady’

Festuca amethystina

Foeniculum vulgare

Geranium ‘Anne Thomson’

Geranium ‘Mavis Simpson’

Geum ‘Pretticoats Peach’

Heuchera ‘Midnight Rose’

Luzula nivea

Paeonia lactiflora ‘Nippon Beauty’

Pimpinella major ‘Rosea’

Prunus lusitanica

Rhaphiolepsis umbellata ‘Southern Moon’

Rosa ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’

Salvia ‘Neon’

Silene banksia ‘Hill Grounds’

Sorbaria sorbifolia ‘Sem’

Tellima grandiflora

Trifolium rubens

Tulbaghia violacea

Valeriana officinalis

Scabiosa columbaria subsp. ochroleuca

 

 

Local people with rare forms of dementia to benefit from award-winning show garden now open to visitors at Exbury Gardens in Hampshire

Local people with rare forms of dementia to benefit from award-winning show garden now open to visitors at Exbury Gardens in Hampshire

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•    Free access for local Rare Dementia Support members, funds being raised on the garden for The National Brain Appeal, who fund the service

A triple award-winning show garden, which will benefit local people diagnosed with rare dementias and their families, has been officially opened at Exbury Gardens.

The National Brain Appeal’s  beautiful ‘Rare Space’ garden, designed by Charlie Hawkes (pictured below) and now sited opposite the Five Arrows Gallery at the famous New Forest visitor attraction, was opened by Helena Clarke who lives with the condition posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). Also at the launch was Peter Jones from Fareham who has been diagnosed too with PCA. This affects the area of the brain that deals with visual processing.

Designer Charlie Hawkes on the Rare Space Garden at Exbury Gardens – photo credit Cathryn Baldock

Local families who are members of Rare Dementia Support are being given free access to the garden at Exbury. A digital donation point at the garden allows money to be raised for The National Brain Appeal, which funds the service; and information boards and leaflets give more details about rare dementias and advice on how to seek support. Staff at Exbury Gardens have also undertaken dementia awareness training.

The Project Giving Back-funded Rare Space Garden won three awards at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, including a gold, and is designed for those living with rare dementias, particularly visual and spacial forms of the disease. It will eventually be located at the world’s first Rare DementiaSupport Centre in London but, whilst The National Brain Appeal raises the estimated £7m needed to create this Centre – expected to open in 2024/25 – the garden has been temporarily located in Hampshire for Exbury’s visitors to enjoy, and to raise awareness of these life-changing neurological conditions, which are often misdiagnosed.

RDS supports people living with seven forms of rare dementia; these can strike at a young age, may be directly inherited, and often affect skills other than memory, such as vision, language, behaviour and movement. It is thought that around 47,000-142,000 people in the UK are living with a less common form of dementia but reliable statistics are hard to find due to frequent misdiagnoses. The new Centre will be a state-of-the-art home for the service, bringing people affected by these conditions together with experienced healthcare professionals.

Following diagnosis, many find that existing health, social and voluntary services do not cater adequately for their individual needs, and established dementia support groups are not particularly relevant to their situation. Members of these groups can often be significantly different to them in terms of age, life situation and symptoms. 30% of people living with a rare dementia initially receive an incorrect diagnosis and there is a widespread lack of understanding and a shortage of dedicated resources to support those affected.

Theresa Dauncey, chief executive of The National Brain Appeal, said: “It is wonderful to see The National Brain Appeal’s Rare Space Garden in its new home at Exbury Gardens and looking as splendid as it did at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. We are incredibly grateful to Marcus Agius and everyone at Exbury Gardens for hosting our garden, giving so many more people the opportunity to see it and to learn more about rare dementias, and, of course, to Project Giving Back for making all of this possible.”

Exbury Gardens’ chairman Marcus Agius said: “One of the purposes of the Rare Dementia Support Centre will be to educate people about these unusual conditions, not just sufferers and their families and carers, but also members of the medical profession. As such, the Rare Space Garden fits well with the educational objects of the Exbury Gardens charitable trust. We are simply delighted to be hosting it until the new centre is built.”

The Rare Space Garden was created with the input and collaboration of those affected by visual-led dementias, and was designed as a space to foster autonomy and hope. It offers a balance between exploration and calm navigation. Subtly coloured planting has been chosen to minimise sensory disruption. A level, wide path weaves simply through the garden, offering brightly coloured, easily found seating areas and sheltered spaces along the way, for independent wayfinding. Interpretation boards outline the significance of key features within the space and explain how those with rare dementias and their families can seek support.

Helena Clarke officially opens the Rare Space Garden with husband David (centre front). Back from left to right – Hattie Ghaui (Project Giving Back), Professor Nick Fox (Rare Dementia Support), Theresa Dauncey (The National Brain Appeal), Charlie Hawkes (designer) and Marcus Agius (Exbury Gardens). Photo credit © Britt Willoughby Dyer

ENDS

For further information or images, contact PR Emma Mason on 07762 117433 emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk or Veronica Chrisp on 023 8024 5754 veronica.chrisp@exbury.co.uk

The National Brain Appeal – PR Manager, Marie Mangan – 07812 124092 marie.mangan@nhs.net

Notes for editors

  • Exbury Gardens, spread over 200 acres, is a calm and beautiful oasis with tranquil ponds surrounded by rare plants, trees and shrubs. It was created by Lionel de Rothschild in 1919, a passionate collector of plants and a keen supporter and sponsor of the early 20th century plant hunters, and has grown to become a stunning garden paradise. It boasts over 20 miles of pathways and trails and is located in the New Forest about 15 minutes from the M27. Over recent years the Hampshire garden, famed for its spring colour, has been expanded for all-season interest with areas designed to show off summer and autumn blooms, as well as an extension of its 1 ½-mile Rhododendron Line steam railway. Exbury Gardens, located in the New Forest near Southampton, is open daily 10am – 5.30pm. Arrival time slots must be booked online in advance at www.exbury.co.uk
  • About The National Brain Appeal (registered charity number 290173) – Dedicated to improving the lives of people affected by neurological conditions, The National Brain Appeal funds pioneering research, innovative treatments and world-class facilities at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the UCL Institute of Neurology in Queen Square, London. The hospital is the UK’s leading centre of excellence for treating diseases of the brain, spine and the nervous system − such as brain tumours, epilepsy, stroke, dementias, MS, Parkinson’s disease and motor neurone disease. nationalbrainappeal.org

The charity funds Rare Dementia Support (RDS), a service that provides information, advice and support to people and their families living with raredementias and is currently fundraising for the world’s first Rare Dementia Support Centre, part of the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, to provide guidance, support and education, as well as being a space for research, artistic and cultural activities. raredementiasupport.org

  • Charlie Hawkes is an award-winning landscape designer based in the UK who won a gold medal at the 2022 Chelsea Flower Show for his Wilderness Foundation UK Garden, as well as a gold at the 2023 show. He has a master’s in landscape architecture from the Edinburgh College of Art. His experience includes working in Japan at Dan Pearson’s Tokachi Millennium Forest, an estate placement at the iconic Lutyens-build house, Great Dixter and a season working at luxury hotel, Gravetye Manor in West Sussex. As a result of his knowledge of design and gardening, he strives to create places that have an atmosphere that reflects the unique nature of each landscape.
  • Project Giving Back (PGB) is a unique grant-making charity that provides funding for gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. PGB was launched in May 2021 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its devastating effect on UK charitable fundraising. PGB has funded a total of 15 gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2023 and intends to fund up to 42 gardens at the show from 2022 – 2024. It was established with funding from two private individuals who are RHS Life Members and keen gardeners. They wish to remain anonymous. PGB will help UK-based good causes recover from the unprecedented effects of the global pandemic by giving them an opportunity to raise awareness of their work for people, plants and the planet at the high-profile RHS Chelsea Flower Show. www.givingback.org.uk

 

 

The RSPCA Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show: a call for UK gardeners to help stop wildlife decline

The RSPCA Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show: a call for UK gardeners to help stop wildlife decline

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‘We owe it to our children to ensure they still get to enjoy British wildlife,’ says Steve Backshall

The RSPCA is teaming up at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show with award-winning designer, Martyn Wilson, to create a stylish sanctuary for wildlife and people alike – and it has a very important ‘take-home’ message.

The RSPCA Garden designed by Martyn Wilson

A contemporary interpretation of a wildlife garden, The RSPCA Garden highlights the public’s vital role in protecting wild animals and birds. As well as looking beautiful, it is packed with ideas you can easily recreate at home, whatever space you have, and is designed to challenge the view that wildlife gardens are untidy or unfashionable.

RSPCA vice president Steve Backshall said we owe it to future generations to take action now.

