Kingsbury credits woody plants for commemorative garden role
Noel Kingsbury believes a desire to use more woody plants was a factor in him being recruited to select the plants used for The Regent’s Park garden project, in honour of Queen Elizabeth II.
The renowned horticulturist is speaking after planting trials got underway where a team of ten Royal Parks apprentices, together with gardeners, planted 300 plants in a trial bed close to the proposed display.
The trial has seen 65 different species planted in the beds, containing two mixes of soil, from Tim O’Hare Associates: both made from a sustainable mix of site topsoil and recycled crushed concrete, with different percentages of concrete mixed within them.
“One of the crucial things I would stress, and I believe this is the reason why I was chosen as the planting designer here, was because of wanting to use more woody plants and more shrubs,” says Kingsbury.
“It’s very unfortunate that we’ve become so fixated on perennials for the last 20 odd years. I was just thinking back when I was starting in the business in the 1980s and we went to a garden centre. There were hardly any perennials. It was shrubs, shrubs, shrubs. And so we then had this whole sort of evolution of rediscovering perennials. And it went from kind of small niche to a big thing, really quite quickly.
“Unfortunately, I feel woody plants and shrubs kind of got sidelined.”
The recent Royal Parks’ trial focused on plants that will be more resilient to the pressures of climate change, such as nepeta and phlomis.
Over the next 12 months, The Royal Parks’ horticultural experts will monitor the trial and use the data to inform the final design of both the planting scheme and the soil composition for the new garden, says Kingsbury
Of course, the subject of the garden and who it aims to pay such an eloquent tribute to comes up throughout our conversation.
The two-acre garden is scheduled to be completed by 2026, to mark what would have been her centenary year.
Kingsbury says: “We do have a little list of things she very much liked, such as convallaria, Lily of the valley. We’ve obviously tried to incorporate those as much as possible.
“We’ve been doing our research to get plants with a royal connection, so we can make those links to celebrate her and her life.”
Kingsbury has been professionally involved in horticulture since 1986 when he ran a nursery for seven years before becoming an internationally renowned author on horticultural matters.
The prospect of being part of such a big garden doesn’t faze Kingsbury, as he pays tribute to the team behind it. “I’m working with HTA Landscapes, who I’ve worked with before and who are very good people to work with, and also with The Royal Parks themselves,” says Kingsbury.
“This is very much a collective effort, so with that support, I don’t find it daunting.”
He does admit to nerves when it comes to the procurement process, however, nodding towards difficulties as a result of Brexit.
These have been immediately apparent of late, with issues surrounding the current Border Control Post system introduced earlier this year.
Kingsbury says: “After this trial it will be onto plant procurement next; things may be made possibly more difficult by some of the Brexit absurdities over not being able to import even seed so easily from mainland Europe, which must be a pretty massive blow to a lot of projects that want to use a wide range of plant availability.
“I mean, the British nursery trade is very, very good, but there are often a lot of problems with plant supply. Obviously, it would be nice to cast a net further afield, particularly when we want things to be more unusual.
“I don’t think that’s going to be a major problem, but I must admit I am slightly nervous as to how the plant procurement process will go.”
The process of developing the ideas for the garden pleasantly caught Kingsbury off guard, admitting that he thought he would encounter resistance to some ideas, particularly with low fertility substrates.
For this, Kingsbury and a team from The Royal Parks visited John Little (who is speaking at the Public Spaces Expo next month) and looked at what the possibilities were with low fertility substrates and Kingsbury credited him as an inspiration.
Kingsbury explains: “There are a lot of people in a lot of different countries looking at how we can get much better and more biodiverse ornamental plantings on low fertility substrates.
“And so when I suggested, ‘oh, why don’t we just crunch up the old buildings and plant into them’, I expected resistance but not at all.
“It was like pushing at an open door. Everyone was on board and we had a great afternoon. John Little has been a real pioneer in Britain, showing how we can use demolition waste and sand and other low fertility substrates to support fantastic British wildflowers.”
Kingsbury also credited Wesley Kerr, a trustee at The Royal Parks charity, as a key part of the process who inspired confidence in making the project work.
After speaking to Kingsbury and hearing the thought processes going on in the making of the garden, it seems certain that, come 2026, the garden will create memories as well as honour them.