Apple decline led to idea for garden

3:00am Wednesday 9th July 2008

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THE plight of Worcestershire and Herefordshire’s apple orchards is highlighted in a contemporary garden unveiled at the RHS Hampton Court Flower show this week.

The garden is the brainchild of award-winning landscape designer Sadie May Stowell from Whitbourne, on the borders of the two counties.

She has teamed up with sponsor Copella in her bid to raise awareness of the declining numbers of English apple orchards.

Called Branching Out With Copella – The Apple Juice Garden, the creative design is in the shape of an apple press and shows the natural journey of an apple from tree to juice and incorporates apple trees reclaimed from grubbed up orchards alongside stunning sculptures and water features.

In the last three decades, two thirds of apple orchards in Britain have been lost, something which Ms Stowell experienced first-hand growing up in Herefordshire.

“The landscape has changed so much with orchards disappearing all the time,” she said. “I wanted to highlight the issue of the decline of the apple orchards in the UK in a thought-provoking way.

“With the support from Copella to make the garden possible, I was able to make my dream a reality.” The garden was unveiled at RHS Hampton Court Flower show on Monday.

Spokesman for Copella Warren Bassett said: “The concept Sadie has created for the garden brings to life the simple and natural journey of the fruit from tree to juice and we thought it was a really interesting way to share the Copella story.”

The symbolic garden journeys through the seasons of apple juice production showing apple blossom in spring through to the production of the golden juice in autumn.