Exhibitors
Back-to-back Gardens
Cheshire Wildlife Trust
Naturally Victorian
Designers: Jo Capstick & Nicky Saddington
Sponsors: Grosvenor Garden Centre, Barclays Bank, Instahedge
Contractor: Brencoll Landscapes
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Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s garden, Naturally Victorian, is a wildlife garden celebrating the influence of the Victorian naturalists. It shows how the principles of this era can be used in a garden today.
The design incorporates a stumpery, described as a 'Victorian horticultural oddity' - a collection of uprooted tree stumps forming a natural sculpture. The stumpery provides a dramatic background for ferns, which grow in the natural pockets, as well as a haven for wildlife.
The garden features a selection of plants that were collected as exotics in Victorian times,including Fatsia japonica and Dicksonia antarctica, as well as a fern collection and woodland plants. It is designed to be part of a larger garden. The sense of tranquillity is enhanced by a still pool and a place for the gardener to sit and enjoy the fruits of his labour.