Opening on Friday, June 5^th 2009 is a new showcase for Garden Design ideas in the UK. Called Future Gardens, the site is a small part of what will eventually become Butterfly World, currently being built on the outskirts of St Albans, Hertfordshire. Future Gardens is phase one of three, with the 3^rd and final phase due to open in Spring 2011. The main site of 27 acres, which is still under construction, was formally a substantial part of the Royal National Rose Society and was sold to Butterfly World in 2003 for development. The plans have been in the pipeline since then and are truly inspired.

Butterfly Dome, image courtesy of http://www.futuregardens.org

From above, the whole site will look like the head of a butterfly. Its centrepiece, representing the eye will be a huge, glazed tropical dome housing the precious butterflies. The dome is cited as “the biggest butterfly walk-through exhibition in the world” and indeed, if visuals are anything to go by, the whole site is going to be spectacular.

Two long antennae walks will be created from built-up soil and verges planted to attract particular butterfly and insect species. Another walk in the form of a butterfly proboscis will be made from chalk and planted with meadow annuals. The sensory organs “palps” above the eye will be represented by the longest Buddleia hedge in the world and if you’re a keen gardener, you will already know the attraction and benefit to butterflies of this scented beauty.

To prove the Butterfly Trust’s commitment to sustainability, they will also be creating a Chrysalis Pond, planted with native wildlife water plants to encourage insects and aquatic wildlife like frogs and newts. Large reed-beds will cleanse and purify the excess grey water from the dome.

A series of connected “privet leaf gardens” from the air look like……..as you’d expect, a privet leaf and are very much designed with children in mind. “The Children’s Garden”, is a wildlife garden designed by local schoolchildren. “Ivan’s Garden” is designed by chief Landscape Designer Ivan Hicks. Visitors will view this garden as if they were insects, so everything will appear larger than life including various gardening implements and huge leaved plants. There will also be “the Dry-stone Privet Garden” and “the Butterfly Conservation Garden” forming the remainder of the “Privet” series.

Antennae Walks, image courtesy of http://www.futuregardens.org

This journey round the site brings me neatly back to the “Caterpillar Show Gardens” otherwise known as Future Gardens. This is the largest garden area and on plan, looks like the caterpillar of the Giant Privet Hawk Moth. There are 12 individual segments of varying size and each segment has been allocated a professional Garden Designer to create sustainable yet innovative garden designs that will inspire and excite the senses. The show will be open for 4 months and will allow each garden to evolve and change over the seasons.

This genre of show is long overdue in the UK and is the direct offspring of the former Westonbirt Festival of the Garden last held in the Summer of 2004. France has its International Garden Festival at Chaumont, (click here for the festival press folder in English), Canada has Les Jardins de Métis and there’s a number of newer, garden design festivals and show events springing up all around the world so it’s only right and proper that the UK should have one too. Of course there’s Chelsea and Hampton Court in May and July but these perfect, plant-induced shows run for only one week.

The beauty of events like Chaumont and Metis and now Future Gardens is that they allow the visitor to come back at leisure and at different stages in the cycle of plants as they grow through the seasons. This can allow the new or would-be gardener/designer to see at a glance how certain plants will look and in what conditions they will thrive. They also show that garden design CAN be avant-garde……..a risqué word for many English Country Garden worshippers. Each caterpillar segment is of a size typical of an average UK garden, so for those who are a little daring, this will be an ideal event to steal some avant-garde ideas for your own little space.

Nest, image courtesy of http://www.futuregardens.org

For Cosmo, image courtesy of http://www.futuregardens.org

This is eventually going to be such an amazingly informative, entertaining and educational venue not just for the local community but for the whole of the UK, Europe and perhaps even the rest of the world. If you’d like more information about any of these venues, you can visit Butterfly World here and the Future Gardens website here for all the latest details and up to date information including entry fees, opening times, facilities and contact details.

If you’re seriously thinking about a day out here, you might like to consider a couple of days instead and take in the historic Royal National Rose Society (also undergoing some major renovations) right next door. Don’t forget to visit the city of St Albans too (city centre approx 3 miles from Future Gardens). It’s bursting with cosmopolitan cafe culture and excellent restaurants as well as a fine Norman Cathedral and ancient Roman ruins at Verulamium.

Shouldn’t I be on a big commission with St Albans Tourist Board?…………hmmmm, now there’s a thought!

Till next time

David