Award winning show garden coming to Washington
A garden that shows people how they can help solve local flooding through gardening has won a Gold Award and Best Garden Award at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2016 – and it’s coming to wow visitors at WWT Washington Wetland Centre.
The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust’s “Working Wetlands Garden” is designed by Jeni Cairns and supported by HSBC. It uses 85 species of native plants and a series of water features to manage rainwater running off the roof of its pavilion.
RHS Gold Award winning designer Jeni Cairns has created the garden with WWT so that it can be transported to WWT Washington when the show is over, to become a permanent outdoor classroom later this year as part of HSBC’s Water Programme.
Learning staff from Washington were at the show to road-test some water cycle lessons with local children from Trafalgar Infants School, Twickenham.
Many people don’t realise that the sheer speed with which rainwater runs off hard surfaces like your roof, patio or decking can contribute to local drains becoming overwhelmed after heavy rainfall. Multiplied by many homes and gardens in a local area, the sudden rush of water can have serious consequences: when Carlisle was flooded in 2005, a quarter of the floodwater came from overwhelmed drains and surface water from properties for miles around.
At RHS Hampton Court Show, the WWT “Working Wetland Garden” shows how your garden can hold back heavy rainfall and release it slowly, by using a series of water features that can make your garden more attractive for you and for wildlife.
Instead of pouring down drains, the water filters through gravel beds, runs down channels into flowerbeds, through permeable paving, into a pond and soakaway hollows, and feeds and nurtures a variety of marsh plants that help to keep the water clean.
WWT Washington’s centre manager Gill Pipes said, “Having visited the garden at the show, I’m blown away by the design and the opportunity it offers to show people how the slightest changes to their gardens can provide much needed defence against localised flooding. The fact that these actions also enhance gardens as places to spend our time enjoying wildlife is a real bonus.
Just one day after the garden was completed, it was buzzing with bumblebees, damselflies, butterflies and hoverflies. It’s a great yet peaceful environment for learning groups and those who just want to spend some time in a beautiful space. We can’t wait to install it here at WWT Washington and hear what our visitors think of it.”
Designer Jeni Cairns (pictured), of Juniper House Garden Design, said, “I’m amazed and delighted to win these awards. The garden demonstrates it’s relatively easy for anyone to recycle water by getting creative with recycled objects.
It’s more difficult to do this for a show where you’re using mature native plants that are so fragile and can easily snap, but it was worth it because the effect is beautiful. I’m really pleased that all the hard work crafting metal and wood and making the water system work has been recognised.”
It’s all about spreading the message that water is important and you can use it creatively rather than waste it.”
HSBC Holdings Plc Group Chairman Douglas Flint said, “Water will be one of the most important resources for the world to protect over the next 20 to 30 years.”
