space to grow - why people need gardens - the natonal trust

8/8/2019 Space to Grow - why people need gardens - The Natonal Trust

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Space to Grow

why peopleneed gardens


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The role of the National Trust

The National Trst has been caring or special gardens or

over 110 years. Or proessional interest in gardens took o

in the late 1940s, when we established a Gardens Committee

to advise s on or work. We now look ater over 200 gardens

and parks and and 32 Plant Heritage National Plant Collections

and over 70,000 plant species. We employ 450 proessional

gardeners, who are assisted by 1,500 volnteer gardeners.

Another 2,400 volnteers help with activities sch as plant

selling and gided talks.

Octavia Hill, one o or onders, was passionate abot

the idea that gardens cold serve as open air sitting

rooms. Indeed, the National Trst was very nearly called

the Commons and Gardens Trst. Arond 87 per cent o

the poplation o England, Wales and Northern Ireland now

live within 15 miles o a National Trst garden. Or gardensoten nction as vital local commnity spaces, or example

at Osterley Park in London or East Riddlesden Hall in West

Yorkshire.

Many o the gardens in or care have special historical

signicance. Almost all o the great garden designers o

the past worked on gardens that are now looked ater by

the Trst, among them Charles Bridgeman, William Kent,

Lancelot Capability Brown, Hmphry Repton, Gertrde

Jekyll and Sir Georey Jellicoe.

2 N A T I ON A L T R u S T


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Space to Growwhy people need gardens

Gardens and gardening have a special place in or national

cltre. Most weekends, millions o s will be planting, digging

and weeding or own plots, or appreciating other peoples

eorts as visitors to gardens. There are ew who do not vale

the simple pleasres that gardens and gardening can oer:

beaty, resh air, connection with natre and plants, and

the satisaction o growing or own ood. Spending time

in a garden is time well spent.

Thats why I believe that gardens are more important

than ever beore. Signicantly, seven ot o ten o s believe

that spending time in gardens is critical to or qality o lie,

with many agreeing that it is a more enjoyable pastime than

shopping or watching TV. I am passionate abot the idea that,

in todays ast-paced society, everyone shold have accessto a garden or green space that they eel entitled to enjoy and

se. Ater all, this was the inspirational vision o the onders

o the National Trst.

Gardens, great and small, ace many challenges. The examples

in this report set ot how the National Trst is responding to

these, and the measres we are taking to ensre that gardens

can be appreciated by everyone or generations to come.

Fiona Reynolds

Director-General

Let: Fiona Reynolds clearing daodils with the gardeners

at Snowshill Manor, Gloucestershire

S P A C E T O GR OW3


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Gardening is one o Britains most popular pastimes.

Most weekends 11 million o us will be tending our

gardens, and more than twice that number say they

enjoy visiting gardens each year. Put simply, gardens

are a constant source o joy and pleasure.

Gardens are places where people can play and relax.

When people were asked why spending time in gardenswas important to them, nwinding was the most reqently

mentioned response (68 per cent). One in three members

o the pblic consider gardens to be romantic places that

can give yor love lie a boost. Walking in the scent rom the

300 varieties o old-ashioned roses growing in the gardens

at Mottisont Abbey in Hampshire on a smmers evening

helps to demonstrate why!

Nine ot o ten o the Trsts most visited properties are

gardens. Even in the depths o winter thosands o visitorscome to enjoy the delicate beaty o snowdrops at properties

sch as Colby Woodland Garden in Pembrokeshire and

Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge. This poplarity means

that gardens open to the pblic are a major draw or

torism in Britain. Gardens are important to sstaining

local economies. Visits to gardens generate an estimated

300 million in direct spending and even more than this

in associated spending on local bsinesses.

Gardens bring people together. They provide a sae andcomorting environment in which to prse a variety o

activities: exercise, socialising with riends, appreciating

natre and the seasons, or qiet contemplation. As

sch, gardens are great social levellers, helping to nite

commnities in ways that other pblic spaces oten do not.


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The Gateway Gardens Trustand Moseley Old HallStaordshire

The 17th-centry style garden at Moseley Old Hall is one

o many in the National Trst to work in partnership with The

Gateway Gardens Trst, which helps disadvantaged grops

o all kinds to become involved with and experience gardens.

Chairman o The Gateway Gardens Trst, Bettina Harden,

describes a typical project with local schoolchildren in the

garden at Moseley Old Hall in Staordshire: The children

came rom a hgely deprived rban area. They planted seeds

in their own plot, and came back week ater week to weed

and water them, and then harvest the prodce. They wrote

amazing poems and drew pictres abot their experiences.

It was a spectaclar sccess.

Bettina sees access to green spaces as a hman right.

Gardens oer innite resorces to eed or needs as people.

One regee child, amazed to discover the beaty o the walled

gardens at Dinewr, asked s whether he was in paradise.

The Gateway Gardens Trst is rnning a series o seminars

abot increasing access to gardens and historic parks or

National Trst sta in order to develop skills and share good

practice in otreach work.

