Green shoots as Chelsea garden starts to take shape

Published by Hannah Wooderson for 24dash.com in Local Government

Work has officially started this week on creating the show garden which will represent Leeds at next month’s prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Staff from Leeds City Council’s Parks and Countryside Service arrived on site on Wednesday to transform a piece of land in the grounds of the Royal Hospital in London into The HESCO Garden which will compete against the finest designs in the world when the show takes place from May 19-23.

Over the next three weeks the garden will be marked out and carefully created using excavation, the construction of walls, a building and patio area put in place, pond and water features installed and intensive planting of trees and plant material to have the garden looking complete and at its best for Monday 18th May when it is judged and may be visited by Her Majesty The Queen.

Anyone interested in following the development of the garden can follow its progress by going to the website at www.leedsatchelsea.com where the latest photos and information will be added each day.

The HESCO Garden has been designed and produced by Leeds City Council staff with support and sponsorship from world-renowned manufacturers of products used in civil engineering HESCO Bastion, who themselves are based in Leeds.

The theme of this year’s garden is to raise awareness of the problem of flash flooding, which caused major problems all over the UK in the summer of 2007, and how people can make small changes in their own gardens to help limit the effects of climate change.

The HESCO Garden is inspired by rain gardens which are popular in America as a way of holding water and releasing it slowly to limit flash flooding. Modelled on a typical Yorkshire garden, the garden draws on a number of different techniques and uses locally-sourced materials combined with plants which flourish in wet conditions.

Leeds City Council Executive Member for Leisure Councillor John Procter said: “It is really exciting that work is now starting on site at Chelsea to create this fantastic garden. It will be wonderful to see the plans come to life and we have every confidence the team will do their usual great job in producing a world-class garden which will be a big hit with everyone at the show and help raise awareness of the environmental message behind the garden and promote Leeds as a city.”

As part of the promotion of this year’s garden project, an extra dash of colour has been added to one of the most famous landmarks in Leeds city centre as a special arrangement of Native Cowslip flowers has been planted in the roundabout behind Leeds Rail Station with accompanying signs to tell those arriving and departing the city about The HESCO Garden.

Apart from the roundabout display, seed packets of Native Cowslip are to be given to local Leeds schools and will also be distributed to the crowds at Chelsea itself. The Native Cowslip (Primula veris) was chosen because it is a plant commonly found in Yorkshire on the fringes of woodland and meadows in spring and it will also be seen in the show garden at the show.

Sponsors HESCO Bastion Ltd said: “Our products are used worldwide to provide planned and sustainable flood protection, so we were pleased to be asked by Leeds City Council's Parks and Countryside Service to be the sponsor of The HESCO garden at Chelsea this year. The HESCO Garden is designed to raise awareness of how we can all contribute to managing rainwater better, and by doing so help reduce flooding risks.

“The roundabout idea is a really effective way of catching people’s attention and helping to generate interest in this year’s garden. Raising awareness of flash flooding and the things we can all do to help reduce the problem is the key aim, and it is great to be able to do that in a prime city centre location which thousands of people will see as they go past.”

Leeds City Council has enjoyed great success at Chelsea in recent years, with all six previous gardens dating back to the first in 1997 earning bronze or silver awards.

For full details and the latest news about The HESCO Garden visit the official website at www.leedsatchelsea.com