The TV wildlife host said: “We owe it to our children to ensure they still get to enjoy British wildlife like previous generations before them. But the rapid decline of some of our most loved species like hedgehogs, red squirrels and some butterflies means some of our favourite British animals may soon only exist in zoos. This is terrifying, and should spur every single one of us into taking action.

“We are reaching a critical turning point but we can take positive actions now to help create the future we want for our children, our wildlife and our planet.

“Everyone can join the RSPCA to be a Wildlife Friend volunteer, picking up litter to prevent an animal getting injured, putting down a saucer of water for thirsty birds or making a simple bug hotel to give bees somewhere to rest.

“These tiny acts of kindness can collectively make a huge difference for the wildlife we share our communities with, and which we rely on for our survival.”

The RSPCA is hoping the Chelsea project inspires people to carry out small acts of kindness for wildlife they share their neighbourhoods with, as part of their Wildlife Friends scheme.

A raised wildlife-watching ‘hide’ made from UK-grown Douglas fir and larch, with a green roof and wall-mounted bee hotels, is designed to be a refuge in nature for an RSPCA volunteer after a busy shift. Elsewhere in the garden, natural stone feature walls house contemporary bird nesting boxes; while a modern corten steel interpretation of a ‘dead hedge‘, with hidden hedgehog houses, creates habitats for birds, mammals and insects, whilst also recycling garden materials.

A central water feature formed from recycled plastic waste is a nod to the RSPCA rescuing almost 4,000 animals trapped in or injured by litter last year (2022). Providing movement, sound and a drink for wildlife, it symbolises the rescue-rehabilitate-release cycle of care given to thousands of animals at the charity’s four specialist wildlife centres.

Enclosed by hedging and a canopy of native trees and shrubs vital for birds and wildlife, planting is in a multi-layered naturalistic style in shades of green, whites and tones of blue with pollinator-friendly plants. A bronze sculpture of two otters, by Simon Gudgeon, is inspired by otters in the charity’s care.

The project is being generously funded by Project Giving Back, and the garden will be relocated at the end of the event to RSPCA Stapeley Grange, the charity’s wildlife rehabilitation and education centre in Cheshire, in time for the charity’s 200th anniversary celebrations in 2024.

It will continue to provide sanctuary for wildlife, but also for visitors – including young people, families and vulnerable adults, who already visit the centre for support with emotional wellbeing and resilience. The space will bring essential animal welfare education to communities who have fewer opportunities to get out and about in nature.

There are about 23 million gardens in the UK. The area of all the gardens in England together is more than four times the amount of land in nature reserves*, so gardens are the secret weapon in saving our much-loved British wildlife from this devastating decline.

Filming on The RSPCA Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Designer Martyn visited an RSPCA specialist wildlife centre and took inspiration from its dedicated rehabilitation work in the design of his garden. He said: “The RSPCA Garden is modern and stylish and shows that wildlife gardens don’t necessarily have to be untidy. I really hope people will be inspired to create their own wildlife sanctuary at home.”

Ends

 Notes to editors:

Media Contacts:

Catherine Peerless, RSPCA head of media 07817 550270 catherine.peerless@rspca.org.uk

Lucy Cooper, RSPCA national press officer 07990 717074 lucy.cooper@rspca.org.uk

Emma Mason, Emma Mason PR (for Wilson Associates Garden Design) 07762 117433 emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk

 

Every school should have a garden…. School Food Matters Garden takes its mission to RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Every school should have a garden…. School Food Matters Garden takes its mission to RHS Chelsea Flower Show

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  • School gardens a vital resource for child mental health and wellbeing
  • New charity survey shows children want more ‘green time’ and less ‘screen time’, and more than one in three children have never seen fruit or vegetables growing
  • The climate resilient ‘edimentals’ garden will be relocated to two primary schools after the show

 

School Food Matters, the charity which teaches children about food and campaigns for healthy, sustainable school meals, is partnering with designer Harry Holding to create an edible, climate resilient garden, with children at its heart, for RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023.

Raising vital questions about healthy eating and the future of food production in a changing climate, the garden highlights why children need to be represented in these discussions. At the end of show week, The School Food Matters Garden will continue to provide social and environmental benefits when it is repurposed to create two pocket gardens – one at a school in London, the other at a school in Liverpool – for children to nurture and enjoy for years to come.

The School Food Matters Garden is in the All About Plants category (GPB019 in The Pavilion) at the world-famous event and is being funded by Project Giving Back, with support from Whole Kids Foundation. It will celebrate 15 years of School Food Matters food education programmes which have reached over 211,000 children across the UK.

The charity’s experience working in schools echoes the findings of educators, child health, and nutrition experts, that time spent in nature brings multiple benefits.  A recent survey carried out by the charity gives a child’s perspective. Attracting over 500 responses, the survey revealed that more than half the children (primary and secondary) wanted time out in nature as a reward at school, rather than more time spent at a computer screen.  Two in three students felt they didn’t get enough time out in nature, and wanted more, while more than a third (37%) had never seen fruit or vegetables growing.

Designed as an immersive, forageable and naturalistic landscape, the School Food Matters Garden entices children to explore, inspiring them with a variety of edible, climate resilient plants along the way. The aim is to stimulate their senses and encourage them to learn about food in nature, with over 80% of the planting being edible.

A pomegranate tree represents nature’s bounty; wild strawberries, asparagus, artichokes, and herbs are nods to more traditional produce, whilst king’s spear, sea kale and dame’s rocket highlight more unusual edible plants.  The child-sized paths lead to a central area, featuring tactile rammed earth walls that are beautifully painted with quotes from pupils at the London and Liverpool schools – a place to air how much nature means to them. Most of the planting in the School Food Matters Garden is drought tolerant and resilient for a changing climate. Contrastingly, a natural ‘seasonally wet’ pool shows the realities of British winters and highlights the need to plant appropriately.

School Food Matters Chief Executive Stephanie Slater said: “Nutritious food, a healthy planet and access to nature are fundamental rights every child should enjoy. The School Food Matters Garden celebrates all the pleasure, and physical and mental health benefits children get from time spent in nature. It echoes our mission to give every child the knowledge and understanding they need to feed themselves and their future families, while caring for the planet.

“We’ve helped hundreds of schools across the UK create beautiful gardens and the impact this has cannot be underestimated. Many children do not have gardens at home, have no understanding of where food comes from and little opportunity to connect with fresh food by growing their own fruit and veg. Spending time in a garden, getting muddy and seeing how plants grow has a remarkable impact on self-confidence, as well as an inclination to eat more fruit and veg. For some it provides a much-needed moment of peace away from the noise and pressures of the classroom. With the generous support of partners and funders we can ensure many more children have this experience.”

Harry Holding, director of Harry Holding Studio, said: “Our School Food Matters Garden moves far away from plastic wrapped vegetables to show children just how much nature can provide and that there is real joy and beauty in growing your own food. It’s also mindful of our changing climate and the future impact that will have on children, an important message for us all.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

  • For information on the charity or images contact the School Food Matters media team: Charlotte Borger press@schoolfoodmatters.org 07973 394970.  Follow #OurEdibleClassroom on social media.
    For Harry Holding or detail on the garden design please contact Emma Mason on emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433
  • School Food Matters (SFM) exists to teach children about food and campaigns for healthy, sustainable school meals. The charity provides fully funded food education programmes to schools and uses its 15 years’ experience delivering these programmes to inform and strengthen its campaigns, bringing the voices of children, parents and teachers to government policy.
  • Harry Holding is a multi-award-winning designer whose design practice Harry Holding Studio, has sustainability and resilience at the core of everything they do. All the way from innovative design concepts to aftercare practices they aim to minimise environmental impact and carbon footprint. Sourcing materials locally and designing resilient plant communities to create rich, biodiverse ecosystems, their gardens are designed to last and enhance the lives of their clients and the natural world. Find out more here.
  • Project Giving Back(PGB) is a unique grant-making scheme that provides funding for gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. PGB was launched in May 2021 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on UK charitable fundraising. It will fund gardens inspired by a range of good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, 2023 and 2024. PGB will fund 15 gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2023. In total, PGB plans to fund 42 gardens at the show from 2022 – 2024. (Applications for 2022 and 2023 are now closed.)
  • Whole Kids Foundation: Whole Kids Foundation (WKF) is a charitable organisation based in Austin Texas that provides children with access to healthy food through partnerships with schools, educators and charities. It was set up in 2011 by Whole Foods Market, the organic and natural food retailer, to help address the growing health problems relating to bad nutrition amongst young people.

