It's that time of year again, when we are already planning for Chelsea next May!
For Chelsea Flower Show 2020 Burncoose Nurseries’ will show how an ornamental garden can help ease the pressure on the natural world and make a positive contribution to slowing the rate of climate change.
‘A Garden for a Changing Climate’ is Burncoose Nurseries example of a beautiful garden that has been made using sustainable techniques and materials. It functions as a place that brings well-being and joy to those who are in it, as well as being a rich bio diverse habitat for flora and fauna.
In the background, this garden is quietly undertaking a very important task. It is capturing carbon from the atmosphere, it is harnessing rainwater and reduces surface run-off, it provides food and shelter for wildlife, and it can form part of a wider network of ‘green corridors’ – especially if in an urban environment.
There will be a ‘rain garden’ where rain water is channelled into flower beds. There will be a ‘dry garden’ filled with drought resistant plants, which again will not need watering. The intention is for our garden to have sections that are practical to gardeners all over the country where rainfall varies.
There will be a small seating area underneath a green sedum roof, and some decking made out of re-purposed pallets. There will be a variety of garden features that will be both stylish as well as helpful to wildlife. We will include bug hotels and hedgehog boxes - hedgehogs are very helpful in the garden as they eat slugs.
Meadows are very important too, as they bring pollinators into the garden and further lock carbon into the soil. We will show two examples; a native and an ornamental, and will share with gardeners the techniques used to grow them.
‘A Garden for a Changing Climate’ is very much a garden of our time. It is a response to what is possibly one of the most important phenomenon of our time. It seeks to provide an informative, practical, enjoyable, small-scale solution to creating a cleaner and greener environment.