Over the last couple of weeks, the Floral Ornamental Department have been at full capacity planting out the summer bedding displays. Seasonal bedding and makes up a large amount of our displays, and the team are flat out.
One of the main areas that visitors pass by en route to the Mixed Borders and Weather Hill is an area we refer to as the Top Terrace. There are 8 large beds and 4 small round ones that are refreshed twice a year.
This year we have huge red Chinese dragons to celebrate the Olympics in China. Each dragon took over 450 begonias. We have inclined the beds to help show off the design, and each dragon is finished off with a golden eye (temporarily blue) and a gravel background to act as a foil and moisture-conserving mulch.
The begonia towers were inspired by much larger versions seen in China a few years ago. They help to introduce a new dimension to this area by adding height- something we are trying for the first time this year.
Inside the towers are drip-line irrigation systems which keep the begonias watered in an environmentally friendly way.
