Well, what a whirlwind of excitement, which has had us buzzing all week! Last year when we won a Bronze medal we knew we wanted to give it another go.
This year we chose the theme of Pollination. But how to show this in a different light? That was it, a moment of thought and boom - light, vision, how do bees see?
Our display is a more traditional style arrangement of herbaceous perennials, including Peony ‘Coral Charm’, Geum ‘Mai Tai’, Lysimachia ‘Beaujolais’, Cerinthe major ‘Purpurescens’, Anthirrinhum ‘Potomac Orange’, Orlaya grandiflora, Phacelia, Allium ‘Pink Jewel’, Allium ‘Purple Sensation’, Photinia robusta, Heuchera ‘Purple Palace’ & H. ‘Caramel’, Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ and Bergenia cordifolia.
The arrangement is symmetrical to show the difference between the way we and the bees see flower colours.
Thanks go to all our gardeners for tending the plots and plants, Ian Wedderburn for always being there to keep me going, Jill Taylor of Aniseed PR for her invaluable help in construction when everything that could go wrong did, Karen Parker for always looking after our flowers so beautifully, Bev (who has newly joined the team) for additional motivation and all of our wonderful volunteers and supporters. Without you all it would be not only pointless but impossible to put on such a superb display.
We have made some amazing contacts and loved seeing the joy on people’s faces as they took in all the details. A special mention must also go out to Sam Burke (glass artist extraordinaire) for making the most beautiful little glass bees.