The Kaleidoscope Ginnel Garden

Conceptually imagined as being situated in an alleyway between rows of terraced housing, The Kaleidoscope Ginnel Garden celebrates the diverse friendships formed through community gardening.

The garden is the  result of a collaborative project brought together by service users, volunteers and staff at Petrus – a charity with a vision of ending homelessness, creating safe places where everyone can flourish across the Greater Manchester region and in Lancashire – alongside members of Falinge Park High School and charity Aspire 2 Inspire.

• Fruit trees along the length of the garden represent the shared produce and free food created  through community gardening.
• Word cloud sculptures with words representing the impact of community gardening have been
  created by local groups.
• Visitors to the Show can engage with the garden using kaleidoscopes, and through a live word cloud.

A rainbow of plants, including geraniums, echinacea, salvias and daylilies, flows through the garden, bringing swathes of bright, uplifting colour; while textured grasses effectively create a biodiversity corridor in an urban space. It also features a wealth of garden art created by the local community in Rochdale; ‘chatty benches’ on which to talk and forge friendships; and stained glass and timber panels co-created with students from Falinge Park High School.

After the Show, the garden will be used to create four pocket gardens within the communities that helped to build it.

With support from Ecogee