 

The bog wins GOLD! Top award at RHS Chelsea for peatland display showing gardeners how to protect landscapes by switching to peat-free composts

The bog wins GOLD! Top award at RHS Chelsea for peatland display showing gardeners how to protect landscapes by switching to peat-free composts

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An immersive display boasting a real piece of ‘borrowed’ Cumbrian peatbog to highlight the critical importance of UK peatlands to our climate, and urging gardeners to ditch using peat, has won a gold medal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The unique exhibit is designed by the Eden Project and presented in partnership with peat-free compost maker Dalefoot Composts and uses a little piece of Cumbrian peatland on loan under special license from Natural England.

In the Discovery Zone display at the show, gardeners are invited ‘to step into’  Bolton Fell Moss National Nature Reserve (NNR), a restored Cumbrian bog previously used to harvest peat for horticulture, to experience the secrets, sounds and beauty of these enormous bog gardens.

They can hear sounds from a peatland – curlews, lapwing, the hum of billions of insects and the occasional squelch – whilst getting up close to the fascinating bog plants – sphagnum mosses, cotton grass, cranberries, and heathers. The peatland display is being given expert care whilst at the show to make sure it remains hydrated and will be returned to its natural home once Chelsea has finished.

The aim of the exhibit is to demonstrate the importance of peat bogs and the environmental damage gardeners are causing to our planet by using peat compost in their outdoor spaces.

Alongside the peatland, a bountiful potager of vegetables and companion planting grown by gold-medal-winning Pennard Plants, illustrates what gardeners can achieve in their own plot by switching to peat-free gardening. All of these plants have been grown in Dalefoot Compost’s peat-free products which are Soil Association-approved for organic growing.

Professor Jane Barker is the co-founder of Dalefoot Composts which is a major manufacturer of peat-free compost and a leading restorer of damaged peatlands, including the Bolton Fell Moss NNR site in Cumbria. She said: “We’re absolutely thrilled by this award and so pleased that peat-free gardening is being recognised in this way. I hope people visiting our special piece of Cumbrian peatland will come away understanding why using peat is no longer acceptable, and how easy it is to make simple climate friendly switches in your garden.”

Tracey Smith, Eden’s Commercial Manager, said: “We’re delighted to have received this gold medal – thank you to the judges and everyone who has visited the stand for their enthusiasm and kind comments!

“It’s really exciting for Eden to be back at the Chelsea Flower Show with a stand that highlights the huge importance of peat bogs and we hope that visitors will come away with a greater understanding and appreciation for these vital habitats. Working alongside our friends at Dalefoot, our aim with this stand was to change people’s perceptions of peat bogs, showing that they are thriving environments, rich with biodiversity as well as being crucial for carbon sequestration. We’d urge all gardeners to make the switch to peat-free products – it’s the best decision for your garden and for the environment.”

The timeline of a bog is illustrated in the RHS Chelsea exhibit to show the thousands of years peat represents. Peat grows at only 1mm per year and this is contrasted to the bags of peat compost it yields and the short season of growth that peat gives gardeners.

Peatlands only occupy about 3% of the Earth’s land surface but are the largest terrestrial carbon store on the planet. UK peatlands cover around 12% of its land area and store 3.2 billion tonnes of carbon, more than twice that of the UK’s forests*, as well as being very important habitats for biodiversity.

Whilst the Government has set targets for peatland restoration and is currently consulting on a peat ‘ban’, in amateur gardening there remains a significant resistance to switching to peat-free and it is predicted even more peat could be used in the future. Of the 5.44 million cubic metres of growing media used in 2020, 79% was used by amateur gardeners. Two-thirds of peat sold in the UK is from Europe, meaning we are effectively exporting our carbon footprint. Voluntary targets set for peat sellers have had little impact and the new target of ending peat sales by 2024 is being questioned for being too slow and not enough.

This is the latest initiative by Dalefoot Composts and the Eden Project to promote the sustainability benefits of peat-free gardening. Dalefoot’s Wool Compost for Potting is endorsed by the world-renowned environmental charity and social enterprise, and the two organisations have plans to work together on other future initiatives.

Dalefoot is supporting six show gardens and exhibits at RHS Chelsea with its peat-free compost – The New Blue Peter Garden: Discover Soil by Juliet Sargeant; Brewin Dolphin Garden by Paul Hervey-Brookes; The Mothers for Mothers – This Too Shall Pass Garden by Pollyanna Wilkinson; The Wild Kitchen Garden by Ann Treneman; RHS Queen’s Jubilee Photographic Exhibit by Dave Green, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency – Don’t Risk It! exhibit.

Two of the company’s peat-free composts were also finalists in the RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year 2022 – Wool Compost for Potting and Wool Compost Double Strength.

ENDS

Stand GPA 105 in the Discovery Zone of the Great Pavilion – Stand AR 545 for Dalefoot Compost

Picture caption – Bevis Hughes (Eden Project), Simon Bland (co-founder Dalefoot Composts) and Tracey Smith (Eden Project) with the gold award

For further information contact Emma Mason on emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433 or Ben Foster, Media and Engagement Manager, bfoster@EdenProject.com  For more info, go to www.edenproject.com

Bolton Fell Moss is a lowland raised bog damaged through commercial extraction of peat but has since begun a journey of restoration thanks to an ongoing project by Natural England. Extraction ended in 2013 but left a vast expanse of dry, bare peat where limited wildlife could survive. Restoration work has raised the water levels; bog vegetation was then introduced but it will take time for the sphagnum mosses to cover the bare peat and for other bog plants to return. It could take up to 30 years for the bog to fully recover.

Dalefoot’s story – The entrepreneurial couple behind Dalefoot, environmental scientist Jane Barker and farmer Simon Bland, started making compost from the natural ingredients around their Cumbrian farm in 1997. Inspired by early 20th century gardening books that mentioned wool as a garden mulch, and a desire to make good use of the invasive bracken growing on the fells, the couple invented their secret compost recipe, bagged the product up themselves and started selling at local farmers’ markets. Twenty years later the compost is sold across the UK and the business employs 25 local people, and sources bracken and wool from farmers.

The Dalefoot team also restores peat bogs, some of which were once owned by peat compost companies, across the country for the likes of Natural England, NatureScot, South West Water and Wildlife Trusts. Peat bogs store more carbon than forests and many in the UK are now in poor condition, releasing carbon rather than storing it. Dalefoot works with these agencies to help reduce carbon release and return the bogs to functioning, healthy eco-systems. In 2022 Dalefoot announced a total of 3.8 million tonnes of carbon saved through their restoration projects.

The range is available online at www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk from £12.75 per bag down to £8.50 each for orders of 50 bags plus delivery, and also from a growing list of stockists.

Tel: 01931 713281   Email: sales@dalefootcomposts.co.uk

* IUCN

The bog has landed! Peatland on display at RHS Chelsea to highlight how gardeners can protect landscapes by switching to peat-free composts

The bog has landed! Peatland on display at RHS Chelsea to highlight how gardeners can protect landscapes by switching to peat-free composts

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Curlews, lapwing, the hum of billions of insects…. and the occasional squelch – the sounds of a peatland captured and to be heard over a little piece of Cumbrian peatland, on loan from Natural England, and installed in the Discovery Zone at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The critical importance of UK peatlands to our climate will be brought home to gardeners at the show in this unique exhibit by peat-free compost maker Dalefoot Composts and the Eden Project.

Under special license from Natural England, a slice of bog ‘borrowed’ from peatland previously harvested for horticulture will go on show to demonstrate the environmental damage gardeners are causing to our planet by using peat compost in their outdoor spaces.

In the immersive Discovery Zone display, gardeners will be invited ‘to step into’ the borrowed slice of National Nature Reserve (NNR) peatland from a restored Cumbrian bog to experience the secrets, sounds and beauty of these enormous bog gardens. The peatland display will be given expert care whilst at the show to make sure it remains hydrated and will be returned to its natural home once Chelsea has finished.

Alongside, a bountiful potager of vegetables and companion planting grown by gold-medal-winning Pennard Plants, will illustrate what gardeners can achieve in their own plot by switching to peat-free gardening. All of these plants have been grown in Dalefoot Compost’s peat-free products which are Soil Association-approved for organic growing.

Peatlands only occupy about 3% of the Earth’s land surface but are the largest terrestrial carbon store on the planet. UK peatlands cover around 12% of its land area and store 3.2 billion tonnes of carbon, more than twice that of the UK’s forests*, as well as being very important habitats for biodiversity.

Professor Jane Barker is the co-founder of Dalefoot Composts which is a major manufacturer of peat-free compost and a leading restorer of damaged peatlands, including the NNR site in Cumbria.

She said: “Up until now, the scientific understanding underpinning individual gardeners’ responsibility to climate change gardening has not been well communicated. We want to demonstrate how you can easily make a difference in your own garden by ditching the use of peat and switching to peat-free compost.

