What’s new, what’s growing and what’s going on this month
NEWS COMPILED BY MOLLY BLAIR
DESIGN Conservation champion
British garden designer Joe Perkins picked up the prestigious Horticultural Excellence Award at this year’s Greater Bay Area Flower Show in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. “Conservation is a passion of mine,” said Joe, whose garden, The Shenzhen City Garden – Community of Life, addressed the show’s theme of conservation by drawing attention to the importance of the nearby mangrove forests. While these forests can absorb and store more carbon than tropical rainforests, in many parts of Asia they are being cleared at an alarming rate. Shenzhen, however, has been recognised as an international centre for their regeneration and preservation. Joe’s plant-filled design featured a stylised river to reflect the merging waterways of the sediment-rich Pearl River Delta, which supports Shenzhen’s unique saline mangrove habitat, and a sculptural mangrove pavilion. Its colourful, lush planting was also a nod to Shenzen’s abundance of green spaces, which includes 950 public parks. joeperkinsdesign.com
HERITAGE Missing links
National Plant Collections are a hugely important part of our plant heritage, preserving plants that might otherwise be lost to cultivation. Horticulture conservation charity Plant Heritage recently accredited its 700th such collection, but warns that there are still many plants in danger of disappearing from our gardens. In an attempt to find gardeners willing to take on a collection, the charity has launched its annual Missing Genera Campaign with a focus on pollinator-friendly plants, such as OENOTHERA (formerly GAURA). If you have a passion for a particular plant you’d love to help conserve, find out more at plantheritage.org.uk
PATINA OF AGE
If you’re looking for elegant ways to age your garden, Appley Hoare Antiques has opened a new shop in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, offering a wide range of antique garden furniture, pots and ornaments to give any space a vintage feel. Included are rare and unusual items of French, Swedish, Italian and Spanish origin.
appleyhoare.com
Talking point WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Variegated Hydrangea serrata ‘Gotemba Nishiki’ may have been the runner up in this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show plant of the year award, but variegated plants still seem to divide the gardening world. In a recent episode of the Gardens Illustrated
