Show stopping!
The Plantlife Grow Wild to Know Wild Garden at BBC Gardeners' World Live

To raise the profile of threatened, wild plants, in 2006 Plantlife teamed up with Chelsea Gold Winner, Sarah Eberle, to create a stunning, modern garden stocked entirely with wild plants for the Gardeners' World Live show at NEC Birmingham.

The Grow Wild to Know Wild garden at the 2006 Gardeners' World Live show ©Joe Sutton/ Plantlife

Grow Wild to Know Wild is a call to arms to make room for wild plants in our gardens. 1 in 5 of Britain's native wild plants is under threat in the wider countryside and, by growing wild plants in our gardens, Plantlife hopes that gardeners will come to 'know wild' and support their work to save wild plants in their natural habitats. For more information about joining Plantlife and supporting our work, please click here.

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Plantlife's Trevor Dines and Monty Don at the 2006 Gardener's World Live show ©Joe Sutton/ Plantlife

Plantlife Conservation Officer, Dr Trevor Dines, explains further: 'I am hugely excited by this collaboration. We wanted to showcase the best of Britain's wild plants but, in a twist on the usual wildflower meadow, we were keen to show how wild plants can be fully integrated into a suburban garden with strong design, colour use and planting. We hope that gardeners who saw this breathtaking garden at the show will want to support Plantlife in our work to save these species for the future.'

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Did you know that . . .

· Box, that classic of formal hedging, is a native shrub, which is under severe pressure in the wild and is now found at only 10 sites in Britain

· Maiden Pink, a native, cottage pink perfect for sunny rock gardens, has gone from half its sites

· One of our native Alliums can grow to a spectacular 6 foot or over - putting many garden varieties literally in the shade

· Chamomile, the apple-scented herb garden favourite, has undergone a severe decline in the wild - 90% of its Dorset sites have disappeared for example

· One of our native sages, Meadow Clary, with its stately spires of intense blue, is now found at just 24 sites in the wild.

The garden, with flowers supplied by British Wildflower Plants, also featured an elegant new work titled 'Sylph Reeds' by sculptor Ginger Gilmour. Ginger said 'It is a joy to be involved in this project. As an artist, I seek to create forms that uplift and inspire the individual, as Sarah does through her environments.

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Information

British Wild Flower Plants began in 1986 with a list of some 78 species of native plants. Today the company grows over 400 species, all from known British origins. For more information, please call 01603 716615 or email www.wildflowers.co.uk.

Ginger Gilmour was born in the USA and has lived in England for the past 35 years. She studied under the guidance of the visionary artist Cecil Collins and also cites the sculptor Rudolf Steiner as a major influence. She is a member of the Society of Women Artists.
For further information, please call Lee Smith on 01243 585874.

Sarah Eberle & Hillier Landscapes. Sarah is a landscape architect and garden designer of some 30 years' experience. She has seven RHS Gold Medals and works in the Hampshire area. Hillier Landscapes was formed over 125 years ago and is one of the UK's leading landscape companies.

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