Silverhand Estate: The Butterfly Garden

The garden

With butterfly populations declining across the UK, this garden delivers a clear message: the future of these fragile species doesn’t require drastic action, but can be achieved through small, thoughtful everyday choices.

In response to the national emergency declared by Butterfly Conservation, every element in this border is chosen to give butterflies what they need to thrive: nectar-rich plants for adult specimens, host plants for caterpillars and sheltered spaces that offer protection from predators and harsh weather.

A small area of hard standing allows access without disturbing these delicate creatures, and a sunken bench offers a relaxing place to watch, count and appreciate the role of plants in supporting biodiversity.

As the show takes place just a week before the 2026 Big Butterfly Count (17 July-9 August), the garden invites renewed commitment to protecting these vital pollinators.

Key plants:

• Malus sylvestris – this is a highly valuable species to butterflies, serving as both a significant nectar source in the spring and a host plant for caterpillars. It provides a year-round food source for butterflies

• Frangula alnus (alder buckthorn) – a much loved plant of the brimstone butterfly and its caterpillars. Planting it helps to ensure the next generation of these butterflies

• Buddleja varieties – known as the butterfly plant

• ​There will also be Salvia ‘Amistad’, Echinacea ‘Butterfly Kisses’, Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’ and Verbena scattered through the garden. 

Plants supplied by: to be confirmed

The designer – Emma Atkinson 

Emma is a garden designer based in Kent, known for creating thoughtful, contemporary outdoor spaces that balance natural beauty with practical living. Growing up surrounded by the county’s rolling landscapes and historic gardens, Emma developed an early appreciation for planting design, biodiversity and the emotional impact of green spaces. After training in Landscape Architecture at the University of Greenwich and working on a range of private and community projects across the Southeast, Emma has built a reputation for designs that feel natural, textural and deeply connected to biodiversity. Her work blends soft, immersive planting with clean structural lines, drawing inspiration from Kent’s orchards, coastline and chalk grasslands, while always having a focus on improving biodiversity value.

The garden legacy

The garden will be relocated to Silverhand Estate – the UK’s largest single vineyard, spanning more than 600 acres of organically farmed vines.