The team at Notcutts Garden Centre Woodbridge, in Suffolk, were honoured to be involved in a local project creating a special Garden of Remembrance at the Ipswich Town Football Club (ITFC) stadium.

The project commemorates those whose ashes had been interred within the original football pitch soil, which was sensitively moved to the garden following a replacement of the pitch in June 2023. The garden now provides a peaceful space where supporters can visit and reflect. It has been well attended throughout the Championship season, and the planting has just been refreshed for a bold blue and white look through the summer months.

Notcutts, the national family-run garden centre group, were invited to bring the Garden of Remembrance to life, which was a particularly special honour for Notcutts Plant Buyer and lifelong ITFC fan Stuart Andrews.

The garden centres around stone planters which will be engraved with the names of all those whose ashes were interred on the original pitch. Notcutts role was to design the planting and creatively reflect ITFC’s iconic vision of blue and white.

Stuart said: “I’ve been an avid ITFC fan for 45 years and I still enjoy the game every week. It was a true privilege to be involved in the Garden of Remembrance and I hope we’ve created something that fans can be proud of.

“We all wanted the garden to honour ITFC’s iconic blue and white vision. Although the garden opened in November, we have just replanted with seasonal flowering varieties like bright blue Agapanthus, which will keep the garden looking colourful throughout the summer. We also planted three striking 12-feet-tall silver birch trees, evergreens like Crenata ‘Glory Gem’ pruned into a football shape, and Festuca Glauca ‘Intense Blue’, aptly named to honour ITFC supporters.

“Football and plants are the two biggest things in my life, so the Garden of Remembrance was a really special project for me personally. Through my 37-year career in horticulture I have loved discovering new varieties and planting styles, and it’s fantastic to share that knowledge with gardeners and to demonstrate creative planting through community projects like this.”

As ITFC play their final home game of the Championship season on Saturday (4 May), with promotion to the Premier League looking likely, supporters attending the Portman Road stadium are encouraged to visit the new garden and share the moment with loved ones and in memory of fans no longer with us. The ITFC Garden of Remembrance is located on the corner of the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand and Cobbold Stand and is open for visitors on matchdays and throughout the week.

For more information about Notcutts and their 19 garden centres across the country, visit www.notcutts.co.uk