The best thing about

Knightshayes Court garden

(above) is that it eels warm

and neighbourly. Despiteits scale and splendour I

always eel Ive just popped

in to see an old riend

National Trst visitor, Devon

More than 12 million

people visit National

Trust gardens each year

Seven out o ten o

us believe it is critical

to our quality o lie to

spend time in gardens



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Research has shown that physical activity in green spaces

is eective in the treatment o clinical depression and can

be as successul as psychotherapy or medication,

particularly in the longer term.

The mental health charity Thrive has ond that nearly one

in three disabled people believe that gardening has ongoing

health benets, and one in ve report that it has helped themthrogh a period o mental or physical ill health. At Clmber

Park, Nottinghamshire, the National Trst is working with

the charity Rethink and the Adlt Social Care and Health

department o Nottinghamshire Conty Concil to help

people who have sered rom severe mental illness by

providing space in the Walled Kitchen Garden to propagate

and grow vegetables and fowers.

Gardening is an excellent orm o exercise. Jst 30 mintes

o gardening can brn as many calories as aerobic exercise,greatly redcing the risk o coronary heart disease and other

chronic illnesses. It can have broader health benets too, or

example helping older people maintain stronger and more

nimble hands.

Doctors are beginning to see green exercise and horticltral

therapy as eective treatments or many mental and physical

conditions. At Storhead, Wiltshire, a Heritage to Health

project has been established to help train and develop

health and social care proessionals to se horticltraltherapy. Healthy gardening initiatives sch as at Greys Cort

in Oxordshire oer commnities the chance to enjoy these

benets at their local Trst properties. Or many garden and

parkland walking trails provide visitors with gentle exercise

or their bodies as well as spirital rereshment.


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Anglesey AbbeyCambridgeshire

The gardens at Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge are the site

o a pioneering project to improve the health and well-being

o local people and par ticlarly o disadvantaged or socially

exclded grops.

The garden has a varied network o long-term partnerships

with charities like Mencap, health trsts, local schools and

organisations working with at risk or socially exclded grops.

Head Gardener Richard Todd has seen lives change throgh

the experience o working in the gardens: Its partly jst the

magic o being in a lovely place, and doing something worth-

while and physical with other people. Many, or instance people

recovering rom mental illness, have lost all condence in

themselves. At rst theres no eye contact; they strggle to

have a conversation. Bt then they start gardening, see a

reslt, and begin to eel worthwhile. They come ot o their

shell and can begin to deal with the hbbb o lie. Many

have gone on to ll-time jobs.

The mental health charity Red2Green has also taken over part

o the kitchen garden, while other grops, inclding children

with special edcational needs, now grow vegetables which

they sell on to the National Trst restarant at the property.

Across the UK 21,000

people a week are using

garden projects to

improve their well-being

My garden is such a

wonderul place when lie

gets too much. Listening

to the birds and pottering

amongst the owers relaxes

me more than anything else

in the world whenever I

start to get all razzled!

National Trst visitor, Kent


Weeding or 30

minutes can burn

the same amount

o calories as a

hal-hour walk


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Gardens are a great source o ood, and help inspire people

to appreciate more about where their ood comes rom.

The Trust now cares or 26 working kitchen gardens, rom

Trengwainton, Cornwall, to Wallington, Northumberland.

They are increasingly popular visitor attractions at properties,

providing opportunities or community involvement, school

plots and growing areas or disadvantaged groups as well

as resh produce or the property restaurants and tea-rooms.

In the walled garden at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, three

gardeners and 40 volnteers grow hndreds o traditional

varieties o rit and vegetables, inclding 60 kinds o tomato.

The gardeners work closely with Wimpoles che, Keith

Goodwin, who explains: Everything here is cooked resh.

Its all ood in season, grown locally. We dont talk abot

ood miles here; we talk abot ood eet and inches.

Throgh or gardens, we can connect with local commnities.At the magnicent 2.5 acre kitchen garden at Knightshayes

Cort in Devon we work with local schools who now come

on a reglar basis to tend their plots and learn abot growing

ood. At Hghenden Manor in Bckinghamshire theres a

lively commnity-based programme o planting and gardening

sessions involving amilies rom diverse backgronds in High

Wycombe. Throgh the Landshare initiative we are committed

to oering a thosand new growing spaces by 2012, some

o which will be in redndant National Trst kitchen gardens.

Were also encoraging volnteers and allotment holders

to cltivate traditional varieties o rit and vegetables where

possible, and passing on the skills and know-how to help them

to do so. At Cotehele in Cornwall or cltivation o traditional

rit varieties in the Mother Orchard helps to maintain a niqe

gene bank sited to conditions in the Tamar Valley.


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21 per cent o people

have taken up gardening

to grow their own ruit

and vegetables


Gibsidenear Gateshead

I love working with the children, sharing my love o growing

things with them and teaching them basic gardening sk ills

which hopelly they will take into adlthood. One o the

children told me last week that she enjoyed gardening

becase she wold jst be bored i she stayed at home!says Se Adamson, Gardener at Gibside.

Jst ve miles rom Gateshead, Gibside was once a grand

estate bilt on the prots o coal mining. Now the estate is

bilding a dierent name or itsel, as the centre o a thriving

commnity allotment scheme and a sccessl armers

market. Property Manager Mick Wilkes explains, The historic

or-acre walled garden, long ago tred over and trned into

a car park, is now gradally being restored, with rit trees

planted along its walls and the space inside divided intoallotment plots.

