Alex Law, Head Gardener of Horatio’s Garden Midlands, is exhibiting a long border garden at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park, taking place from 17-21 July 2024.
Housed in the beautiful Cheshire countryside, RHS Flower Show Tatton Park offers visitors the chance to make the most of summer by observing beautiful gardens, browsing a wide range of plants, listening to scintillating talks, and much more.
The theme uniting this year’s long border gardens is ‘Make a Statement’. Alex has chosen to focus his garden around the horticultural debate over non-native compared to native species. His garden, entitled ‘The Not-So-Great Escape, AKA The Future English Landscape Garden’, explores what UK scenery might look like in a few years’ time if more non-native invasive species escape from our gardens into the surrounding countryside.
Non-native species are often considered ‘problem plants’, and by coming together, potential ‘problems’ can be prevented in advance. Various science projects are currently investigating future ‘garden escapees’ liable to follow in the footsteps of Japanese knotweed. Such programmes include Plant Alert, a citizen science project where potentially invasive plants can be reported, and a collaboration between the RHS and the University of Reading identifying 251 potential ‘problem plants’. Many of these, or their close botanical relatives, feature in Alex’s long border garden.
With his design, Alex aims to show that all such plants are amazing! Non-native plants can be brilliant for biodiversity in the UK, as we have quite limited native flora. Alex’s view is that there is no upper limit of biodiversity – non-native species are really, really welcome, and all wildlife and humans benefit from growing a wide range of plants! If the right plants are planted in the right place while keeping an eye on potentially invasive species, both our gardens and our countryside can thrive.
The distinction between what is and isn’t considered ‘native’ is also interesting, largely depending on whether a plant existed in Britain before the 1500s or not – if you go further back, lots of plants considered ‘native’ can be seen to have origins outside of the UK.
Discussing his journey when designing his long border garden, Alex said: “I’ve really enjoyed reading up on the topic and educating myself!”
Alex’s love of the natural environment is reflected in his planting, creating the garden on a budget and without the help of nurseries – all plants have been grown and brought to flower with a focus on sustainability and avoiding overconsumption.
The RHS Flower Show Tatton Park opens on Wednesday 17 July, with planting beginning five days earlier on Friday 12 July. Judging will take place on Wednesday morning, and the show will be open to the public until Sunday 21 July.
When the show closes the plants involved in Alex’s garden will be sold off, with all profits going to Horatio’s Garden!
We wish Alex the absolute best of luck for his time at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park, and hope that anyone able to pop along to the show will enjoy seeing his stunning and thought-provoking horticultural creation.
To learn more about the other long border gardens being exhibited at the show, click here.