AN award-winning show garden has been recreated at a garden centre in aid of charity.
‘Painting with Plants’ won a silver gilt medal at this summer’s RHS Flower Show Tatton Park and was put together by the gardeners who look after the grounds at The Duke of Westminster’s Cheshire home.
The horticultural team from Eaton Hall, near Chester, spent a whole day transplanting the garden to Bromborough Pool Garden Centre, which is run as a social enterprise by Wirral Autistic Society.
‘Painting with Plants’, which was inspired by the work of French artist Henri Matisse, now takes pride of place in the garden centre, which has recently been revamped and expanded.
The show garden was the brainchild of deputy head gardener Jan Lomas who said:
“The ‘Painting with Plants’ garden was a real labour of love and we’re delighted that a local charity will now benefit from it for years to come.”
Using two tonnes of compost made on the Eaton Estate and 300 plants such as butterfly and bee-friendly geranium, achillea and penstemon, the garden has two colourful flowerbeds that look like artists’ palettes.
The garden is full of bold colours and features a Tahitian hut in recognition of the time Matisse spent on the French Polynesian island.
Wirral Autistic Society, whose president is the Duke of Westminster, provides care for people with autism and the garden centre provides valuable employment opportunities for them.
Rick Myers, fundraising officer, said: “The garden is fantastic and I’m sure that a lot of people will visit the centre to see it. After all it’s not often you get an award-winning garden of that calibre given to you and no other garden centre will have anything like it.
“We’re hoping that it will attract lots of new customers and give us a huge boost.
Everyone at Wirral Autistic Society is so grateful to the Duke and Duchess for such a generous gift to our charity.
“And of course a big thank you must go to the Eaton Garden team who put this garden back together for us.”
Bromborough Pool Garden Centre at York Street, Bromborough Pool Village, is open 9am to 4pm weekdays from November to February.