RES GARDEN IS COMING TO IQL STRATFORD
From Chelsea Flower Show to IQL Stratford: Tom Massey’s urban insect garden gets a new home.
This summer, IQL Stratford will welcome an exciting new public garden to the neighbourhood. The Royal Entomological Society (RES) garden, created by award-winning landscape and garden designer Tom Massey, will first be unveiled at the RHS Chelsea Flower show in May (22-27 May), before finding its new permanent home at IQL Stratford.
The garden, supported by Project Giving Back, is an innovative, interactive space that puts insect life front and centre. Tom Massey designed the garden to showcase how special and valuable insects are; a layered, rich landscape of biodiversity and habitats. With dead tree sculptures, clusters of plants commonly considered weeds, even rubble and dead wood, the final design is a beautiful and enticing landscape for insects.
“I’m really excited to be working with the Royal Entomological Society to raise awareness of insects and their importance in gardens – especially in urban settings – the wider UK landscape, and the global environment,” Massey says. “Insects are a key species in our ecosystems, but many are suffering mass global decline. We have a vital role to play in their recovery and survival, just as they do in ours.”
Once at IQL Stratford, the RES Garden will act as a publicly accessible teaching garden; a space for communities to observe and learn more about insects in urban spaces.
It won’t be Tom Massey’s first space at IQL Stratford, as he previously created the Hothouse for London Design Festival 2020, and the IQL mobile orchard.
This summer, don’t miss the chance to experience Massey’s latest work for yourself at IQL Stratford – and learn more about London’s insects at the same time.