“The importance of peat and peatlands to our climate and the planet have also not been made clear or accessible for our gardeners, whilst trees have taken centre stage and are much easier to relate to. However, peat is hugely significant to our climate’s future.”

The timeline of a bog will be illustrated in the RHS Chelsea exhibit to show the thousands of years peat represents. Peat grows at only 1mm per year and this will be contrasted to the bags of peat compost it would yield and the short season of growth that peat might give gardeners.

Whilst the Government has set targets for peatland restoration and is currently consulting on a peat ‘ban’, in amateur gardening there remains a significant resistance to switching to peat-free and it is predicted even more peat could be used in the future. Of the 5.44 million cubic metres of growing media used in 2020, 79% was used by amateur gardeners. Two-thirds of peat sold in the UK is from Europe, meaning we are effectively exporting our carbon footprint. Voluntary targets set for peat sellers have had little impact and the new target of ending peat sales by 2024 is being questioned for being too slow and not enough.

This is the latest initiative by Dalefoot Composts and the Eden Project to promote the sustainability benefits of peat-free gardening. Dalefoot’s Wool Compost for Potting is endorsed by the world-renowned environmental charity and social enterprise, and the two organisations have plans to work together on other future initiatives.

Dalefoot will be supporting six show gardens and exhibits at RHS Chelsea with its peat-free compost

– The New Blue Peter Garden: Discover Soil by Juliet Sargeant; Brewin Dolphin Garden by Paul Hervey-Brookes; The Mothers for Mothers – This Too Shall Pass Garden by Pollyanna Wilkinson; The Wild Kitchen Garden by Ann Treneman; RHS Queen’s Jubilee Photographic Exhibit by Dave Green, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency – Don’t Risk It! exhibit.

Two of the company’s peat-free composts have also been shortlisted in the RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year 2022 – Wool Compost for Potting and Wool Compost Double Strength.

ENDS

Stand GPA 105 in the Discovery Zone of the Great Pavilion – Stand AR 545 for Dalefoot Compost

For further information contact Emma Mason on emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433 or Ben Foster, Media and Engagement Manager, bfoster@EdenProject.com  For more info, go to www.edenproject.com

Bolton Fell Moss is a lowland raised bog damaged through commercial extraction of peat but has since begun a journey of restoration thanks to an ongoing project by Natural England. Extraction ended in 2013 but left a vast expanse of dry, bare peat where limited wildlife could survive. Restoration work has raised the water levels; bog vegetation was then introduced but it will take time for the sphagnum mosses to cover the bare peat and for other bog plants to return. It could take up to 30 years for the bog to fully recover.

Dalefoot’s story – The entrepreneurial couple behind Dalefoot, environmental scientist Jane Barker and farmer Simon Bland, started making compost from the natural ingredients around their Cumbrian farm in 1997. Inspired by early 20th century gardening books that mentioned wool as a garden mulch, and a desire to make good use of the invasive bracken growing on the fells, the couple invented their secret compost recipe, bagged the product up themselves and started selling at local farmers’ markets. Twenty years later the compost is sold across the UK and the business employs 25 local people, and sources bracken and wool from farmers.

The Dalefoot team also restores peat bogs, some of which were once owned by peat compost companies, across the country for the likes of Natural England, NatureScot, South West Water and Wildlife Trusts. Peat bogs store more carbon than forests and many in the UK are now in poor condition, releasing carbon rather than storing it. Dalefoot works with these agencies to help reduce carbon release and return the bogs to functioning, healthy eco-systems. In 2022 Dalefoot announced a total of 3.8 million tonnes of carbon saved through their restoration projects.

The range is available online at www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk from £12.75 per bag down to £8.50 each for orders of 50 bags plus delivery, and also from a growing list of stockists. Tel: 01931 713281   Email: sales@dalefootcomposts.co.uk

* IUCN

A soil-themed garden in partnership with Blue Peter

Juliet Sargeant designs new RHS garden in partnership with Blue Peter

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  • The New Blue Peter Garden: Discover Soil to have a permanent home at RHS Garden Bridgewater from the autumn with a preview showing at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 
  • 2022 new Blue Peter garden designed by Juliet Sargeant – fun and interactive soil science, journey through soil in a subterranean rhizotron, dodge ‘rain’ showers, listen to a compost heap, and explore a spring barley field, wildflower meadow with orchids, native woodland or veg patc

A new soil-themed garden, in partnership with CBBC’s Blue Peter, is to open to visitors at RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford in the autumn – with a guest appearance first at this month’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Designed by award-winning designer Juliet Sargeant, it will champion the very modern-day topic of soil’s central role in supporting life and its potential to lock-in carbon. Aimed at engaging children and adults to discover the importance of soil in their own back gardens, balconies, or communities, it will explain why we need to protect it and how. The new garden will first preview as a Main Avenue show garden at RHS Chelsea later this month, before being relocated to its permanent home at RHS Garden Bridgewater for public access.

A beautiful mini wildflower meadow featuring British orchids; tiny ‘field’ planted with spring barley, a RHS Chelsea first; veg patch and native woodland, will demonstrate how soil supports our natural landscape, food crops and gardens.  To access the immersive garden, visitors at RHS Garden Bridgewater will be able to hop over stepping stones and then crawl into dank fern-planted cavities to dig the earth, listen to the sounds of a compost heap, and even dodge a playful rain shower, a reminder of how water forms and also degrades soil.

The brightly planted garden will take you down into the ground and bring the soil up from beneath your feet, to see, touch and hear, and to draw you into the amazing underground world of mini-beasts and microbes. The earthy adventure continues with a semi-subterranean, theatrical rhizotron chamber where a soil animation by Polish artist Zuzanna Kolodziej will play, with tree roots growing above.

Juliet Sargeant said: “Soil supports most of the life on our planet, without soil there is nothing. Down-trodden and neglected, it is the ‘forgotten climate solution’ beneath our feet. Healthy soils not only feed most of life on earth, but also act as an essential carbon sink for damaging greenhouse gases. My aim with this garden is to invite people to look more closely at soil and the subtleties of its complex ecosystem. We raise it up to eye level and say, ‘Look at this!”

Citizen art on the garden includes ‘creepy crawlies’ painted by Year 5 children from Salford and soil de-crustation artworks by German artist Anneli Ketterer in collaboration with Salford residents. Sculptor Teresa Wells has cast a bespoke bronze of 4-year-old, Arthur, discovering a worm for the garden. In Compost Corner you can listen to the sounds of a healthy soil, recorded by the Zurich University Sounding Soil project. Tiles of Stow have created bespoke cracked clay paving tiles, to remind us of the devastation of drought, but the brightly coloured planting and field of barley illustrate the abundance that a healthy soil sustains.

There will be blue and orange-hued plants nurtured by Roger Platts Garden Design and Nurseries of Edenbridge.

Blue Peter has a proud history of garden design with the show’s original Blue Peter garden being designed by Percy Thrower in 1974. It was relocated from Television Centre to Media City in 2012, with the Italian-style sunken ornamental pond and statue of the first ever Blue Peter dog, Petra. The garden features regularly on the show and is open for the public to visit at Media City UK in Salford Quays.

The New Blue Peter Garden: Discover Soil is one of 12 gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year being funded by Project Giving Back (PGB). PGB is a new charity, established in response to the pandemic, that offers good causes in the UK the opportunity to exhibit a show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, to promote their work for people, plants and the planet. All gardens supported by PGB will be relocated to permanent homes after the show so their legacy will live on for generations to come.

Five easy tips for helping your soil by Juliet Sargeant

  • Know your soil – The soil in your garden is an amazing micro-environment, teaming with life and the potential to grow. The character of the soil, its texture and chemical make-up is unique to your site. This is what gives your garden its individuality and what will affect the plants you can grow. Get to know your soil by observing its colour and texture and also by testing its acidity with a kit from the garden centre.
  • Feed your soil – The mini-beasts and micro-organisms that inhabit your soil need feeding. Their complex life cycles are what sustains the health of the soil. Starting a compost heap to recycle your food scraps and garden waste is the best thing you can do to feed your soil. Turn your waste into compost and use it to feed your soil.
  • Protect your soil – Soil is always there, beneath our feet; so, it is easy to overlook how fragile it is. Your soil needs protection from wind, rain and also compaction. The best way to protect soil is to plant it – leaves form a natural, protective blanket over the soil surface. However, digging the soil can damage its delicate structure, so why not try the ‘No-Dig Method’ of mulching your soil with peat-free compost to suppress the weeds. When you are watering, try to avoid flooding the soil and compacting it.
  • Plant your soil – The best way to support the natural life cycle of your soil is to grow plants. Trees in particular are invaluable to a garden’s ecosystem and to the protection and stabilisation of soil. Planting trees is great. However, given the many years it takes for a tree to grow, it is also important to protect established trees and only fell them when absolutely necessary.
  • Let your soil breathe….it’s alive – In this age of the car many of us need extra parking space. As more and more of us pave over our gardens, the soil beneath is dying; it is suffocating. This sealing of the soil, also prevents rainwater draining away and exacerbates local flooding. Fortunately, there are permeable paving solutions which you can choose for your driveway or patio.

