A community initiative has enabled residents and local schoolchildren in the Llandaff North area of Cardiff to join forces to nurture an award-winning garden.
The show garden – named ‘A Growing Community’ – has been installed at its permanent site in Station Road in Llandaff North, after first appearing at the RHS Cardiff Flower show in 2012. The garden will be well cared for at its new home thanks to a partnership between The Llandaff North Residents’ Association and Hawthorn Primary School.
The garden, supported by the Brett Landscaping community engagement programme and Cardiff Council, won second place at the prestigious show. It was designed by Stephanie Wilkins, Llandaff North Residents’ Association Chairperson and a keen amateur gardener.
There is a real need to maintain and preserve our green spaces and public parks as increasing urban densities often result in their loss. The understanding that communities actively benefit from having available, attractive open spaces is the main driver behind this latest Brett Landscaping community initiative designed to renovate public outdoor spaces.
Using Brett Alpha Antique Block Paving in Silver Haze and Charcoal, the robust garden features a noticeboard, a seating area to rest and socialise, a paving area for easy access and an array of plants creating beautiful colour and fragrance.
Broxton and Morruzi, a Brett Approved Installer based in Cardiff, set the garden up in its final site taking unused space and making it a focal point for the community to enjoy.
Andrew Gill from Brett Landscaping‘s Love Your Landscape programme explained:
“Our community engagement initiatives work towards re-engaging communities with their open spaces. It is hoped that the ‘A Growing Community’ show garden will unite the older and younger generations by allowing them to work together for a good cause that will bring pleasure to the Llandaff North community for years to come.
The Llandaff community garden project helps to portray our residents in a positive light and reduce more negative things like antisocial behaviour.
We have helped many worthy schemes in the past and look forward to working with and supporting future community developments.”
Local residents and Hawthorn Primary School will maintain the final Llandaff North garden, with help from partners Cardiff Council, Keep Wales Tidy and South Wales Police’s Llandaff North neighbourhood policing team if necessary.
The garden is designed to be inviting, attractive, safe, practical and sustainable and will promote education, communication and community cohesion. It is made up of a colourful mix of shrubs, perennials, bulbs with a paved area, community notice board and seat.
Stephanie Wilkins, of the Llandaff North Residents Association and designer of the award winning garden commented:
“I am very excited that the creation of the garden has allowed the Llandaff North Community to come together. They have begun working on the garden, which I designed in a way that would be easy for residents and school children to maintain, as well as providing colour and interest for everyone to enjoy as a community.”
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