Bee-friendly Leamington park team scoops national award

Pictured in Jephson Gardens: green space development officer Jon Holmes, head gardener Dave Partridge (head gardener, Colleen Abell of Warwick and Leamington Beekeepers, district council chairman Jane Knight and Mike Townsend of Warwick and Leamington Beekeepers. NNL-161114-122715001

Warwick District Council’s Green Spaces team has won a Bees’ Needs Award - a scheme run by Keep Britain Tidy and the Government - for its work in the Leamington park.

Jon Holmes, Green Spaces development officer at the council, said: “Recent planting schemes in Jephson Gardens, such as the Sensory Garden and East Lodge Garden, have been designed to make the park a more pollinator-friendly place.

“Over 90 per cent of the plants in these schemes are pollinator friendly, producing pollen and nectar for insects to feed on or providing shelter from the elements.

“Insect homes in the Bug Garden, located near the Glasshouse, were made from materials such as dead wood, bamboo, slates, bricks and polystyrene while Warwick and Leamington Beekeepers maintain a beehive in East Lodge Garden.

“Even the formal flowerbeds have been made more pollinator friendly in the last few years, with the designers choosing plants which are better for insects.”