 ENDS

For further press information contact: Emma Mason emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433

or

Designer: Juliet Sargeant – Office: 01273 834 083

www.julietsargeant.com www.sussexgardenschool.com

Twitter: @julietsargeant Instagram: julietsargeant Facebook: @sussexgardenschool

Juliet Sargeant – is a Sussex-based garden designer who loves to use gardens to tell stories and get us thinking. In 2016, she was awarded a CFS Gold Medal and The People’s Choice Award for her ‘Modern Slavery Garden’.

Having trained initially as a medical doctor, in this garden, she explores the interface between art and science. Juliet has long advocated the importance of gardens for health and in her private practice, she uses gardens to help connect people to landscape and nature. At her ‘Sussex Garden School’ she runs courses to de-mystify gardening and help people to get to know their gardens better.

Previously, Chair of The Society of Garden Designers, Juliet is now on the RHS (Royal Horticultural Soc) selection panel for show gardens and acts as a judge. She has won awards from the SGD in 2012 and 2015, for sustainability and hard landscaping design. In 2017 Juliet was made a Fellow of the SGD for her contribution to garden design & horticulture and in 2019 she was made Fellow of The Landscape Institute. In 2016 Juliet was celebrated for her role as a change-maker and role model in the BAME community at the GG2 Leadership Awards. She was also one of the Evening Standard’s Progress 100 influential people. In 2018 she was named as one of the BBC 100 Women.

Blue Peter – is the longest running kids TV show in the world featuring Adam, Mwaksy, Richie and Henry the dog. Blue Peter is packed full of challenges, celebrities, and things to do. Every week on CBBC and BBC iPlayer, Blue Peter encourages kids to join in, earn their badge, enter a competition, be creative and adventurous. bbc.co.uk/bluepeter

Project Giving Back (PGB) – is a unique grant-making charity that provides funding for gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. PGB was launched in May 2021, with funding from two private individuals who wish to remain anonymous, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on UK charitable fundraising. It will fund gardens inspired by a range of good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Applications for gardens in 2023 are now closed. Find out more at www.givingback.org.uk

 

 

Mothers for Mothers RHS Chelsea garden

RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden of hope for mothers to raise awareness of Covid’s devastating impact on perinatal mental health

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  • The Mothers for Mothers Garden: “This too shall pass” designed by Pollyanna Wilkinson for Mothers for Mothers charity in the new show garden category ‘All About Plants’ at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022.
  • Design and planting to echo the road to recovery for mothers experiencingmental health  
  • Covid restrictions have had a drastic impact on pregnant women, birthing people and new parents with partners barred from appointments, anxiety in the workplace, isolation due to a lack of family/peer contact, changes in antenatal care and fewer face-to-face appointments.
  • Planting from the garden will be relocated to Hartcliffe City Farm in Bristol after the show, close to Mothers for Mothers’ base

The Mothers for Mothers Garden, for the namesake Bristol-based charity, is a symbolic plant-filled garden showing the mental health journey mothers take in pregnancy and early parenthood. It will raise awareness of perinatalmental illness, and the added pressures of Covid, at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May 2022.

 The garden will feature a cloister of bronze-toned walls and archways to represent how long days at home with a baby can feel either like a sanctuary or a cage.

A fractured pathway through the garden surrounded first by muted, restrained planting will gradually transition to a joyful, feminine palette depicting the road to recovery, supported along the way by other mothers with a similar lived experience. True to this new show garden category, 78% of the garden will be plants – showing the impact a small space can have (6x8m).

Designer Pollyanna Wilkinson, a former mental health counsellor and mother of two young children, said: “The expression ‘this too shall pass’ is a mantra passed between women navigating motherhood and the mental healthchallenges that often come with it. The garden is based on the idea of transition – from despair to hope.”

The global pandemic and associated restrictions have had a devasting impact on pregnant women, those giving birth and new mums. Seven in every ten women1 who were pregnant or who had given birth during COVID said they had increased stress and struggled with the ability to cope with pregnancy or baby. 70% of new parents said the lockdown was negatively affecting their baby, and only a third said they were confident in being able to access mental healthsupport.

The garden is funded by the Project Giving Back scheme and supports the vital work of the Bristol charity Mothers for Mothers set up 40 years ago to help mums survive perinatal illness by offering peer support, therapies and counselling, as well as providing assistance for dads and partners.

Maria Viner, the charity’s CEO, said: “The theme of our garden is hope and reassurance. We would like visitors to walk away seeing that it’s possible to find your way back to yourself. For women who are struggling with their mental healthand emotional wellbeing during pregnancy or after the birth of their baby there is support and understanding available. There are people who have lived through this experience and recovered who have been trained to support you and will walk alongside you on your journey to recovery. With the right help and support you will get better.

“For others we hope that the message of hope will translate across whatever their own personal circumstances may be – that if you can find the courage to reach out there are often others who understand and who have walked the same path who can offer companionship, support and compassion without judgment, until you too feel more hopeful about your future.”

During the show, Mothers for Mothers plans to host campaign and fundraising events supported by CBRE and after the RHS Chelsea Flower Show plants from the garden will be relocated to Hartcliffe City Farm close to the charity’s Bristol base.

In terms of planting, the exuberant pink and apricot ruffled Iris ‘Wondrous’ will denote the colour returning to life; apricot Rosa ‘The Lark Ascending’ will provide a feminine and informal feel; tangerine tones of Verbascum‘Clementine’ will denote joy, and the pure blue hues of Anchusa azurea ‘Loddon Royalist’ will conversely symbolise low mood.

ENDS

For further information on the garden contact Pollyanna Wilkinson on polly@pollyannawilkinson.com 07534 506604 or Emma Mason emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433. For further information on Mothers for Mothers contact Maria.viner@mothersformothers.co.uk  07796 402667

1 The Fawcett Society

Pollyanna Wilkinson Garden Design: After a decade working in London in legal marketing, Polly retrained as a garden designer at the English Gardening School at the Chelsea Physic Garden before setting up her namesake studio, based in Surrey.   She later studied Horticulture at Merrist Wood.  Prior to her career in Garden Design, Polly volunteered as a counsellor for several years, working in a variety of settings from schools, to bereavement charities and maternal mentalhealth clinics.  As both a mother and qualified counsellor, the Mothers for Mothers garden holds very significant meaning to her. Polly has previously created two other show gardens, both at Hampton Court Flower Show. In 2018 she earned a Silver Gilt for her garden focusing on the mental health impacts of social media (A very modern problem) and in 2019 she created a garden focusing on nature crafts, earning a Silver medal and People’s choice award. Polly’s design style is a mix of elegance and practicality. She works on all manner of gardens – from country estates to roof terraces across London and the South West.

Mothers for Mothers: Since 1981 Mothers for Mothers has supported families affected by maternal mental illness and emotional wellbeing needs across Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset and received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in their 40th year. They offer support to women and their families during pregnancy and until their youngest child attends school, from illness to wellness, through support services which include: Reach helpline/support calls, Home Visiting, Counselling, Antenatal wellbeing in pregnancy group and Peer Support Groups with a play support worker. The services are designed and delivered by women with lived experience of maternal mental illness.  Mothers for Mothers aim to achieve the following outcomes for the women and families they work with:

  • Improved confidence, resilience and relationships with children and family, leading to faster recovery.
  • Improving children’s emotional development by supporting mothers to be sensitive and responsive in their relationships with their children.
  • Reduced social isolation and improved social and support networks.
  • More awareness of maternalmental Health and the support available.
  • Improved care and services for maternalmental illness.

 

Eco compost shortlisted for first ever RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year Award

Eco compost shortlisted for first ever RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year Award

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RHS Sustainable Garden Product of the Year finalist

A peat-free compost range made from sheep’s wool, bracken – and now comfrey – by Dalefoot Composts in the Lake District has been shortlisted for the first ever RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year Award.

Dalefoot Wool Compost with Comfrey, launched earlier this year by the Penrith-based firm, is one of ten shortlisted products to be recognised for their green credentials in this prestigious RHS competition*.

Family-owned Dalefoot Composts spent five years perfecting the addition of comfrey, a plant superfood, into its popular peat-free Wool Compost range. Known as the organic gardener’s best friend, comfrey has high levels of potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen for healthy plant growth, larger flowers and bigger crops.

