HPS Shows

Shows

RHS Show Tatton Park 2009
A Garden for All Creatures Great and Small

Our garden this year aims to encourage wildlife into the garden whilst being a quiet and peaceful place for people to enjoy. The subdued colour scheme is restful, whilst the combination of simple flower shapes and perfumed plants encourages bees, butterflies, and all manner of useful insects into the garden. The small pond should, in time, be inhabited by frogs and the nearby seat will offer a place to sit and watch dragonflies and damselflies in the summer. The insect shelter provides places for ladybirds, solitary bees, lacewings and other small creatures to hibernate in the winter as well as being an attractive feature with its ‘green roof’.

Our aim has been to re-use natural materials wherever possible. The path is made from recycled tyres by a Cheshire company, Dunweedin’ Ltd, and the path edges are pieces of fallen timber retrieved from the garden. An insect shelter has been created from old building material, clay pots, old pieces of wood, slate roofing tiles, etc. The shelter will also provide nesting material for birds in the spring. A rotting tree root has been turned on its side and is now a bird feeding station.

Many of the plants we have used in our display are attractive to insects, and some, such as Malus (crab apple) and Agastache will also provide fruit and seed in the autumn for birds. Betula (birches) not only provide shelter for the garden but also to the creatures which live in it. We have tried mostly to avoid using double flowered perennials as these offer little pollen or nectar, both valuable food sources for insects.

There are very many hardy perennial plants which, as well as providing a beautiful display year after year, will also be beneficial to our wildlife. We can only show a few but hope that our display will encourage you to search for more.

The Cheshire and Friends Group won a well-deserved silver-gilt medal at the RHS Tatton Park Show.

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