Aylesbury Vale community groups and Tring nature reserve get boost from wildlife trust’s gold medal-winning RHS show garden

The Wendover-based health and wellbeing charity Lindengate is one of the local community groups set to receive plant donations following the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust’s recent win at this year's RHS Malvern Spring Festival.

The Wildlife Trusts: Wilder Spaces Garden, led by BBOWT, won Best in Show, a gold medal, Best Construction award and the prestigious People's Choice award at Malvern this month, earning national acclaim and featuring on BBC Gardeners' World.

More than 700 plants, trees and shrubs from the garden will now be handed out to community groups, charities and parishes in Berks, Bucks and Oxon.

Hundreds of birch trees, foxgloves, strawberries and chives will go to organisations BBOWT works with – including Lindengate.

All of the solid structures used in the garden will also be installed at BBOWT’s popular College Lake nature reserve and visitor centre near Tring, including a pavilion built from reclaimed steel joists and grating and topped with a living roof, and a bench made from ash wood removed from BBOWT nature reserves as part of ash dieback safety works.

BBOWT spokesperson Katie Horgan, who is in charge of distributing the plants, said: "I think it would be hard to overstate what a difference these donations can make. We work with groups that don't have any funding, that sometimes struggle to create wild, green spaces in built-up areas, and can also struggle to inspire people to get involved with them.”

Katie took delivery of the plants last week at Lindengate, which will keep many of the trees and shrubs and offer service users the chance to plant them in its gardens.

Katie will also distribute hundreds more of the plants to other groups she works with:

Chinnor Community Church, South Oxfordshire - chives, knapweed and red viper's bugloss to plant in new wildlife garden

Little Missenden Parish Council - purple loosestrife, woodrush and meadowsweet to plant around Holmer Green village pond

Wycombe Arts Centre in High Wycombe - tall herbaceous perennials for wildlife-friendly borders

Aston Clinton Society - meadow plants like kidney vetch and knapweed to plant at the Rising Sun Meadow project next to the Rising Sun pub

Knotty Green Allotments near High Wycombe - hawthorn and wild strawberries to improve the hedges and edges for wildlife

Lindengate - birch trees and aquatics like water avens to go around ponds on site and herbs to go in new apothecary garden

Katie and colleagues in BBOWT Community Team hope to give more plants to urban groups the trust works with in Reading and Slough.

Lindengate volunteer co-ordinator Jenny Morris said: “Lindengate is a lifeline for so many people who are struggling with their mental health. We believe in the healing power of nature and understand its importance in helping to maintain our physical, mental and social wellbeing.

"This donation of plants and flowers will help us to continue to transform spaces on site, creating more diverse habitats for people and nature to enjoy.”