Comfrey is now grown sustainably at Dalefoot farm near Heltondale as a commercial crop allowing the company to scale up peat-free compost production to supply many more garden centres and nurseries across the UK, plus online for home delivery. Blending comfrey into the composts complements the company’s on-farm approach to no-till soil management, adds structure and additional flowers and biodiversity to the landscape benefitting insects and pollinators, and, importantly from a horticultural perspective, provides increased nutrient content in the final compost product.

Professor Jane Barker of Dalefoot Composts said: “As firm believers in true sustainability – social, economic and environmental – our team is over the moon to get this recognition and be shortlisted. We take real care to employ environmental best practice at Dalefoot, from the sourcing and harvesting of ingredients, to packaging and delivery. Our premium products also provide gardeners with a sustainable alternative to using environmentally damaging peat in their outdoor spaces.”

With a hat-trick of performance-packed natural ingredients – comfrey, bracken and sheep’s wool – the Wool Compost range feeds plants for at least a season, requires less watering, as wool cleverly retains moisture, and is Soil Association-approved for organic gardening. Wool Compost is available in Potting, Seeds, Vegetables & Salads, Tomatoes, Double Strength and Ericaceous**.

The company sources bracken from Exmoor, Northumberland and Wales, as well as locally in Cumbria – helping a diversity of farming communities and local landscapes. Bracken is an invasive plant but when harvested sustainably and composted, provides rich potash for plants and acts as a fantastic soil conditioner. Sheep farmers are benefitting too as supplying undipped wool for the compost means they have a market for a product they struggle to sell. Dalefoot is a significant local employer and is Living Wage-accredited, and it also restores damaged peat bogs for organisations such as Natural England and the wildlife trusts.

Over the past 12 months, compost production has doubled at Dalefoot, with more than 175 garden centres and nurseries now stocking its products.

ENDS

For further information contact Emma Mason on emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433

Comfrey is renowned in the gardening world for being a plant superfood. It has very long roots so is able to absorb nutrients deep in the soil as it grows, and when harvested and then added to compost or a traditional comfrey tea, the nutrients give a growing ‘kick’ to other plants, encouraging strong, healthy growth. The introduction of comfrey to the compost mix marks the culmination of a five-year project by the Dalefoot team to grow the plant on a commercial scale, sustainably on the farm, and harness its extraordinary qualities. The fast-growing comfrey crop can be harvested four times a year, so there is plenty on tap to meet rising demand for the company’s premium composts in the future.

 

Dalefoot’s story – The entrepreneurial couple behind Dalefoot, environmental scientist Professor Jane Barker and farmer Simon Bland, started making compost from the natural ingredients around their Cumbrian farm in 1997. Inspired by early 20th century gardening books that mentioned wool as a garden mulch, and a desire to make good use of the invasive bracken growing on the fells, the couple invented their secret compost recipe, bagged the product up themselves and started selling at local farmers’ markets. Twenty years later the compost is sold across the UK and the business employs 18 local people, and sources bracken and wool from farmers.

The range is available online at www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk from £11.99 per bag down to £8.50 each for orders of 50 bags plus delivery, and also from a growing list of stockists. Tel: 01931 713281   Email: sales@dalefootcomposts.co.uk

 

Peat bogs – The Dalefoot team also restores peat bogs, some of which were once owned by peat compost companies, across the UK for the likes of Natural England, NatureScot, South West Water and wildlife trusts. Peat bogs store more carbon than forests and many in the UK are now in poor condition, releasing carbon rather than just storing it. To date, this work equates to 1 million tonnes of carbon emissions – equivalent to 500,000 flights from London to New York – saved since Dalefoot started two decades ago.

 

* About RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year – The RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden Product of the Year was launched in 2011 to recognise the best new garden products at the show. In line with the ever increasing importance to ensure products offer sustainable solutions, the 2021 competition will award the RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year for the first time. Other shortlisted products include New Vegebag by Vegepod UK, Composting Loo by Green Oak and Ocean Plastic Pots, made from discarded rope and fishing net. An expert judging panel will consider environmental sustainability as well as innovation, visual appeal, functionality and quality and the winner will be announced during Virtual Chelsea (17 – 21 May). A trophy presentation will take place on Press Day at RHS Chelsea Flower Show now being held in September.

 

** Wool Compost Ericaceous, Lakeland Gold and Bulb Compost do not contain comfrey

Add show garden chic to your home – inside or out – with decorative modular wall panel from Stark & Greensmith

Add show garden chic to your home – inside or out – with decorative modular wall panel from Stark & Greensmith

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  • Launched at RHS Chelsea Flower Show & sold in support of horticulture welfare charity Perennial
  • Unique rose design inspired by The Perennial Lifeline Garden at RHS Chelsea – featuring Stark & Greensmith panels – celebrating Sir Roy Strong’s The Laskett Gardens and Perennial’s 180th anniversary
  • Easy-to-install style feature for the garden or home

The Perennial Rose modular wall panel from Stark & Greensmith

Give your home or garden an instant contemporary update with this stunning Corten decorative panel from Stark & Greensmith, sold in support of horticulture welfare charity Perennial.

Capturing the timeless beauty of the rose, the laser cut Perennial Rose panel can be hung like a picture on walls inside your home, or outdoors to add the ‘wow’ factor to your garden space. Position against a wall and light from behind for an on-trend finishing touch, or allow sunlight to stream through casting beautiful shadows on plants, seating area or terrace. Group three or four panels together to create a spectacular focal point.

Designed by Stark & Greensmith’s Creative Director Martine Le Gassick, the hand-finished panel features an intricate rose pattern in a nod to the traditional rose garden at Sir Roy Strong’s renowned The Laskett Gardens in Herefordshire. This same rose garden was reimagined in the Perennial Lifeline Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show to mark the charity’s 180th year of helping people in horticulture. The garden also featured bespoke Stark & Greensmith metalwork*.

Launched at RHS Chelsea on Perennial’s trade stand, the Perennial Rose modular decorative panel is available to buy via Stark & Greensmith and Perennial’s websites priced £149. Proceeds will be donated to Perennial to help fund the charity’s vital support work with people working in the horticulture industry.

Fabricated in solid, Corten steel and finished by hand, the Perennial Rose panel measures 500m x 500m x 27mm. Lightly sanded, the panels have been made to weather and develop a beautiful rich rusted patina overtime that will last a lifetime. Designed and produced in Britain.

The Perennial Rose panel can be used inside your home or out

Martine Le Gassick said: “Our new Perennial Rose panel is an affordable way to create an instant architectural design statement for your home or garden. Made from tough Corten steel, it’s durable but beautiful to look at, and really easy to install or hang.

“We’re proud to be working with such an established charity as Perennial which does invaluable work for people in the horticulture industry.”

Stark & Greensmith’s panels are popular with householders wanting a ‘show garden’ look at home and gold medal-winning garden designers for their aesthetics and functionality. The core Stark & Greensmith range is predominantly inspired by nature with the best-selling design Branches designed to simulate the effect of dappled sunlight through foliage. Other designs include the Parterre range in conjunction with the RHS, the Japanese-inspired geometric Motif and the floral Burst and Drift. The panels retail from £275 each, with a range of fixing accessories also available. The panels are affixed by steel clamps to aluminium posts, set in concrete just like traditional fence posts. They are available from www.starkandgreensmith.com, and a network of trade installers and retailers across the UK.

Starter kits are also available to buy, priced from £1,215, which include everything you need for a run of three panels (panels, posts, clamps and end caps).

In addition to the standard range, Stark & Greensmith also undertakes bespoke commissions, with current projects ranging from single panels in domestic settings, through to major commercial, leisure, hospitality and public realm commissions.

Stark & Greensmith Ltd   Phone: 01737 701088   Email: sales@starkandgreensmith.com  www.starkandgreensmith.com

-ENDS-

For further media information on Stark & Greensmith please contact: Emma Mason | emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk | 07762 117433

For all media enquiries on Perennial please contact: Clare Johnson | clare@bloom-pr.co.uk | 07815 041635

Jennie Spears | jennie@bloom-pr.co.uk | 07944 552634

Notes for editors:

Stark & Greensmith panels – Made either from recycled steel or powder-coated aluminium, the long-lasting panels are laser cut with a range of beautiful botanical designs. Unlike conventional fencing, the panels are maintenance-free, wind resistant and improve with age. Alongside their contemporary and sustainable design aesthetics, the panels are hedgehog-friendly. When installed they float 11cm above the ground, enough room for the protected mammals to pass freely under them.

