Rachel Bailey chaired discussion panel on Sustainability in Gardens at The Landscape Show - 29 Sep 2022

Yesterday, Rachel chaired the Society of Garden Designer’s discussion panel on ‘Sustainability in the Garden’ at The Landscape show 2022, the trade show for the industry.

Alongside panelists, Rae Wilkinson, Lucy Conochie, Emily Erlam and Christina Sullivan, we had an engaging, informative discussion that flowed beautifully through the design process and how we go about creating gardens that have a lower environmental impact and are beneficial for both wildlife and the people that use them.

Key messages that came out are:

• design for longevity, avoid the latest trend/ fashion so gardens will last the test of time.

• reuse materials onsite - whether as a new sub-base or lift and reuse old paving in new and creative ways

• consider the hierarchy of materials in terms of their carbon footprint and question whether a material with a lower footprint could be used instead. Bio based materials have the lowest footprint with metals with the highest.

• design for wildlife - connecting the garden through the planting to the wider landscape

• Plants, plants and more plants, minimise hard landscaping aiming for 80% plants to 20% hard landscaping

• the soil is a living entity. Work with what you have onsite, select plants appropriate to the site and protect it during construction.

Much more was said and lots was not covered such as the overarching importance of aftercare of the garden - something we all discussed at length during our meetings ahead of the session and how this needs to be considered with the client at the earliest point of the design process (time restrictions) - but this is the beginning of the conversation and we will continue.