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Blue Diamond buy 6 more centres from Wyevale
Blue Diamond East Bridgford and Fairways pick up top honours in GCA Midlands region
Three times a charm for GARDENA at the GIMA awards
Stewarts Christchurch and Squires Hersham pick up GCA awards in South Thames region
Blue Diamond chief reveals dramatic July trading uplift at former Wyevales
Rising Stars 2019 - From Twenty to Ten for Conference
Increased footfall drives garden centre sales
Groves Nurseries to launch 'Mr Groves Violet Gin' distilled on site
Nursery hopes label service link-up will reduce single-use plastic in garden centres
Benary hosts Fleuroselect seed breeders convention
Haddonstone applauded for garden scheme support
Plantarium theme is: Think Small...and Green
Schoolgirl's winning design planted up at Teddington Lock
Kids win free passes to Bradford garden centre's new indoor play area
Groves says goodbye to Annette after 25 years
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Apta appoint new sales manager for East Anglia
Bugs and seed sowing shine light on sales
Growing activity continues to grow
Wildlife projects for school holidays
Christmas spuds make a showing
Colour and heat shines through in plant sales
Weather stimulates June online sales - but garden had poor second quarter overall
Public asked to help raise £4.8m towards completion of RHS garden at Salford
The best of last week's
Perrywood and Squires Shepperton triumph in GCA North Thames region
Tong and Cowell's take GCA awards in North East while Barton Grange and Fron Goch triumph in North West
Profit up 52.5% at Notcutts in year to February 2019
SOLEX exhibition fuels Summer optimism
Garden Centre Photo Tour - RHS Wisley New Plant Centre
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Public asked to help raise £4.8m towards completion of RHS garden at Salford
Plans include creation of north-west 'mother orchard' of heritage fruit

RHS Ambassadors Nick Knowles and Carol Klein have joined a call to the public to help raise the final £4.8 million to complete RHS Garden Bridgewater, the society’s fifth garden, in time for a summer 2020 opening.

 

The RHS launched the appeal as it announced the creation of a ‘Mother Orchard’ for the North West in the Salford garden. The latest of many spectacular gardens in the pipeline is a traditional orchard garden on a three-and-a-half-acre plot which will wrap around the original 1834 Garden Cottage.

 

Nick Knowles said: “At 154 acres, RHS Garden Bridgewater will bring a sizeable patch of world class horticulture to within an hour’s drive of 8.2m people in the region, delivering significant benefits to people and the environment. This heritage orchard, which will save rare varieties of pear and apple for future generations, is just one example. We want everyone to help us make this exciting project happen.”

 

The Orchard Garden, designed as a collaboration between Curator Marcus Chilton-Jones and local landscape architect firm Gillespies, will be the largest of the 11 gardens within the majestic 11-acre Weston Walled Garden, one of the biggest walled gardens in the country. It will be created on the site of the original orchard which existed at Worsley New Hall in the 1840s.

 

The garden will have a more naturalistic feel than the adjoining gardens, acting as a space to relax and unwind. Curator Marcus Chilton-Jones said visitgors would reach a more traditional, relaxing space that helps to connect the intensive, cultivated horticulture with the wider countryside. “It will be a garden that grows slowly and evolves, with new riches revealed each year.”

 

The orchard will feature apple, pear, plum, cherry and damson trees, as well as soft fruits, echoing traditional orchards, with trees grouped naturalistically around the garden rather than in regimented rows. The mixed planting will encourage wildlife biodiversity and the old-fashioned rootstock selection will also add greatly to the lifespan of the trees.

 

It will include 37 varieties of heritage apple trees, keeping rare cultivars alive for future generations and becoming the first ‘mother orchard’ for the North West. The trees come from apples gathered from across Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire and the old Westmoreland. Varieties will include ‘Florence Bennet’, once saved from a Liverpool rubbish heap; ‘Withington Fillbasket’ from Cheshire, ‘Scarlet Tiffing’, popular in Lancashire and ‘Manx Codlin’ from the Isle of Man. 

 

Carol Klein, RHS Ambassador, said: “One of the most important elements of RHS Garden Bridgewater is The Orchard Garden where endangered varieties, especially those local to the North West will be propagated and protected for future generations.”

 

The orchard will also include 14 varieties of heritage pear, first grown at Bridgewater over 170 years ago. When the RHS took over the garden in early 2017 the trees, which had been grown adjacent to the walls as restricted forms, had not been pruned for over a century, so had grown wild and sadly had to be felled. However, shoots from these trees have been carefully propagated to create healthy new trees, which will be re-introduced to the orchard and should last for around 200 years. Additionally, timber from the felled pears will be used to form the gnarled and twisted pillars of a new summer house, reflecting the heritage of the site.

 

The Orchard Garden will sit alongside a Wellbeing Garden, a Kitchen Garden designed by RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medallists Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg; a Paradise Garden designed by Tom Stuart-Smith; a Learning Garden designed by students from Manchester Metropolitan University and community teaching allotments.

 

Carol Klein, RHS Ambassador, said: “RHS Bridgewater is a dream come true not just for the UK but especially for the North West. It’s a vital project for the advancement of horticulture, for local employment and to engage local communities in gardening. So good for body, soul and spirit. That’s why it’s imperative to do whatever we can to help the RHS bring it to life.”

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