About Perennial – Perennial helps anyone who creates or maintains gardens, parks, sports facilities and other green spaces. If you work with plants, trees or grass, Perennial is your charity and can help you if you need support. Everyone working in or retired from horticulture can receive Perennial’s free and confidential tailored one-to-one advice, support and financial assistance. Perennial’s friendly, experienced and professional team helps families and individuals for as long as extra support is needed. We help around 1,500 people and their families every year as they deal with life-changing events such as serious injury, long-term illness, family bereavement, redundancy or family breakdown. We want everyone who works in horticulture to know that help is here if they need it and that no problem is too large or small. www.perennial.org.uk | Twitter: @PerennialGRBS | Facebook: @PerennialGRBS | Instagram: @perennialgrbs

*Perennial and Stark & Greensmith at RHS Chelsea – Perennial returned to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May 2019 with a Great Pavilion garden designed by first time Chelsea designers Colm Joseph and Duncan Cargill. Inspired by Sir Roy Strong’s autobiographical The Laskett Gardens, The Perennial Lifeline Garden, highlighted the long-standing and ever-evolving role of Perennial in supporting everyone working in and retired from horticulture. Chosen following a design competition run jointly by Perennial and the London College of Garden Design, Colm and Duncan’s garden celebrated Perennial’s role at the heart of horticulture and captured the spirit of Sir Roy Strong CH and Julia Trevelyan Oman’s The Laskett Gardens, which Sir Roy bequeathed to Perennial in 2015. It featured a classical rose garden reimagined as a more sustainable and low maintenance ‘rose meadow’. Freestanding Stark & Greensmith bespoke metal screens, stone and topiary columns and a pair of modern ‘fountains’ combined in a modern reimagining of a classical colonnade, in which visitors could move around and walk beneath the cascades. A contemporary rill, also made by Stark & Greensmith, flowed through and around the garden, adding life and sound to the structural planted elements, representing the ‘lifeline’ that Perennial is so often described as by the people it supports.

 

 

 

peat free Wool Compost for Tomatoes

‘No need to feed’, peat-free Wool Compost for Tomatoes launched by Dalefoot Composts

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  • Sustainable peat-free compost made from sheep’s wool & bracken
  • Easy to use – feeds tomatoes naturally and organically, no extra feed needed and 50% less watering
  • Launched during British Tomato Fortnight 20 May – 3 June
  • Made on a family farm in the Lake District and developed with 2019 RHS Master Grower Pennard Plants
peat free Wool Compost for Tomatoes

New from Dalefoot Composts – Wool Compost for Tomatoes

During British Tomato Fortnight, a ‘no need to feed’ peat-free Wool Compost for Tomatoes has been launched by Dalefoot Composts – easy to use for novice gardeners, allotment fans and even master growers wanting organically grown, succulent and juicy tomatoes.

The super strength compost contains all the must-have nutrients needed to grow organic and aromatic tomatoes throughout the year without ‘any’ additional tomato feed. And like the rest of Dalefoot’s range, it has been approved by the Soil Association for organic growing.

Developed with tomato expert Terry Marshall (horticulturist, tomato grower and author of the book ‘Tomatoes’), and Pennard Plants UK, (heirloom seed producers and RHS Master Grower 2019), this premium compost has grown show bench tomato plants for RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Wool Compost for Tomatoes is packed with the perfect blend of natural ingredients; bracken from the Cumbrian fells blended with sheep’s wool for sufficient moisture retention reducing the risk of blossom end rot. The bag can be used as a grow-bag or the compost can be used in pots, raised beds and pannier planting.

Simon Bland of Dalefoot Composts said: “Our new Wool Compost for Tomatoes is bursting with all-natural nutrients which are perfect for growing the tastiest organic tomatoes. You don’t need to add any extra feed and it is really simple to use – just pot up your plants, water them and watch them grow!”

Celebrating its 22nd year, Dalefoot Composts is a family-run, farm-based business producing an exciting range of peat-free composts using only the natural resources of wool and bracken sustainably sourced from the beautiful Lake District.

It offers premium composts to meet every gardening need – Wool Compost for Potting & Containers, Wool Compost for Vegetables & Salads, Wool Compost Double Strength, Wool Compost Ericaceous (and Double Strength), Bulb Compost and Wool Compost for Seeds. Lakeland Gold, the original bracken compost, is a renowned clay-buster and high potash feed.

Wool Compost for Tomatoes is available to order online now from www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk and from selected suppliers priced from £10.99 – £7.50 per bag depending on size of order. Delivery extra.

ENDS

www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk 01931 713281

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

Growing benefits of Dalefoot Composts’ range include:

  • Natural water retention of wool fibres means up to 50% less watering.
  • Wool provides a steady, slow sustained supply of nitrogen.
  • High levels of natural potash from the bracken promotes flowering and fruiting, healthy growth and hearty crops – NO need for any additional plant food.
  • Made from 100% renewable resources with great environmental benefits.
  • The compost has a similar soft texture to peat and has a wide range of naturally occurring trace elements for good plant health.

The entrepreneurial couple behind Dalefoot, environmental scientist Jane Barker and farmer Simon Bland, started making compost from the natural ingredients around their Cumbrian farm in 1997. Inspired by early 20th century gardening books that mentioned wool as a garden mulch, and a desire to make good use of the invasive bracken growing on the fells, the couple invented their secret compost recipe, bagged the product up themselves and started selling at local farmers’ markets. Twenty years later the compost is sold across the UK and been shortlisted for RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden Product of the Year. The business employs up to 40 local people, and sources bracken and wool from local farmers.

Exbury Centenary Garden designed by Marie-Louise Agius

Exbury Gardens celebrating its centenary year opens a new ‘secret’ garden & announces plans for RHS Chelsea

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Exbury Centenary Garden, built and grown in secret, now open to the public

Exbury Centenary Garden, built and grown in secret, now open to the public

Hampshire’s Exbury Gardens is marking its centenary with the unveiling of a new ‘secret’ garden and plans for a showcase display at the world’s most famous flower show, RHS Chelsea.

Created by Lionel de Rothschild in 1919, a passionate collector of plants and a keen supporter and sponsor of the early 20th century plant hunters, Exbury has grown to become a stunning garden paradise in the New Forest filled with rare plants, shrubs and trees.

Now its gates are open to the public for the 2019 season, visitors can get their first glimpse of a new Centenary Garden designed by Lionel’s great grand-daughter and RHS gold medal award-winning designer, Marie-Louise Agius. This was planted within Exbury Gardens in 2017 and has been carefully hidden from public view, whilst it grows and matures. Contemporary in style, it contains subtle nods to the family history and has been planted with a particular focus on late summer.

A stream of spring bulbs is also starting to bloom. Around 100,000 yellow and blue (Rothschild family colours) bulbs have been planted in the lawns, weaving around rare trees near Exbury House, to give a centenary colour burst including daffodils, crocus and bluebells.

Bottom pond in spring Exbury Gardens-©Cathryn Baldock

Visitors can get the chance to learn about the extraordinary story behind this garden which was originally created over just 20 years before the outbreak of WW2 in a special exhibition next to the main entrance and ticket office.  An official history book will also be published later in the year.

Exbury’s famous rhododendrons will be showcased at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May 2019 in a collaboration with experts Millais Nurseries. Exbury and Millais have been working together to conserve some of the more rare and threatened rhododendrons in their collection. The display will aim to evoke the ‘spirit’ of Exbury Gardens.

Thomas Clarke, head gardener at Exbury, said: “The 1920s were the golden age of woodland gardening and Exbury, under the careful eye of Lionel de Rothschild and his staff, was at the cutting edge of this movement. The location, climate, existing oak woodland and acid soil all allowed for the creation of one of the finest gardens of its kind in the UK. Combine this with the legacy of the great plant hunters, and the extensive plant breeding programme at Exbury, and we are fortunate enough to have inherited a truly wonderful garden packed full of horticultural treasures.

“In this centenary year we are delighted to be unveiling some fantastic new projects plus a continued focus on our work to conserve and develop the plants and landscape at Exbury for the next 100 years.”

Exbury Gardens steam railway

Exbury Gardens, located in the New Forest near Southampton, will open daily until 3 November 2019 10am – 5.30pm. Adult tickets £12.50, children (3-15yrs) £4, under 3s are free and a family ticket is £29. Full information at www.exbury.co.uk

ENDS

For further press information contact PR Emma Mason on 07762 117433 emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk or Celise Galloway on 023 8024 5754 celise.galloway@exbury.co.uk

Sue and Bleddyn Wynn-Jones

‘Visionary’ Edwardian plantswoman inspires modern-day plant hunters for RHS Chelsea

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Modern-day plant explorers Sue and Bleddyn Wynn-Jones from Crûg Farm Plants will be taking inspiration from the incredible Edwardian plantswoman Miss Ellen Willmott and her renowned Mediterranean garden for an exhibit at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Miss Willmott credit Spetchley Park Gardens

Miss Willmott photo credit Spetchley Park Gardens

Ellen Willmott’s love for her garden at Villa Boccanegra on the Italian Riviera, and her passion for supporting plant hunting expeditions to introduce wild species, will be central to Sue and Bleddyn’s design and planting for the show. Ellen was born 160 years ago but was ahead of her time in favouring plants for their diversity, bold leaf form and architectural structure, rather than following the Edwardian fashion for exotic blossoms and blooms.