So ar 30 plots have been created and all are being sed

by local people and commnity grops inclding mental

health charities, or schools, a rehabilitation service

and a homeless shelter. The only rle is

that plots mst be kept in a reasonable

condition and gardened along

organic principles. Most crops

are grown rom heritage seed

varieties, althogh modern

varieties are sed too and

the dierences discssed.

Kitchen gardens like

ours are antastic places

to inspire people to value

ood and start growing

it themselves

Christine Brain, Head

Gardener, Barrington Cort,

Somerset

The National Trust already

has community growing

spaces rom allotments

to kitchen gardens at

over 50 locations around

the country


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The Trust employs and trains volunteers as gardeners,

garden guides and stewards, and in other garden-related

roles. Similarly, our working holidays allow people to get

involved and work in our gardens. From revamping gardens

at Cwmdu in Carmarthenshire to creating a Caribbean

Herb Garden at Wightwick Manor in Wolverhampton,

volunteering provides a chance to work with garden sta

and experience at rst hand how to maintain and manage

historic gardens.

Many volnteers have gone on to develop sccessl careers

as proessional gardeners with the Trst and they in trn have

a crcial role to play in helping others learn gardening skills.

The Trsts own gardeners training scheme, Careership,

is the uKs largest new entrant programme or heritage

gardeners. Since its inception in 1997, over 200 stdents

have been trained and many are now employed by the Trstor are working within the botanical and heritage garden sector

in the uK and beyond.


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Volunteering at Colby (above) gives me something

worthwhile to do with my spare time, working in a lovely

place I dont have a garden at home so its the only

chance I get to garden!Volnteer Gardener, Colby Woodland Garden, Pembrokeshire

S P A C E T O GR OW 11

The National Gardens Scheme

Enabling the spread o garden expertise throghot the

gardens sector is a key objective o the partnership between

the National Trst and the National Gardens Scheme (NGS).

The Careership scheme is designed to ensre a continos

spply o sitably qalied gradate gardeners, competent to

work in historic gardens. At present 13 stdents each year arespported directly by the NGS. The sccess o the scheme

can be measred by the nmber o post-Careership gardeners

now employed by the National Trst and private gardens.

Leslie Hrst, who now works as an Interactive Gardener at

Biddlph Grange Garden, says: The Careership scheme is a

perect balance o theoretical stdy and workplace experience.

All aspects o working in a historic garden are covered, rom

tools/machines throgh to garden history (and everything in

between!). Another ormer Careership stdent, John Hawley,is now the Head Gardener at Sizergh Castle and explains

the appeal o the opportnity to work or the National Trst:

Ater working in a garden or a nmber o years, helping to

shape and evolve things, yo eel a par t o the place, its in

yor heart and sol.

As Jlia Grant, NGS Chie Exective, explains: The Careership

scheme allows the NGS to play a part in preserving or garden

heritage. Gardens and garden visiting are an integral part

o this contrys cltre and keeping a pool o horticltral

experts coldnt be more important in maintaining and

developing this wonderl tradition.

In addition, many National Trst gardens open their gates

each year or the NGS and help raise nds or the NGSs

beneciary charities which inclde Macmillan Cancer Spport,

Marie Crie Cancer Care, Help the Hospices and Crossroads.

Over the last decade, the NGS has raised 25 million this way.

We have 3,900 garden-

based volunteers across

the Trust who give us nearly

40,000 hours o their time

a year equivalent to 366

additional posts

Public gardens, domestic

gardens, botanic gardens

and parks, nursery trades,

market gardens and

historic properties employ

over 200,000 people in

horticulture


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Our gardens are sae, secure places where people can

develop their sel-esteem and condence. We work with

the charity Thrive in the gardens at The Vyne in Hampshire,

giving disabled adults greater condence and social skills,

a stepping stone to employment and a sense o purpose

in the community.

We provide placements nder a nmber o dierent governmentschemes sch as the Intermediate Labor Market and New

Deal or the long-term nemployed. Biddlph Grange in

Staordshire provides work placements and training or

training provider Total People Stoke-on-Trent.

At Sheringham Park and Oxbrgh Hall in Norolk, the

Trst is working with The Princes Trst on re-socialisation

programmes or trobled teenagers, in some cases leading

to ll-time employment. Or Getting into the past programme

with The Princes Trst aims to oer an opportnity to get aoot on the ladder in the horticltre eld, or example or

12 yong people not crrently in edcation or training at

Kingston Lacy.

Or gardeners also collaborate with probation and prison

sta to provide horticltral and social sk ills training. Examples

inclde the partnership between a secre nit in Newmarket

and the gardens at Ickworth in Solk, and Qarry Bank Mill

in Cheshire, where prisoners rom Styal are helping to restore

its newly acqired garden.


