Flowers used in the ‘microbiome garden’ can enhance gut health by being eaten or just walked past
An “edible meadow” designed to improve gut health is to be displayed at the Chelsea flower show this year.
The two gardeners behind the “microbiome garden” say it will be filled with flowers that can enhance gut health by being eaten or just walked past.
Continue reading...Choose Love garden uses materials found in refugee camps and plants that grow on migration routes
A centrepiece garden at this year’s Chelsea flower show has been built with the help of a team of asylum seekers with a design that recreates Europe’s migration routes and uses materials found in refugee camps.
The Choose Love garden, named after a charity working with displaced people, uses the sustainable “superadobe” building technique found in camp architecture.
Continue reading...Supermarket shortages mean community food projects will have a prominent place in this year’s show
Supermarkets have rationed fresh fruit and vegetables in recent months as a combination of Brexit, bad weather and labour shortages has hit supply and driven prices up.
Those shortages have led to a surge in people growing their own, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, and that trend will be reflected at the Chelsea flower show from 22 May.
Continue reading...Annual RHS show uses theme of accessibility in effort to broaden appeal of horticulture
Chelsea flower show has long been a staple of the society calendar, with celebrities and royals making an appearance among the peonies and roses.
However, this year, the Royal Horticultural Society is trying to make the show – and horticulture – more inclusive, by putting on special events for children, and encouraging the creation of gardens with an accessibility theme.
Continue reading...Top gardeners advise use of tougher varieties that can cope with extremes of heat and cold as conditions disappoint growers
Gardeners are being urged to grow plants that can cope with extreme heat and cold after the Royal Horticultural Society was bombarded with letters from members asking why species they had cultivated successfully for years were now dying.
“It seems to be because of the temperature fluctuations,” said Nikki Barker, a senior horticultural adviser at the RHS. “We’ve gone from severe drought with an initially very mild autumn that turned cold. It’s the combination of weather patterns rather than one single event. And plants find it hard to deal with that fluctuation.”
Continue reading...