BBOWT

A SHOW garden with nature’s recovery at its heart will be premiered by the Wildlife Trusts at this year’s RHS Malvern Spring Festival.

The Wilder Spaces garden promises to take wildlife-friendly gardening to a new level, combining beauty with biodiversity.

Wilder Spaces is sponsored by the Wildlife Trusts, led by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust and its ecological consultancy Future Nature WTC.

Working with experts from Oxford Garden Design, the team will demonstrate how wildlife habitats can be designed into the structure of a garden, using building waste, reclaimed material and untreated timbers.

With biodiversity designed into the garden, hopes of winning a prestigious RHS medal are high.

The Wildlife Trusts believe gardening has a vital role to play in nature’s recovery, with long-term benefits for climate and people’s wellbeing too.

The aim of the garden is to inspire visitors to think differently about the appearance of a garden designed for people and wildlife and to show how we can all nurture nature, no matter what size or style of garden.

BBOWT chief executive Estelle Bailey says: “Nature is in crisis and not enough is being done to reverse this terrible decline in the UK’s biodiversity.

“We want to see 30 per cent of land well managed for nature by 2030 and our gardens are a vital part of that wild jigsaw.

“Wilder Spaces will show that any garden can have wildlife habitats at its heart, with recycled materials and nature-friendly planting, yet still be beautiful to look at and provide relaxing spaces to spend time.

“Private gardens make up a bigger area than all of Britain’s nature reserves combined — they can provide a mosaic of mini-habitats that support a diverse range of species, so they are key to helping create more nature everywhere.

“RHS Malvern Spring Festival will be a great opportunity to show people what they can achieve in their own gardens for nature, for climate and for themselves.”

The garden will include a range of nature and climate positive features, including:

• Grassland, wetland and deadwood habitats.

• Pollinator and larval friendly planting.

• A stream, waterfall and pond.

• A compost channel and hoverfly stumpery.

• Recycled materials — timber, steel and building aggregate.

• A biodiverse roof and solitary bee columns.

• Climate-resilient planting and landscaping.

The garden features a watercourse that meanders through the plot towards a central pond and a section of bog planting.

A pavilion constructed from reclaimed steel joists and grating will be topped with a living roof.

Once the festival is over, the garden will be distributed across various BBOWT sites and projects.

The RHS Malvern Spring Festival runs from May 11 to 14 at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern. For more information and tickets, visit rhs.org.uk/shows-events/
malvern-spring-festival

Pete Hughes