Chelsea Flower Show promoting sustainability
2014 RHS event, which attracts 160,000 visitors every year, opened on Tuesday and environmental sustainability is now a key focus
The 2014 RHS Chelsea Flower Show opened on Tuesday and a key focus of this year’s edition is environmental sustainability.
The annual event in central London attracts around 160,000 visitors every year, and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) as organisers have adopted sustainability as a central theme.
One of this year’s award winning gardens is an environmentally friendly waterscape from debutant Hugo Bugg.
His design aims to replicate naturally occurring water management features and demonstrates how gardeners in the city can control and use natural water sources all year round.
Bugg said: “Chelsea is the perfect platform to highlight water conservation and present solutions. Visitors will understand the concept of storm water management when they see the garden, because they will see how the water is being slowed and stored through the garden and they’ll see water levels dropping as they go through as that reflects water infiltrating into the ground.”
The National Union of Students (NUS) is participating and is showcasing the Student Eats programme, which has seen students from 23 universities in the UK grow low-carbon, organic food on campus.
Dom Anderson, NUS vice president said of the NUS exhibits: “They’re embedding sustainability into formal education and of course, they’re working towards a fairer, more sustainable food system. This is core work for NUS, and we can’t wait to tell people about it on such a prestigious stage.”
The RHS is the UK’s leading gardening charity, and works on a number of sustainability related projects.
RHS researchers at the University of Reading are investigating how plants can help to reduce rising temperatures in urban areas, insulate buildings and be used in green roof designs.
The society also advises on the potential impacts of climate change and how these could have a critical effect on fauna and flora and bring new pests and diseases to the UK.
A recent RHS survey of more than 1,000 gardeners found that only 6.2 per cent did not believe in climate change, while 52.8 per cent believed it was definitely happening.
