Home / Environment / Nature's Fringe: Chelsea Garden Fights for Edgelands
Nature's Fringe: Chelsea Garden Fights for Edgelands
10 May
Summary
- Garden highlights the overlooked natural beauty of town outskirts.
- Features a fallen tree sculpted into a reclining Mother Nature figure.
- Aims to inspire protection for vulnerable countryside edges near cities.
Sarah Eberle's latest creation at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the 'On the Edge' garden, is designed to draw attention to the vital yet vulnerable fringe lands surrounding towns and cities. This garden, created for the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), uses unconventional materials like stinging nettles and discarded items to represent the boundary between urban development and nature.
The garden's centrepiece is a large sculpture of a reclining female figure, carved from a fallen sequoia tree, symbolizing Mother Nature. Surrounded by native trees and plants often dismissed as weeds, the design emphasizes the inherent beauty and ecological value of these often-neglected spaces.
Eberle hopes the 'On the Edge' garden will inspire visitors to appreciate and protect these interstitial landscapes. The CPRE is actively campaigning for greater recognition and protection of these areas, urging policymakers to support edgeland farmers and enhance community involvement in managing local green spaces.
Ultimately, the garden serves as a living manifesto, aiming to make the significance of these overlooked 'in-between places' visible to decision-makers. The initiative includes a call for public contributions to an interactive map documenting these valuable edgelands.
