BELVOIR CASTLE SHOW BORDER

Our Rain Garden Border has been named a finalist in The London College of Garden Design Countryside Border competition, which means we get to build it at Belvoir Flower and Garden Show 2020, now rescheduled for September! Flooding in the UK this winter prompted us to design a planting scheme to help alleviate the effects of heavy rainfall at a local level. Inspired by the plant communities we found in countryside swales whilst exploring North Wales, the Rain Garden Border consists of plants selected for permanently moist ground found at the bottom of a swale, with more drought tolerant species further up the slope. Native wild species like Geum rivale, Carex remota and Alopecurus geniculatus are interspersed with exotic garden stalwarts like Crocosmia and Persicaria amplexicaulis for wow-factor, demonstrating how the two could be combined to absorb water run-off and increase biodiversity in a summer garden border.