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The ladies rom Styal womens prison had the chance

to experience a variety o skills they probably would

never have even considered. The scheme so ar has

had great success with two o them on release fndingemployment in a very short time and getting their

lives back on track. They still keep me updated with

their news

Alan Knapper, Head Gardener, Qarry Bank Mill (above),Cheshire

SPACE TO GROW13

The Walled Garden at StackpolePembrokeshire

The six acres o walled gardens on the Stackpole Estate

are leased and managed by Pembrokeshire Mencap Ltd on

a 40-year lease. The ocs is on providing opportnities or

people with learning diclties to gain horticltral skills and

work experience. Mike Evans, Trstee and Treasrer, explains:We bs 45 stdents to the garden rom their home or a care

nit dring the week and they take part in pre-NVQ corses

in Horticltre and Lie Skills or which we are nded by the

Welsh Assembly. Fnding is also received rom Pembrokeshire

Social Services.

Stdents, sta, volnteers and visitors vale the gardens or

the experience it oers them. under expert gidance, the

stdents take responsibility or their own growing spaces

and crops. Friendly and welcoming sta and volnteers arecommitted to providing stdents with the very best interaction

the garden presents. Visitors are also encoraged to enjoy

the space and to take advantage o the availability o delicios,

resh, local prodce throgh the shop. Schoolchildren also

visit to see how vegetables are grown and what they taste

like reshly picked.

Mike sees the garden as a place which coaxes people who

might not otherwise develop their own skills. The Mencap

Walled Gardens at Stackpole are a peacel oasis. This

environment encorages or stdents to eel comortable

and be themselves.

More than 30 National Trust gardens already have

partnerships with training bodies, social services,

prisons and organisations or people with learning

disabilities


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The Trusts 200 gardens are sensitive barometers

registering the pressure o environmental change on our

lives, and on the natural world around us. Spring fowers

now bloom and trees come into lea on average two or three

weeks earlier than 30 years ago. Summer rainall in central

England has allen by 20 per cent since the 19th century,

and the growing season has lengthened by a month. Frosts

are now uncommon in the West Country, and rozen lakes

and rivers have become a rarity, even in northern England.

The Trst is keen to nd ways o redcing the environmental

impact o gardening. New methods, sch as the solar-recharged

lawn mowers piloted at Nymans in Sssex, are being tested

alongside tried and trsted techniqes, sch as the restored

Victorian ram pmps sed to distribte water at The Vyne

in Hampshire and Emmetts in Kent withot the need or

electricity. Were working in partnership with Yorkshire

and Clydesdale Banks to nd new ways to redce orenvironmental ootprint.

Green gardening methods, sch as composting and water

havesting, are good or the environment and save money

as well as resorces. These techniqes also show how we

can care or or historic gardens withot harml chemicals.

At Snowshill Manor, Glocestershire, the garden is rn on

organic principles. No chemicals are sed: garden sta

rely on natral methods to maintain a balance.

Gardening withot peat helps to conserve the carbon

dioxide locked p in peat bogs and protects endangered

wildlie. Amater gardeners are crrently responsible or

two thirds o all peat se in the uK, the CO2 eqivalent o

277,000 retrn fights to Sydney. All National Trst gardens

have been peat-ree since 1999, as are all the plants sold

at or properties.


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Nymans GardenSussex

Nymans is admired as one o the 20th centrys otstanding

British gardens bt it also leads the eld in demonstrating

best sstainable gardening practice. Ed Ikin, Head Gardener,

is clear abot his priorities: We never compromise on the

appearance o the garden the amazing color and displaythat makes it amos bt wherever possible we se

alternative organic methods and conventional herbicides

or ngicides are a last resor t. There are so many alternatives

i yo look or them. In the rose garden or instance we

adopted a system rom Astralia o spraying reglarly

with milk a potent ngicide.

Water consmption is a raction o what it wold be in a

conventional garden. Even in the 2006 droght we watered

the borders only or times. Get the plants sed to it rightrom the star t and theyll adapt and their roots go deeper.

The gardens carbon ootprint is very low. Solar panels

recharge all or portable electrical eqipment, inclding

lawnmowers. We rn or vehicles on recycled vegetable

oil and we recycle almost all or waste throgh composting

inclding rom the hose and restarant.

Members o the team pass on their experience by talking

to visitors, and by oering green garden trails, throgh

interpretation panels, activity weekends and a hgely poplarGreen Living Fair. People trst what they hear rom or sta

and garden volnteers, becase they can see that it works

by looking arond the garden.

A garden sprinkler can

use 300650 litres in

an hour as much as a

amily o our uses in a

day. We are resurrecting

old wells and harvesting

rain water and installing

more efcient irrigation

Our aim remains the same as when the garden was

created within the Arts and Crats philosophy: to

restore the ideal o man in harmony with nature

Linda Roberts, Gardener in Charge, Snowshill Manor,Glocestershire

Seven out o ten gardeners

now put concerns about

the environment into action

in their own gardens


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Our own back gardens are the most common way or

people to experience nature close at hand. Private gardens

in the UK cover a million acres, an area almost as large as

all o the UKs National Parks. This represents a hugely

important resource or wildlie.

Birds, bats, amphibians, ngi and a wealth o invertebrates

thrive in domestic gardens. In the typical sbrban backgarden o Mendips, John Lennons childhood home,

a srvey ond beetles in the ndergrowth, birds in the

hedges and a woodmose mnching on geranim seeds.

