London school buzzing after winning Chelsea Flower Show bee garden

Abstract

Over two thousand inner London schools were invited to apply to rehome the BBC Studios Our Green Planet and RHS Bee Garden, designed by RHS gold medal winning garden designer and presenter Joe Swift. The bee garden will take pride of place near the school entrance for everyone to see, replacing old decking and some grassy plots. The garden, with an eye-catching design centred around the silhouette of a bee's wing, aims to inspire people to consider the needs of pollinators, especially bees, when they are choosing plants for their gardens and outdoor spaces. An Automated Pollinator Monitoring machine, known as a Polly, will monitor pollinator activity at the school including before and after the garden has been planted. The Polly will record and count pollinating insects as they visit flowers in the garden, as well as environmental data such as light and humidity levels. The RHS will be able to compare pollinator numbers to other sites in the region, showing just how much the bee garden is helping these essential insects. Plants will be from the same mix of species as those in the Chelsea bee garden, and they will be planted in time for autumn rains to help the plants settle into their new home.