There is positive coverage in The Telegraph today of the Forestry Commission’s Resilience Garden, launched at the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday.
Designed by award-winning designer Sarah Eberle ‘The Resilience Garden’, which won a gold medal, explores the future resilience of the nation’s forests in response to the threats of climate change, tree pests and diseases.
It includes a diverse range of tree and plant species and in doing so reinforces the aims of the 25 Year Environment Plan, Year of Green Action and the Tree Health Resilience Strategy on the need for strict biosecurity and diversity within our landscapes.
Lord Gardiner, Defra Biosecurity Minister, said:
I applaud Sarah Eberle’s inspiring vision which has culminated in an innovative and beautiful garden for this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. As the Minister responsible for biosecurity, I wholly support the theme of resilience and I thank her for drawing attention to such an important issue.
We want to be the first generation to leave our environment in a better state than we found it, which is why we have invested more than £37million between 2012 and 2019 in tree health. We have launched the Tree Health Resilience Strategy, imposed movement restrictions on high risk plant species and continue to keep a close watch for any potential new threats.
I cannot think of a more fitting garden to celebrate the Forestry Commission’s centenary and pay tribute to their invaluable work in helping to safeguard our beautiful trees.