National Trst gardens are important reges or declining

species o native fora and ana, sch as the For-spotted

Flower Bee. Scotney Castle and Sissinghrst Castle are two

o the best sites or dragonfies in Kent, while the old lawns

at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire boast rarities sch as

Adders Tonge Fern and Bee Orchid. The Mistletoe Beetlewas recently ond in old orchards on the Brockhampton

Estate, Hereordshire, while Celypha woodiana, a rare species

o moth protected nder the Biodiversity Action Plan, was

discovered at Barrington Cort, Somerset.

Wildlie-riendly gardening practices help to promote biodiversity.

Older cltivars o garden plants, especially bedding plants and

perennials, tend to have mch more nectar than their modern

eqivalents. This helps spport pollinating insects sch as bees.

Gardens have a vital role in maintaining the link betweenpeople and the natral world. Gardening is also the easiest

way we can encorage wildlie by providing old wood stacks

and ponds, redcing chemicals or growing a greater diversity

o plants. Gardens are likely to become increasingly important

as reges in tre decades as the contryside comes nder

pressre rom development and climate change.


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Hundreds o thousands o schoolchildren benet each

year rom the experience o visiting Trust gardens. Our

pioneering Schools Guardianship Scheme orges close

links with over 40 local schools as gardens have become

an unexpected and powerul way o bringing history,

science and geography alive. They also provide the

chance or children to learn practical growing skills.

Nothing can inspire the imagination more than a living link to

centries past. The Ankerwycke Yew still grows in the gronds

o the rined Priory it takes its name rom in Rnnymede, and

marks the very spot where the Magna Carta was sealed in

1215. A descendant o Sir Isaac Newtons apple tree bears

rit in his garden at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire and

inspires local schoolchildren as well as generations o stdents

at niversities who have received cttings rom the parent

plant over the years.

The Trst is now working in partnership with local edcation

providers on initiatives sch as Forest Schools. These give

children the chance to enjoy the natral world and promote

problem-solving activities. Teachers in Sheringhams Forest

School in Norolk have ond that nder-perorming ppils

excelled or the rst time and visibly grew in sel-esteem

ollowing a visit to nearby Sheringham Park.

Stdents also come on placements or day-release schemes

rom local colleges, sch as those who helped to restore

the walled garden at Hghenden Manor in Bckinghamshire.

A wide range o yong adlts, some with mental health

problems, addictions or backgronds as ormer oenders,

have helped to bring Tynteselds magnicent estate in

north Somerset back to lie.


19/28

I know more about

gardening now, and help

my gran in her garden.

Were going to share

our vegetables with her

riends too. My mum

didnt know how potatoesgrow, but now I do!

Liam, school vis itor, aged 8


TrericeCornwall

For ve years Trerices gardens have been the setting or an

award-winning history project enabling local schoolchildren

to taste the Tdors. They discover at rst hand what it was

like to work in an Elizabethan garden: growing athentic

plants, cooking and tasting the prodce, even enjoyingTdor pastimes.

James Breslin, Assistant Proper ty Manager, says the key is

the practical qality o learning. I the tre history o Trerice is

to come alive, children have to get their hands dir ty. Yo know

the old saying, I hear and I orget. I see and I remember, bt

I do and I nderstand.

The garden the children have developed over the years is

based on historical sorces, inclding the rst gardening book

in English, by Thomas Hill. Theres practical advice we can

se, bt also lots o sperstition, and qite barbaric methods

o pest control that the children call grisly gardening they

love it!

The children have recreated Hills Great Sqirt, a massive

garden watering device. The children worked with 2-inch

wide steel agrs, trned wooden pegs on lathes and made

the pistons or the device. Give children responsibility and

theyll act responsibly.

Gardens, James believes, are jst as important as great

bildings or bringing history to lie, and inspiring criosity.

One child smmed p what hed learned over a hectic year

o planting and weeding, hoeing and watering: Now I know

that gardening can be tasty.

The majority o the public (80 per cent) think that

all children should learn about gardening, including

growing ood, at school. Studies have shown that

pupils rom years six to eight developed betterinterpersonal relationship skills ater participating

in a garden programme

The recreated Great

Squirt at Trerice


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A hugely signicant and growing area o the Trusts

work is in the conservation o the internationally important

collections o plants that contribute directly to the character

and signicance o our gardens. Many are o great cultural,

botanical and ecological value. In act, no other organisation

in Europe has such a large and diverse collection.

We manage 32 National Plant Collections on behal o thecltivated plant conservation charity Plant Heritage. These

are heritage plant collections that represent particlar styles

or periods o gardening and are integral to ensring or

gardens are athentic in design and content.

Some o or plant collections have special local signicance,

sch as the historic Hereord and Marches apples at

Berrington Hall in Hereordshire or the Tamar daodils

that were bred or the Cornish ct fower indstry and are

conserved at Cotehele. The names o many avorite gardenplants across the uK also have their origin in Trst gardens,

sch as Hidcote lavender and Hypericm Rowallane.

