‘Providing green space isn’t a niche idea. It was, and still is, crucial to our health and happiness.’
Ann-Marie Powell's multi-award-winning garden design practice has viewed outdoor spaces as places with exciting possibilities for over 20 years. Her studio can’t get enough of plants, bold colours and textural contrasts, creating garden habitats that invite a resilient, evolving ecology instead of the traditionally decorated garden.
Sustainability is a fundamental value of the studio’s approach. Ann-Marie and her team strive to design naturally energetic and bold landscapes that become havens for an abundance of insects and wildlife where clients live in harmony, up close and personal with the natural world.
Blue Diamond is the largest garden centre group in the UK and Channel Islands, with 44 garden centres, including Grosvenor, East Bridgford, Newbridge, Cadbury and Bridgemere. Its roots can be traced back to 1904, when it was founded as a grower and exporter of produce grown in Guernsey.
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Blue Diamond also owns the Fryer’s Roses brand, as well as six nurseries in the UK, which exclusively supply its garden centres.
Rosa 'National Trust Beauty'. Breeder synonym Tan13571.
Blue Diamond and the National Trust began a long-term collaboration in August 2022. Together, they’ve developed a range of seeds, bulbs, roses and plants that take inspiration from gardens the National Trust cares for. These collections are available in all Blue Diamond Garden Centres.
On behalf of the National Trust, Blue Diamond will also launch the new and exclusive 'National Trust Beauty' rose at this year's show to celebrate Octavia Hill. The rose is available exclusively in all Blue Diamond Garden Centres and online, while stocks last.
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As part of Blue Diamond’s commitment to sustainable product production, all plants in the National Trust Collections by Blue Diamond are potted in peat free compost and in recycled and recyclable pots.
Through sales generated from the National Trust Collections by Blue Diamond, a minimum of 10% of the retail sales price per product will be given to the National Trust to help look after nature, beauty and history for everyone, for ever.
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As part of Blue Diamond’s commitment to sustainable product production, all plants in the National Trust Collections by Blue Diamond are potted in peat free compost and in recyclable pots.
Through sales generated from the National Trust Collections by Blue Diamond, a minimum of 10% of the retail sales price per product will be given to the National Trust to help look after nature, beauty and history for everyone, for ever.
Find out more
A collaboration for the future
Blue Diamond is one of the largest contributors to the National Trust’s Plant Conservation Program, and has committed to giving the Trust £1 million over three years (from when the collaboration began in August 2022).
This will be used by the Trust to fund projects in the gardens and parklands it looks after.
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Blue Diamond and the National Trust are now in the second year of a collaboration, which brings together the specialisms of both organisations to create unique collections of seeds, bulbs, roses, trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants.
Taking care of the nation’s gardens
The National Trust believes that gardens make a huge difference to the quality of people’s lives.
The Trust uses its world-class horticultural expertise to care for gardens across the nation and make them accessible to all, like at Wightwick Manor and Croome.
In partnership with the disability charity SENSE and supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Trust helped people with profound learning disabilities connect with nature like never before, using innovative technology to bring plants to life.
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National Trust partnership with disability charity Sense.
Protecting nature and tackling climate change
The National Trust is helping wildlife thrive and working towards sustainability in a changing climate.
From ancient trees to bees and butterflies, the places in the Trust’s care are full of life, like at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire.
For many years, the 1.3-acre parterre has been a popular feature of this Grade I-listed landscape. Recently, plants have been put under stress from new pests and disease, as well as from changing weather conditions. The Trust is working with the Sustainable Landscape Foundation to make the parterre more environmentally sustainable, climate resilient and biodiverse, while also making it a colourful and interesting place to visit throughout the year.
Over the next few years visitors will be able to see the new parterre design taking shape.
Increasing access to nature in urban spaces
Across the nation, the National Trust is helping more people access nature in urban spaces.
Not enough people can connect to nature near where they live, but the Trust is creating more opportunities for communities to experience the natural world, like at Stoneford Community Garden.
Here, the local community have helped shape a small but special half-acre community garden, which opened in 2022. The vision for this space has been made possible by a group of local volunteers, creative programming and the love and care of people living nearby.
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Plant Conservation Centre
The National Trust cares for hundreds of gardens and parklands that are home to a vast range of rare and historically important plants, some of which have been collected over the last 400 years from around the world.
The Plant Conservation Centre was set up to help conserve the rich diversity of plants at places in the Trust’s care. From endangered to unusual plants, the centre works to nurse these populations back to health.
