Students of the Gloucestershire-based Butterfly Garden were keen to show-off their work as Durston Garden Products re-paid them a visit following a delivery of compost to the organisation earlier this year.
The Butterfly Garden is a member of the horticulture-based charity Thrive and the brainchild of local nurseryman Chris Evans.
Chris initially set up the Butterfly Garden some ten years ago for children and adults with autism, and since then the organisation has gone from strength-to-strength and today supports in excess of two hundred and fifty students with special needs, ranging from the age of seven to seventy.
Since Durstons started supplying the compost to the Butterfly Garden earlier this year, the students have been kept busy planting and growing flowers and vegetables. Chris commented: “It’s something they love to do. Seeing the expressions on their faces, as seeds and plug plants start to grow and take on a life of their own, is truly special. We teach them every aspect of the life-cycle of a plant and make sure that they care for and maintain their allocated space each and every day. We’ve used many different brands of compost over the years and I have to say that Durston’s really is a quality product and we are delighted to now be partnering with them.”
Students who attend The Butterfly Garden have the opportunity to engage in educational, recreational and therapeutic projects, irrespective of age or condition.
Durston Garden Products national sales manager Dan Durston said: “It’s a real privilege to be involved with Chris and The Butterfly Garden and a real humbling experience to see what he and his team have achieved over the last ten years. It’s also extremely pleasing to see what a huge difference this place has made to the lives of so many, many people with disablements in and around Gloucestershire who, let’s be honest, are quite often brushed aside in society and could so easily be sat at home with no real prospect for the future, without people like Chris and his team of helpers looking out for them.”
