Gardeners world spring fair 2026

The planting creates a calming, sensory, wildlife friendly and enclosed retreat to encourage an inclusive community who communicate, but also provides edible food for sharing. The plants will have these multiple roles within the design. 

 Central Chamomile lawn strip between the two seats, offers a sensory experience for bare feet for everyone including wheelchair users and also represents a symbolic story of overcoming division in communities through gardening.

 All plants have 1 or more functions in the garden; sensory, wildlife friendly, space saving or food production, purposefully varied to provide a range of sensory and food choices.

 Many plants are chosen for peak interest in school term times and are drought tolerant for water conservation and long school holidays.

 Use of annuals provides an option to attract wider range of wildlife and allows for users to learn skills in growing from seed, taking cuttings and to annually design the beds as their “garden story” changes over time.

• 1  Considered by some as the oldest plant used by humans, the specimen mulberry trees are chosen because of their ancient Roman links with longevity, wisdom and medicine to depict the long history of communities coming together to grow plants for their food and health.  There is also the link with the nursery rhyme implying a child friendly coming together of people.  Like  all great fairy-tales there is a more sinister and adult undertone, however,  linked to female prisoners and, "round the mulberry bush" can mean going in circles, engaging in unproductive arguments, or getting stuck in a repetitive cycle, similar to "here we go again". Our society is frequently stuck in divisive and unproductive arguments and spaces like community gardens can change people’s opinions of others within society, they can break the repetitive narratives. The mulberry trees also offer a beautiful practical usage in a food growing garden, this variety produces a constant supply of berries over the season and the leafing of mulberry bushes are considered a reliable natural indicator of when the last frost has passed. A real community plant and the central characters of this fairy-tale design. 

• 2  The buddleia specimens are chosen to attract butterflies and for sensory enjoyment but also as a personal tribute to a Wimborne community garden member who sadly died.  She loved butterflies and in her last few months of life the garden brought her support, friendship and purpose. Her story summed up what community spaces give to people and is a testimony that all good fairy-tales have joy and tragedy beautifully intermingled throughout their story. 

• 3  Wheelchair access is literally central to this design to symbolise the non negotiable of being inclusive and this “access” also provides the essential social space where all folk meet to chat over a cuppa and share ‘common ground.’                                                                               A chamomile lawn strip in the centre of the garden offers a sensory experience for bare feet for everyone including wheelchair users.  But it also has a strong symbolic relevance within the design. It creates a line between the two seats representing that, sadly, people within communities often feel that there is a dividing line between them and others.  The chamomile sensory experience represents that what we tend to discover in community gardening is that when people come together to garden, to support others and socialise in a shared natural space they often find that things we think divide us become softer. 

• 4  Planting into hügelkultur beds depicts the education and experimentation that evolves from people coming together and sharing knowledge. 

• 5  A step over apple provides an edible element, demonstrating solutions for small spaces and what fairy-tale doesn’t have a sinister apple somewhere!
  Regimented lines of seasonal veg and salad will represent the secret, well organised army of people who grow to provide food to local food banks…. Their fairy-tale is one of team glory in the face of villainous characters like pests, weather, diseases and drought. Within the design we repeat the line of division with one side representing a no dig approach to veg gardening mulched in wood chip made from a fallen tree in the garden and the other representing a more traditional "dug" version of food production mulched with a compost and leaf compost mix made in the Wimborne garden.  Both approaches have worked side by side in the Wimborne community garden and invaluable knowledge has been shared and given by the more traditional growers who like to dig a plot and a more sustainable and newer no dig approach provides an educational and alternative approach for modern climates etc.  Where this division meets in the garden we find great humour, respect, learning and a common goal.  We all remember the banter in the year when the "no dig" onions were bigger than the traditional ones!  

• 6  Use of annuals not only provides a wide range of plants for wildlife in a small area but gives the opportunity for members of the community to be involved in growing from seed annually and to provide an opportunity for creativity in an ever changing design as their story changes over time.
  Planting is purposefully varied to show how much can be contained in a small space without losing losing an overall pleasing and sensory space to be in.