Designer Kate Frey (© Troika Photos)

Kate Frey has designed a Chelsea gold-winning show garden that illustrates the use of green power, water conservation and recycling. It also uses local (to California) and sustainable materials and shows habitats for resident and migrating wildlife.

This is no lip service to sustainability - it illustrates on a miniature scale the philosophy of Fetzer in running their vineyard and winery in California, where solar power drives the equipment and planting local wild flowers amongst and alongside the vines attracts the wildlife to deal with any vine pests.

Some of the flowering annuals that we grow in our gardens in the UK are in fact Californian wild flowers that smother the hillsides in sheets of colour in spring before the heat of the summer dries up the vegetation. Where the flowers in the show garden were lush and tall, having been grown in pampered conditions of compost and rain, the same flowers in California remain close to the ground, providing a true carpet of flowers that can be walked over without damage, as resilient as our lawn daisies.

While we don't have access to much recyled redwood here in the UK, there are plenty of ideas in this garden that easily transfer to our own plots. Kate Frey and Fetzer are keen that as many gardeners as possible join in to make a difference to our world, and their ideas are available in an information pack (e-mail your name and address to info@limmpr.com and put 'Fetzer factsheet' in the subject heading).

See: Photos: Fitzer show garden

Go to: Fetzer Winery page