The Plants and Flowers From around the World
All of the flowers and vegetables were grown in local schools and at the Roots to Fruit midlands ltd training centre in Sutton Coldfield through the support and help of local volunteers and horticultural students. They were also planted and maintained by pupils and volunteers in the Peace Garden.
The Remembrance Poppy Trail
The garden was made an official memorial for the remembrance of those lost in conflict, the Commonwealth Games 2022 Legacy Garden has a number of Remembrance Day poppies hidden in amongst its features for visitors to find.
The Covid Memorial Meadow
Sutton Coldfield based not-for-profit Social Enterprise Roots to Fruit have created a unique memorial to the loss experienced during the Covid19 pandemic at the St Thomas Peace Garden in central Birmingham.
As part of a wider project to install a legacy garden to commemorate the 2022 Commonwealth Games, some of the space has been given over to a wildflower meadow planted by members of the public by open invitation.
Company Director and Project Manager Jon Ensell said, “We were really honoured to be asked to devise a way for people to reflect on their experiences during the pandemic – but for us it was important that the opportunity we provided was a living, breathing thing and that people could engage with it in a very practical, hands-on way”
“Our students have produced postcards using traditional methods to make the paper – but with the added twist of embedding wildflower seeds within it! We have invited members of the public from every part of the community to come along to one of our planting sessions to write their messages of loss, sadness – and hope – onto a postcard and then to plant it. In time all of those postcards will blossom and bloom into something really beautiful.”
Fellow Director, Adam Holder, added, “Everyone lost something to the pandemic. For some it was their peace of mind, for others it was their employment or some element of the education of their children, For others, it was the ultimate loss – a loved one before their time. We see this opportunity, this meadow, as the antithesis of the virus. An explosion of colour, life and hope.” Here’s a video showing how the memorial meadow will continue to bloom: