COP15 CELEBRATES HISTORIC AGREEMENT ON BIODIVERSITY

COP15, HELD in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022, marked a new era for sustainability by signing a Global Biodiversity Framework of 23 targets that aim to restore, conserve and manage effectively 30 per cent of Earth’s land and sea by 2030.

Event chair China and co-host Canada pushed the agreement through despite a protest from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the responsibility of rich nations to fund conservation in poorer countries.

The agreement has, for the first time, created biodiversity targets on a par with the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which set a goal to limit global warming to 1.5-2°C above preindustrial levels. For details, visit unep.org/news-and-stories/ story/cop15-ends-landmark-biodiversity-agreement

Robert Hughes Wins Northern Design Award

PRE-REGISTERED Society of Garden Designers member Robert Hughes won the Landscape Design Award at the 2022 Northern Design Award for his Whitefield Garden (pictured). He beat off stiff competition from three finalists, including fellow member Lee Bestall MSGD.

Robert’s winning design was a response to a brief for a family garden that focused on the play needs of the owners’ children while also providing a grown-up space for the parents. Its chic aesthetic was inspired by the interiors of the house and it includes bespoke features such as a marine-ply climbing wall and a playhouse with a mezzanine and slide that ejects the children out into a small jungle area of the garden.

A large, modern pavilion forms an open-sided outdoor living, cinema and dining room. ‘The success of the project is thanks to lots of meticulous design detailing and the incredible talent of the landscaper, WM Exteriors, who took my vision and executed it perfectly,’ Robert comments. roberthughesgardendesign.co.uk ; northerndesignawards.com

Garden Art From Interwar Years Goes On Show In London

A NEW EXHIBITION at the Garden Museum will celebrate artists who took refuge in nature during the interwar years, by planting and painting gardens.

Featuring work by Eric Ravilious, Charles Mahoney, Evelyn Dunbar and Ithell Colquhoun, among others. Private & public: finding the modern British garden will also include depictions of parks, secret courtyards and green pockets in the city.

Most of the artworks will be for sale, with profits going towards the Museum’s community programmes.

The exhibition runs from 22 March to 25 June 2023 in partnership with fine art dealers Liss Llewellyn. gardenmuseum.org.uk

Search For Rare Plants

PLANT HERITAGE has launched its fourth annual Threatened Plant of the Year competition and is asking people to search their gardens for hidden gems that have the potential to become this year’s winner.

Anyone can enter, but all plants submitted must be a named cultivar grown or sold in the UK or Ireland before 2013, and entries must be filed by 20 May 2023. A shortlist of plants will be put on display at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival (4 to 9 July 2023), where the overall winner will be announced. Visit plantheritage.org.uk for an entry form.

SCOTLAND’S GARDENS SCHEME LAUNCHES FOR 2023

SCOTLAND’S GARDENS SCHEME returns for 2023 with highlights that launch the gardening year in style.

Scone Palace opens under the scheme for the first time, as part of the Scottish Snowdrop Festival from 25 January to 11 March, while glorious daffodil displays will offer an early spring celebration at Westhall Castle in Aberdeenshire and Winton Castle in East Lothian, where a family fun day in March will mark the latter’s 89th year of opening with the charity.

Other must-see gardens include Humbie Dean (pictured) in East Lothian, which has monthly open days starting in March, when visitors can see hellebores, spring bulbs and primulas; the small cottage garden at The Steading at Clunie in Perthshire, with its profusion of primroses, wood anemones and snake’s head fritillaries; and The Limes in Dumfries & Galloway, a plantswoman’s garden that in March is filled with colourful spring flowers. scotlandsgardens.org

WHAT’S ON WHAT’S ON

10 FEBRUARY TO 29 MAY

Exhibition: Living Soil Artist Natalie Taylor brings together her extensive research in an exhibition celebrating the life beneath our feet, exploring our relationship with soil. rbge.org.uk/whats-on

2 MARCH

Lecture: Silent Earth: Saving our Insects Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum hosts Professor Dave Goulson as he explains how vital and fascinating insects are, and why we should be concerned about their decline. obga.ox.ac.uk

3 MARCH

Talk: WhyWomenGrow: Stories of soil, sisterhood and survival

Writer Alice Vincent and herbologist, chef, and writer Maya Thomas will talk about Alice’s book, WhyWomen Grow: Stories of soil, sisterhood and survival chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk

7 TO 8 MARCH

SGD CPD Digital: Cut through the noise – part two

Award-winning business coach and SGD Affiliated Business Partner Denise Quinlan hosts this Zoom workshop for those who have completed her first course. sgd.org.uk – ‘Events’

7 TO 9 MARCH

Futurebuild

This free event returns to ExCeL, London, with inspiring ideas for sustainable built environments and landscapes. The programme includes talks by Tom Massey MSGD and Dusty Gedge. futurebuild.co.uk