A blooming display for Manchester Art Gallery

A major new garden installation at the Manchester Art Gallery will showcase the city’s rich gardening heritage over the last four centuries.

‘The Lost Gardens of Manchester’ produced by the National Trust, has been created by a team led by the conservation charity’s gardener in residence and 30 volunteers using 10 tonnes of compost and 500 flowers and plants to include favourites such as foxgloves, peonies and dream like grasses. The installation took 12 days to create.

Sean Harkin, National Trust gardener in residence says: “With the help of volunteers and local historians we delved into the past of Manchester’s major former gardens and came up with various ideas for conjuring up their beauty and sensory elements within the gallery space.

“We took as inspiration the bountiful orchards of Shudehill from 1753 and the palatial glasshouses and grounds of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Old Trafford and the Belle Vue Zoological gardens which were both at their peak in the mid Victorian era; all set against the historic architecture of the building to create stunning spaces for visitors to sit and enjoy.

“For the opening there will be a magical display of orchids inside the stairwell of the gallery and there will plenty of Juneberry and Cherry blossom throughout the spring. They will evolve over the course of the year and reflect the changes to the seasons.

“We hope visitors will be amazed by the sheer scale of the installation and will be able to enjoy the sights and smells of the plants, relax amid the foliage and find themselves a world away from the hustle and bustle of today’s Manchester.”

Plants such as exotic tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) and phoenix palms (Phoenix canariensis) have been selected to give the true sense of what it would have felt like in each of the gardens. The Trust has also commissioned hand painted old signs similar to the ones people would have seen at Belle Vue and The Royal Botanical Gardens.

Opening for Easter weekend, the gardens will evolve over the year with events running alongside, culminating in a huge display of pumpkins on October 31 (Halloween).

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