Withot the skills and knowledge to propagate and grow

plants, the diversity and cltral signicance o or collections

cold not be sstained. Based at Knightshayes Cort in Devon,

the Trsts specialist propagation acility, the Plant Conservation

Programme, ensres the srvival o many o its important

specimens. In light o the recent spread o the ngal diseases

Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae we are

working with the specialist micropropagation nit at Dchy

College in Cornwall to ensre the srvival o plants threatened

by the disease.

Bilding national and international partnerships is crcial

to conserving these plants. The Trst is a s ignatory to the

Global Strategy or Plant Conservation, which seeks to halt

the alarming rate o plant extinction worldwide.


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A nationwide plant hunt

The National Trst is ndertaking the uKs biggest ever

cltivated plant srvey. Crrently only 10 per cent o the many

thosands o plants in National Trst gardens are recorded.

Now, thanks to sponsorship rom Yorkshire and Clydesdale

Bank and the dedication o hndreds o sta and volnteers,

details o at least 75 per cent o the plants in or collectionswill be recorded by 2011. The database will enable the Trst

to identiy which plants are most seriosly threatened, and

help saegard the tre o thosands o plants that are

signicant to the character o or gardens.

So ar over 40,000 plant details have been recorded and

we expect this gre to move towards a million by 2011.

Volnteers are helping s srvey or collections. using GPS

technology, each plant is identied, photographed and its

details entered onto the database. This in trn is now linkedto PlantCollections, an ambitios international data sharing

project led by Chicago Botanic Gardens, o which we are

the Eropean lead partner.

The project aims to link the databases o major plant collection

holders, arboreta and botanic gardens arond the world,

to help prioritise conservation eorts at each location as a

response strategy to climate change. The database will enable

s to conrm which plants are most seriosly threatened. The

plant srveys shold help saegard the tre o thosands

o rare plants and varieties o rit and vegetables that are

simply part o the character o or gardens. Mike Bn, or

Gardens and Parks Advisor, explains, We cant promise that

nothing will be lost. Bt those plants we believe are most

signicant to or gardens wont be lost thats or aim.

A rare large-leaved rhododendron,Rhododendron

magnifcum (KW213), in ull ower

Over 300,000 species

o cultivated plants are

grown in UK gardens,

compared to only around1,500 native species

The Trust works with The

Royal Botanic Gardens,

Edinburgh, to help conserve

wild source material romthe coniersFitzroya

cupressoides, threatened

by illegal logging in Chile,

and Torreya taxiolia (above),

a conier native to Florida

and Georgia o which only

27 are let in the wild


22/28

Gardens are among this countrys greatest cultural

achievements. The 18th-century landscape gardening

tradition is associated throughout the world with places

such as Stowe in Buckinghamshire or Fountains Abbey

and Studley Royal in Yorkshire, which has World Heritage

Site status.

Figres sch as William Kent, Lancelot Capability Brownand Hmphry Repton were crcial to the development o this

tradition transorming earlier ormal gardens into broad sweep-

ing landscape gardens. In the 19th centry garden designers

sch as William Nesteld, the architect Sir Charles Barry and

Gertrde Jekyll contined to experiment with new designs and

innovations: newly imported exotic plants, ever more elaborate

greenhoses, and gardens laid ot to harmonise with the latest

architectral styles. The tradition contines to evolve, with new

gardens still being created in Britain.

Keeping garden traditions alive and interpreting their histories

or new generations is a vital par t o the management o

all National Trst properties. At Sissinghrst in Kent, the

amos gardens designed by Vita Sackville-West are carelly

maintained by a team o gardeners in the spirit o her original

plans and methods. Storhead in Wiltshire has been attracting

visitors since the 18th centry and today over 300,000 visitors

come each year to discover its beaty or themselves.

Many o or smaller properties have gardens that are every

bit as important as those ond at large contry hoses.

The cottage garden and orchard at Rosedene, Warwickshire

bring to lie the story o the Chartists and the strggle or

democratic rights. The garden at Red Hose in Bexleyheath,

William Morriss 19th-centry home, is lled with cottage

garden plants which inspired some o the most iconic

designs o the Arts and Crats movement.


23/28


Mount StewartNorthern Ireland

When she arrived at Mont Stewart in the early 1920s Edith,

Lady Londonderry, ond an nremarkable parkland typical o

any big hose o the day. Within 10 years, her niqe passion

had created a landmark in the history o the modern garden.

Edith worked with ex-servicemen rom the First World War,

who helped trn her passion or exotic plants into a niqe

garden, a antasy, a wonderland o plant treasres, according

to Head Gardener Phil Rollinson. Taking ll advantage o the

niqe microclimate ond next to Strangord Logh, Mont

Stewart became a tre garden o the imagination. The Italian

and Spanish gardens eatre glorios and eccentric statary.

Tdor roses nestle beneath shapely dovecotes, while clipped

Irish yews orm symbols steeped in Celtic symbolism.

Lady Londonderry opened the garden to the pblic or two

days a week in the 1920s and 30s. The desire to let a wide

range o people enjoy the beaty o the place led her to

donate the garden to the National Trst in 1956.