Highlighting plants for dry shade from their own collections, many of which will have not been seen before at Chelsea, Sue and Bleddyn will be assisted at Chelsea by the current owner of Villa Boccanegra, Ursula Salghetti Drioli.

Ellen (1858-1934) was one of two women to be awarded the first RHS Victoria Medal of Honour, the other being Gertrude Jekyll, and the first female to be elected to the Linnean Society. Many plants bear her name including Miss Willmott’s ghost (Eryngium giganteum) & Chinese plumbago(Ceratostigma willmottianum). She funded Edwardian plant hunting trips while her gardens in the UK, Italy and France were famed for their horticultural treasures. Many of these still survive at Boccanegra under the skilful attention of biologist Ursula’s expert care, including the speciesRuscus which will feature on Crûg’s Chelsea display, as will copies of Miss Wilmot’s original notes and planting lists.

Crûg will be demonstrating more unusual planting ideas for dry shade underneath Oreopanax, as well as those that are heat tolerant. They will be showcasing plants such as Aspidistra, Ophiopogon and Ruscus as well as a sprinkling of others, mostly collected by themselves on their many expeditions and all true to Ellen’s love for structure and form.

Oreopanax

Oreopanax

Sue and Bleddyn have also been inspired by three other famous Mediterranean gardens, as well as a more recently established garden, all connected to Boccanegra:

  • Near neighbour Giardini Botanici Hanbury, also known as La Mortola, established by Sir Thomas Hanbury, who gifted Wisley to the RHS. The two gardens regularly shared newly introduced rarities in those early years of the 20th century, such as Aspidistra. The current Lady Hanbury is a close friend of Ursula at Boccanegra and her husband Guido Piacenza, another keen plantsman.
  • Just a stone’s throw over the French border is another closely allied garden, Serre de la Madone in Menton, created by Lawrence Johnston of Hidcote. Again, records show that plants were regularly shared. It now grows a huge range of Crûg’s wild collections in its shaded gardens, where collections of Araliaceae flourish.
  • Les Cedres, or Jardin Botanique Les Cèdres, the largest private botanic garden in Europe. It was acquired by King Leopold II of Belgium in 1904, who reputedly financed the collecting and introduction of countless species of Oreopanax from Colombia, a plant that was in great demand in exotic plantings from the mid 19thcentury until the First World War. Oreopanax is another focus of the Wynn-Jones’ plant passions as they have extended family in Colombia and visit regularly.
  • Lastly, La Mouissone in Grasse, a younger still developing garden that has been involved in this eclectic mixture of British influence. Established and still being developed in a mature olive grove by Lady Lockett, a member of this Mediterranean gardening circle and a keen supporter of Crûg Farm Plants. She maintains an extensive selection of Crûg’s collections in Grasse.

Bleddyn Wynn-Jones said: “We are looking forward to highlighting some interesting star plants for the most difficult of garden environments, dry shade. Unusual forms of Ophiopogon, and newly discovered species of Aspidistra and Ruscus, which we’ll be planting under the flamboyant architectural foliage of Oreopanax. We hope these new varieties will capture people’s imagination and appeal to a wider audience.”

As holders of a rarely issued, ongoing official Scientific Licence from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), Sue and Bleddyn have travelled across the globe, scaling mountains and volcanoes, exploring hidden canyons and even dodging armed bandits to seek out elusive specimens.  They make sure they only collect plant material at equitable environments to ensure plants will survive the UK’s climate and, once back home, the couple follow strict quarantine rules to guarantee biosecurity, overseen by APHA.

They also work closely with experts from government agencies, botanic gardens and universities in the countries they collect in, sharing knowledge, specimen and seed. Thanks to an introduction via Moscow State University, they are currently working with Batumi Botanical Garden in Georgia, helping to safeguard varieties of Ruscus.  When an earthquake in Taiwan threatened to wipe out a rare native plant in the 1990s, Sue and Bleddyn were able to help with plants from seed they had collected a few years earlier.

Over the years they have collected Ruscus from the many countries surrounding the Mediterranean and beyond, and Oreopanax from South and Central America, particularly Colombia. Aspidistra has a centre of diversity in northern Vietnam and southern China, radiating out to many of the surrounding countries. Ophiopogon is found in the Himalayas and all through South- East Asia.

ENDS

For further information contact Emma Mason on emma@emamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433

NOTES FOR EDITORS: Crûg Farm Plants is based on the edge of Snowdonia near Caernarfon in North Wales. Covering almost 20 acres, the nursery specialises in unusual herbaceous perennials, climbers, trees and shrubs, and hundreds of the plants on offer are propagated from nearly 18,000 collections gathered on well over 50 expeditions by the Wynn-Joneses. These range from Anemone to Zelkova and everything in between.

As only a small number of people to do this work, their collections are much sought after around the world and the nursery has become a mecca for keen gardeners and scientific researchers. They have provided plants for many prestigious clients including several award-winning RHS Show gardens as well as supplying The National Trust, Botanic and Royal gardens.

Dalefoot Composts

Grow vibrant blooms using Dalefoot’s new peat free Bulb Compost with no need for extra feed!

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– Sustainable compost made from wild bracken that feeds bulbs for two years –

A new peat free Bulb Compost, made from wild bracken harvested from the Lake District fells, has been launched by Dalefoot Composts.

RHS Chelsea Garden Product of the Year finalist

RHS Chelsea Garden Product of the Year finalist

Dalefoot has developed this premium, carbon-neutral compost with award-winning lily growers HW Hyde & Son who have used it to grow ‘gold medal’ bulbs at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The compost itself has now been shortlisted for RHS Chelsea Garden Product of the Year 2018.

It boasts the perfect blend of free draining compost with natural, must-have nutrients and trace elements, to grow eye-catching flowers and to feed the bulb restoring its reserves for the following year. The bracken from the Cumbrian fells also gives it the perfect open structure.

The growing number of eco-conscious gardeners will welcome news that Dalefoot’s Bulb Compost provides a beneficial use for aggressive, waist-high bracken which makes grazing difficult and impacts upon native species. Harvesting bracken on rotation, at exactly the right time of year, improves the habitat for ground nesting birds and butterflies, in particular the endangered High Brown Fritillary whilst also providing the perfect nutrients for beautiful spring, summer and autumn bulbs.

Dr Jane Barker, an environmental scientist, who runs Dalefoot Composts – makers of the award-winning Wool Compost range – with her husband Simon Bland said: “Our customers can now grow ‘show bench’ blooms from their bulbs with our new compost which feeds for two years and is 100% peat free.”

Celebrating its 21st year, Dalefoot Composts is a family-run business producing an exciting range of eight peat free composts using only the natural resources of wool and bracken sourced from the beautiful Lake District.

Dalefoot Composts offers premium composts to meet every gardening need – Wool Compost for Potting & Containers, Wool Compost for Vegetables & Salads, Wool Compost Double Strength, Wool Compost Ericaceous (and Double Strength) and Wool Compost for Seeds. Lakeland Gold, the original bracken compost, is a renowned clay buster and high potash feed.

Dalefoot Bulb Compost is available from www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk priced from £8.99 down to £7 per bag depending on size of order. Delivery extra.

Tel: 01931 713281    Twitter, Facebook & Instagram

ENDS

For further information contact Emma Mason on emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433

Bulb Compost – How to use

Pots and containers

  • Place a layer of crocks at the bottom of your pot or container.
  • Add a layer of Dalefoot Bulb Compost to a good depth (10cm if possible), to allow good root growth.
  • Arrange bulbs-up to a bulbs distance apart-then add another 10cm layer of bulb compost.
  • Water after planting & continue to water for six weeks after flowering. The compost should feel moist to the touch but not wet.

Outdoors

  • Prepare the ground- remove weeds and add Dalefoot Bulb Compost to the planting pit- which should be 3-4 times as deep as the bulb itself.
  • Cover generously with bulb compost.
  • Mark the place of planting with a beautiful label to prevent disappointment in the future.
  • If you have squirrels in your garden- plant deeper!

Top Tip- Try layering your bulbs for a beautiful display.

Remember that bulbs with indents e.g. Fritillaria, need to be planted on their side- the stem will find its way up to the light.