Putting the spotlight on the biggest issues in gardening today
BY LIZ POTTER Liz Potter is a leading gardening journalist and editor
Garden visits raise record funds for charity
For gardeners, May is a timeof optimism and goodwill. The sun is out and the horticultural calendar is peppered with charitable events. One such event is the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (21-25 May), which this year will host 18 Project Giving Back gardens supporting good causes. Tom Stuart-Smith’s design for the National Garden Scheme (NGS) highlights the philanthropic potential of garden visits, so vital during a cost-of-living crisis.
The NGS, founded in 1927 to raise funds for the Queen’s Nursing Institute, still focuses on health charities today. Last year it donated £3,403,960, raised via the opening of over 3,500 private gardens in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. More than 800 of these are open in May. And on 4-12 May the NGS’s Gardens & Health Week raises awareness of the physical and mental health benefits of gardens and gardening.
Those who open their gardens for the NGS come from all walks of life. “Gardening is a hobby where, once people have got to a certain standard, they enjoy sharing their garden with others,” says Director George Plumptre. “They are competitive against themselves, wanting to raise more than last year. Then they spend the afternoon with people saying how wonderful their garden is, so the owner ends up with a warm fuzzy feeling.”
One of the NGS’s biggest fundraisers is The Manor House, Ayot St Lawrence in Herts, which raised £32,000 in 2023. “We get more than 1,000 visitors a day across the weekend,” says the garden’s designer, Julie Toll. “Every year the owner is on a mission to break the previous target. It’s an incredible team-building activity. All year we look for surplus produce to sell – preserves, cider and apple juice as well as plants. Fellow villagers, family and friends help out too, baking hundreds of cakes.”
“In times of economic stress it all comes back to affordability,” says George. “In the economic crisis of 2008-9 we had our two record years, as we have done again in 2023. Life’s very stressful during a cost-of-living crisis, but a relaxing family afternoon out for, say £20, is something lots of people feel th