The Trst now has a delicate balance to achieve in conserving

this design classic. We can draw on a antastic archive o

diaries and paintings and the vast knowledge o Lady

Londonderrys daghter, Lady Mairi Bry. At the same time,

as Phil explains: This mst never become a msem piece.

Its a living collection and we want to keep to that tradition always looking or exciting new plants and pshing the

bondaries o what we can grow, jst as Edith did.

Together our gardens

represent over 400 years

o changing ashions in

garden design, charting

our evolving relationship

with the natural world

Above, Phil Rollinson, Head

Gardener at Mount Stewart

a true garden o the

imagination

Over hal o the population

believe we are a nation

o gardeners

We need these places o pilgrimage to give us space

to think and be ourselves

Respondent to the History Matters campaign


24/28

Our gardens have huge potential to provide public benet,

but their uture is not secure. The cost o maintaining them

keeps growing, and is currently 11 million a year. Without

new recruits to the horticultural proession, there could be

even more signicant challenges in the uture, as traditional

gardening skills are lost. Climate change will a ect the

character and content o our gardens as well as the cost

o maintenance, and has encouraged the spread o pestsand diseases. Beyond the care o the National Trust many

gardens are at risk o being lost to development or neglect.

Developing gardening skills

A chronic lack o yong people training to work in historic

and botanic gardens cold reslt in borders and fowerbeds

at some o the contrys nest gardens being grassed over.

With almost 40 per cent o the existing workorce de to

retire by 2015, there are not enogh yonger sta available

to ll their shoes. Potential recrits, yong and old, are pt

o by what they see as a low-stats job with poor wages

and conditions, and limited career prospects. Yet the reality

is that gardening provides a range o relevant skills, and career

opportnities and conditions are the best theyve ever been.

At the National Trst or vital skills base is being eroded as

experienced sta retire and only 6 per cent o the Trsts

gardening sta are nder 25. Alongside or own Careership

programme, the Historic and Botanic Gardens skills partnership

is now helping to develop a national strategy to improve the

marketing and delivery o training and work experience or

yong people. This is backed by an innovative web portal

GROW (www.growcareers.ino) which the National Trst has

spported and which provides details o the dierent careers

and training available throghot the hor ticltre indstry.


25/28

Adapting to climate change

Gardeners cannot stop the clock on climate change.

They know or gardens mst evolve to srv ive as the

planet grows warmer. So the range o plant species and

the techniqes sed to cltivate them will inevitably have

to change.

The Trst is re-thinking what conservation in a changing

climate will mean, and we are already altering or gardening

methods. For example, we mow over 30 sqare miles o

lawn, consming more than 200,000 gallons o el a year,

so nding alternatives is vital.

Those who care or historic gardens need to combine a

willingness to innovate with a responsibility to protect the

niqe historic character o each o or gardens, and

protect the biodiversity o or heritage plant collections.

Tackling new pests and diseases

Other orces, both natral and hman, threaten or gardens.

Early indicators o climate change are the increased incidence

o new pests and diseases. Phytophthora ramorum and

Phytophthora kernoviae, rst identied as new to this contry

in 2002, have so ar aected 19 Trst properties, reslting in

the loss o thosands o plants. The Trst has already spent

over 750,000 on containment measres. We are developingand implementing biosecrity measres throgh inormative

posters at properties to remind or sta and volnteers

o good practice. We are also a partner in the 25 million

Government-nded programme to tackle Phytophthora.

New pests keep coming, the latest being the Oak Processionary

Moth whose larvae can deoliate oaks and case severe

health problems sch as respiratory diclties or hmans

and animals. The Trst is working with local athorities

and organisations sch as Kew Gardens and the Forestry

Commission to provide gidance and help to sites aected

or threatened by this pest.

Ensuring political and public support

Long-term political and pblic spport o the contribtion

being made by gardens depends on them responding to

pblic needs and wants and reaching ot to new and di erent

adiences. We want or gardens to be more accessible and

involving. People want the chance to ask qestions, to do

research, to take home new gardening ideas, interests or

prodce and in time, as volnteers, to take a hands-on

role in plant conservation nder the gidance o the experts.

The sense o pride and achievement throgh being involved

in gardens projects paves the way or people to realise their

own potential. Many o the garden projects were involved in

are resorce-intensive and many o them are almost entirely

reliant on one-o nding. Longer-term investment in this

work wold allow the connections generated between the

Trst and others to become better established.

I spent my career as an engineer in the metal processing

industries and experienced at frst hand what a mess we can

make o the environment; working in a National Trust garden

oers me an opportunity to enjoy and contribute to a better

human endeavour!

Tristram Hill, Volnteer at Treasrers Hose, York and

Beningbrogh Hall and Gardens, North Yorkshire


Flooding at Coughton

Court, Warwickshire

Chestnut Lea Miner

(Cameraria ohridella)

Oranges and other

citrus ruit could be a

common sight in UK

gardens under climate

change


26/28

Call to action Recruit andtrain tomorrowsgardeners

Greater eort needs to be

made to promote careers in

gardening in schools. Trainingin horticltre shold be

boosted throgh edcation

reorms or 14 to 19-year-olds,

sch as apprenticeships and

work experience, and national

and local volntary bodies

expanding the scope or

garden volnteering.

