A free webinar that will suggest ways to increase biodiversity within private gardens with wider application for streetscapes.

THIS EVENT WILL BE RECORDED AND FREELY AVAILABLE AFTERWARDS ON YOUTUBE.

About this event:

During the talk, Kevin Hughes will suggest ways to do increase biodiversity within the private garden but also with the application for the wider urban space. The talk will aim to show that we can use the great diversity of garden plants at our disposal to achieve amazing results but will also add a few cautions.

About the speaker:

Kevin Hughes is an ecologist and switched to horticulture after wildlife gardening and the wonder of the diversity of plant species we can grow in the UK took over his life. None the less, ecological thinking continues to drive his gardening methods which have never included the use of pesticides.

Over the past 40 years, Kevin has lectured in wildlife gardening and ecology both in the UK and abroad. He has ben a panellist on BBC Radio Solent gardening program and featured on Gardener's World and in horticultural magazines.

In the past, he managed a popular Hampshire garden Spinners and has run his own plant nursery 'Kevin Huges Plants' based in Salsibury. Now he is the new owner and custodian of the world renowned Cally Gardens and nursery, which is noted for its herbaceous plant collection. This is now being run in a wildlife friendly manner with both gardens and nursery plants kept pesticide free and increasing biodiversity as our primary directive.

In 2020 Cally Gardens new ecological thinking was featured in BBC Scotland’s Beechgrove gardening program. Cally Gardens challenges peoples view of what a garden should be but visitors are often amazed at the numbers of insects and birds present and many have been inspired to rethink their gardens as places that can be both beautiful and good for wildlife.

Who is this suitable for?

All stakeholders in the landscape industry including garden designers, landscape architects, landscape contractors, and suppliers

Who are we?

Garden designers who are passionate about doing our bit to reduce the environmental impact of our designs and the gardens we create.

This event is brought to you by Scotland's regional coordinators for the Society of Garden Designers and Zero Waste Scotland.

Sustainable Design Solutions in Response to the Climate Crisis: A Series of Webinars for the garden and landscape design and build industry.

This series of events has been orchestrated to explore how our industry can reduce both its environmental impact and become more sustainable.

All industries need to respond to the climate crisis. For our industry, we can move away from wasteful, unsustainable practices, be more mindful of what materials we use, conserve precious topsoil, collect and store rainfall, and improve biodiversity above and below the ground. Together, this will help improve people's health and well-being, and importantly the health of the planet. We are in an important position to educate our clients and help them to address the climate crisis too.

The Series will be a combination of talks by leaders in the field and delegate participation. It will offer practical take-home pointers to create gardens that have a low environmental impact and that are biodiverse.

The interactive talks will cover mitigation (reducing embodied carbon/ carbon emissions), adaptation to a changing climate, reducing waste, protecting natural resources, and improving biodiversity.

Look out for other webinars in the series, which will include:

The circular economy: designing out waste, Zero Waste Scotland

Permaculture design: a tool for designing holistically for people and the environment

Designing for deconstruction

Alternative materials

Old materials, new methods

Responsible garden lighting - is there such a thing?

A garden for wildlife: Rewilding our gardens

Soil life and diversity

Zero Waste Scotland is The Scottish Governments representative body to deliver a Circular Economy change in Scotland. A Circular Economy approach is much more than a move to towards more recycling, it’s an approach that cuts across all sectors in Scotland that values all the resources we use and looks at value from a whole life cost perspective.

Zero Waste Scotland is funded by the Scottish Government and the European Regional Development Fund to deliver the Resource Efficient Scotland Programme. The Resource Efficient Scotland Construction SME Advice and Support Service offers free advice and technical support to Scottish businesses, helping them embed circular economy principles into the design and construction of our built environment. The Service aims to contribute significantly to the Scottish Government’s strategic economic objectives, climate change, energy efficiency and zero waste targets.