THE MILLENNIUM GARDEN IN CANAL FIELDS
    This garden illustrates two good environmental principles:

                1. Sustainability
                2. Biodiversity





       1. SUSTAINABILITY
The plants in the garden are all PERENNIALS; this contrasts with the usual council bedding plants and flower baskets, where only ANNUALS are used. Here is the difference:

millennium garden


        
       Millennium garden
No watering or annual planting; maintenence only; cost to council, zero.

       Council beds and baskets
Annuals raised under heat every year; transplanted, and watered throughout the summer because they have so little root; very expensive, around £25/sq.m. for flower beds. watering wagon sent over from Hemel depot.
       2. BIODIVERSITY
This is when you have a wide range of plants, including those that will attract butterflies, bees and other insects. This will provide interest, colour and form all the year round. Here again we can make comparisons:

       Millennium garden
Winter:        hellebores, winter jasmine and honeysuckle, witch-hazel, bamboos.
Spring:          bulbs, alpines, heathers.
Summer/autumn:     all the herbaceous plants, roses and other summer shrubs.

       Council beds and baskets
Usually one or two types, seldom attractive to bees or butterflies; planted in May, removed in September/October, usually replaced by winter pansies, which are again removed the next May.

       The Millennium Garden was created by LD councillor Betty Patterson in 2000, and initially funded by Berkhamsted Town Council. It was fenced, to protect it, by Dacorum Borough Council.
It is maintained free of charge by Betty Patterson, Freda Earl and Ian Shaw.

We often have to split perennials and remove seedlings so it is always worth contacting us if there is something you like.

       Betty Patterson
       December 2010