University of Sheffield: Beautifully Stressed Garden

The garden celebrates the resilience of plants that adapt to stressful environments. Inspired by the capabilities of stress-tolerant plants to survive and flower on brownfield sites, the garden draws attention to those plants that can find a home in places where most others do not and shows the potential that many common plants have for survival.

Visitors to the garden will enjoy a lively mix of plants arranged naturalistically – to suggest self-sown annuals and perennials have colonised the space. The stone wall creates a diversity of environments with the changes in height and the space for growing plants within the cracks.

At a glance:

Who is this garden for?
An urban garden for the community.
Where is the garden set?  
Sheffield.
Who or what is the design inspiration?
The capabilities of stress tolerant plants to survive and flower beautifully as seen on brownfield sites.

Key sustainability points

• This style of gardening does not require fertilizers or resource intensive composts.
• Plants that grow in these conditions are nectar-rich, flowering more readily on what little resources they have and supporting insects.