This talk and all our lectures are FREE for Friends of the Botanical Gardens to attend. Members of the public are also welcome to join us on payment of £5 at the door on the day. Live talks are held in the Education Centre in the grounds of the Botanical Gardens - easily accessed via the Thompson Road Entrance.
Our speaker is local landscape designer Doug Baker of Arcadia Landscape and Design in Walkley. Doug believes that the ‘countryside’ can be sterile and lifeless and that there is a wealth of life in urban areas, especially those half in/half out of cities which are often overlooked.
Putting this into practice, in this talk he will describe the work they have done turning an empty, over-grazed field into a productive and wildlife friendly space. Having initially using the site to supply plants for their projects (wildlife friendly school grounds and natural play areas), they have developed it over time to build a collection of their favourite plants, propagating and growing these in a series of naturalistic communities on site.
Doug trained in landscape architecture at the University of Sheffield and originally started work as a garden designer before establishing Arcadia with fellow landscape architect Charlotte Liu in 2013. Their practice specialises in working with schools to design, build and maintain playgrounds and outdoor learning spaces. Charlotte is also a studio tutor in the Landscape Department, at the University of Sheffield.