The elaborate and beautiful Victorian flowerbeds that once graced the public parks in every town and city across England could be at risk, warn English Heritage gardeners. While the charity continues the art of the Victorian bedding scheme at the historic gardens in its care, rising costs and cuts to the budgets of local authority park departments mean that elsewhere, this horticultural style is under threat.

English Heritage’s team of gardeners are currently in the middle of changing their Victorian bedding displays from spring to summer planting. It is a major job – one English Heritage garden alone can require over 1,000 skilled man hours and up to 20,000 new plants, making it a costly and difficult task. As local authority park departments face rising costs and budget cuts, removing of these flowerbeds is just one of the ways they can reduce their costs. While there are glorious exceptions in many towns and cities, it means that English Heritage gardens are becoming the last refuge of a highpoint in Victorian gardening.

Michael Klemperer, Senior Gardens Adviser at English Heritage, said: “These bedding schemes represent the pinnacle of Victorian horticulture and to lose them would be to lose not only a part of our history but an art that brings joy and a splash of colour to thousands of people’s lives.

“Victorian bedding schemes are the equivalent to Bake Off’s technical challenge – they are very difficult, labour intensive and require a lot of precision – but they are worth the effort as they are not only beautiful but also a vital reminder of a hugely influential period in British horticultural style. At English Heritage we want to tell the story of England not just through our castles and monuments but through our historic gardens too.

“We are determined to keep this art alive. If we don’t, we could lose important botanical skills and even some of the flowers themselves as people simply won’t breed them anymore if there isn’t a demand.”

_{Our gardeners have been busy removing our spring flowerbeds and designing and planting our new summer flowerbeds in our historic gardens across England, including the following sites:
• Osborne (Isle of Wight) where we planted over 15,500 plants
• Wrest Park (Bedfordshire) where we planted 11,000 plants
• Audley End (Essex) where we planted nearly 20,000 new plants
• Brodsworth Hall (South Yorkshire) where we planted nearly 20,000 new plants
• Witley Court (Worcestershire) where we planted over 5,000}