Use gardensas outdoorclassrooms

Local athorities shold

actively enable and spport

schools to se gardensas places or learning, and

gardening as a doorway

to science, ecology, arts

and cltral learning.

26 N A T I ON A L T R u S T

Gardens have immense potential beyond the conventional

bondaries in which we place them. Throgh the experience

o the Trsts own diverse collection o more than 200 gardens

we have begn to nderstand this power and the ways in

which gardens can transorm people and places.

The National Trst cannot achieve all this alone and we are

already working in partnership with many other botanical and

horticltral organisations across the uK and beyond. I we

are to release the potential o gardens, however, more needs

to be done by Government, local athorities, bsiness and

others to recognise the extent o the tre vale o gardens

or the benet o s all.

There are seven areas in particlar where more action

needs to be taken


27/28

Respond tothe threatof new pestsand diseases

The Government and

the gardening sector

shold raise standardsor biosecrity, domestically

and internationally, and invest

in research and eradication

programmes. We need to

spport the indstry in

developing sstainable,

environmentally riendly

alternatives to the many

synthetic pesticides that

will soon be withdrawnnder Eu reglations.

Inspire greenthinking andpromotegreener living

All those concerned with

engaging people abot

climate change, wildlieconservation and greener

living shold harness the

extremely eective vehicle

o gardens to tell the story

and inspire action throgh

inormal learning, advocacy,

volnteering, social marketing,

campaigns and expansion o

opportnities or allotments

and other growing spaces.

Share bestpractice withinthe garden andhorticultural sector

We need to share best

practice and knowledge

within the sector and providestronger championing o the

pblic benet o gardens.

We wold like to explore the

idea o bilding a network

o garden organisations,

to press or a better deal

or gardens.

Develop gardenspaces forcommunities

Expanding and improving

the qality o pblic and

commnity gardens andallotments shold be at the

heart o green inrastrctre

strategies and commnity

development, particlarly

in areas with a poverty o

green space.

Develop thehealthcarepotentialof gardens

The Government and NHS

Primary Care Trsts shold

exploit the ll potential ogardens as a Natral Health

Service in promoting physical

and mental well-being.

Investment shold refect

their role in preventative

healthcare and gardens

shold be a reglar

prescription to improve

the health o the nation.

SPACE TO GROW27


28/28

I you require this inormation in alternative

ormats, please call 020 7799 4541 or [email protected]

The National Trst

Heelis | Kemble Drive | Swindon SN2 2NA

www.nationaltrst.org.k

2009 The National Trust | Registered charity no. 205846

Images: plant label photography throughout Jason Ingram; ront cover NTPL/John

Millar; p2/3 NTPL/David Levenson; ower pattern Suk Ying Wong/istockphoto; p4

inset NTPL/Stuart Cox; p5 Knightshayes Court NTPL/Stephen Robson; p5 group

at Osterley Park NTPL/Sylvaine Poitau; p6 inset NTPL/David Levenson; p7 diggersNTPL/Paul Harris; p7 deckchair Drew Hadley/istockphoto; p7 weeding NTPL/Ian

Shaw; p7 Anglesey Abbey NTPL/David Levenson; p8 onion Alexander Briel Perez/

istockphoto; p9 children National Trust; p9 produce NTPL/David Levenson; p9 man

with cabbages NTPL/Ian Shaw; p9 Gibside National Trust; p10 inset NTPL/Paul

Harris; p10 hedge trimming NTPL/Stephen Robson; p11 Colby Woodland Garden

NTPL/Andrew Butler; p11 digging NTPL/Paul Harris; p12 inset National Trust; p13

Quarry Bank Mill NTPL/Andrew Butler; p13 trestle table and diggers National Trust;

p15 Snowshill Manor garden NTPL/Stephen Robson; p15 compost sign NTPL/

Geo Morgan; p15 sprinklers NTPL/David Levenson; p16 inset NTPL/NaturePL/

Niall Benvie; p17 bee National Trust; p17 buttery NTPL/Paul Harris; p17 paving stone

Jason Reekie/istockphoto; p17 moth National Trust; p18 inset NTPL/Paul Harris;

p19 children NTPL/John Millar; p19 Trerice National Trust; p19 potato Mr P; p21

rhododendron National Trust; p21 conier courtesy Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh;

p21 owers NTPL/Ian Shaw; p23 angel NTPL/Mark Bolton; p23 Mount Stewart

National Trust; p23 hedge NTPL/Simon Tranter; p24 inset NTPL/Stephen Robson;

p25 leaves National Trust; p25 oranges NTPL/Stephen Robson; p25 Coughton Court

National Trust; p26 spades NTPL/Dennis Gilbert; p26 watering can NTPL/John

Millar; p26 outdoor classroom Whitfeld Benson Photogrpahy; p27 couple at Stourhead

NTPL/Jennie Woodcock; p27 sudden oak death NTPL/Stephen Robson; p27

gardeners NTPL/Paul Harris; back cover Ham House garden NTPL/Stephen Robson

Editorial by Clariy Communications | Editing and prooreading by Write Communications

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space to grow - why people need gardens - the natonal trust

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