Enchanted Gardens Videos
Join us on our journey to create the new Enchanted Gardens and watch for educational videos about natural gardening, courtesy of Donna!
Donna’s Garden News Report – January 2020
Donna is introducing you to her latest projects and all the things that are going on in the garden at this time of the year, including cleaning and repositioning the bird boxes, creating hedgehog holes and checking for drinking water, as well as taking part in the national Big Garden Bird Watch this weekend. For more…
Beyond Passionate: Wild About Gardens Award Ceremony in Canterbury
Maureen from the Kent Wildlife Trust introduces Donna and presents her with the special ‘Nature’s Champion’ award for the ‘Wild about Gardens’ competition. The ceremony was held at Canterbury College on Thursday, 24th October 2019. For more information:
East Kent Mencap Garden Makeover Project – Day 1
Donna is introducing her latest garden makeover project to the lovely volunteers from Network Rail, who very kindly came to help out and provide the manpower for digging up the East Kent Mencap garden in Margate. The plans were provided and the managers are very excited to hear our ideas for making it a really…
Justin Gilday exhibition: The Garden…. She needs some care.
Donna talks to sculptor and Silversmith Justin Gilday, introducing his incredible artwork that brilliantly communicates his concerns about the environment and humanity. The display was on show during the Enchanted Gardens NGS (National Open Garden Scheme) on 28th / 29th September 2019. For more information:
Natasha from @CarersCancerSupport talks to Donna from Enchanted Gardens
Natasha Sutton from Carers Cancer Support is campaigning to raise awareness of the struggle families go through. She is currently creating a dedication garden for her mother, together with Donna’s help. This is a pilot scheme for carers of cancer patients in Whitstable, but the plan is to introduce similar projects nationwide. For more information:
What materials to use to improve poor soil conditions
Donna talks about the importance of good compost, which should consist of organic top dressing, or also called mixed farmyard manure and organic matter. For more information:
Introducing the volunteers at Mencap Garden Makeover
Thanking the fabulous volunteers from Network Rail, who helped digging up the lawn for us at our Mencap Sensory Garden makeover project in September 2019. For more information:
Pruning Instructions and symptoms of a stressed Gleditsia, the Golden Honey Locust Tree
Donna shows you how to correctly and sensitively prune a Gleditsia tree . She is looking for shape and explains what ‘lightening the load’ and ‘lifting the skirt’ means in regards to this Japanese-style tree. For more information:
Guided Tour around the Enchanted Gardens nursery
Donna is talking to a group of 20 lovely people from the local Whitstable community. For more information:
Gleditsia: the utterly enchanting Honey Locust Tree, a stunning golden leaved beauty!
Please excuse the very noisy background. It was a windy day and we didn’t have a microphone to record this. We also didn’t have time to subtitle the video, but a second one is coming very soon (with an improved sound quality), were Donna will show you how to prune this tree. The honey locust,…
The importance of single petal ‘cabbage’ Roses
Donna introduces more useful flowers for pollinators from her Enchanted Garden in Whitstable, Kent. For more information:
Unusual & interesting plants to eat: Salsify/ Tragopogon
Donna talks about Tragopogon, or Salsify, a plant that has been growing at Enchanted Gardens for years. It is very quirky and pretty with lots of visits from our pollinators (hermaphrodite). It was first grown in Europe in the 16th century for its delicious Tap Root. You can harvest and blanch, puree, or roast it…
Poppies at Enchanted Gardens Plant Nursery Whitstable
Donna speaks about her amazing range of poppies in her independent plant nursery Enchanted Gardens and her plans to launch a new series of organic wildflower seeds. For more information:
Act Now: Buy bee-friendly plants! Enchanted Gardens on BBC South East News Today
On 30th April 2019, during a Bumblebee Trust guided walk, a rare Shrill Carder was found in our garden. On 9th May 2019 the BBC One South East News Today came down to produced a feature about this amazing find and Donna was interviewed by the team about the implication of loosing our pollinators. For…
Donna receives Silver Gilt by Chelsea Flower Show judge at Kent Garden Show 2019
Nursery ower and gifted plants woman, Donna Richardson of Enchanted Gardens is talking about the way she has created her latest masterpiece, which was on display at the Kent Garden Show Detling. For more information:
Bee Food for the Sunken Gardens at Royal Esplanade Margate
A bid to create a haven for the rare Shrill Carder bumble bee, headed up by coastal warden Pete Hasted, has led to the creation of a group determined to rescue the Sunken Gardens. We are delighted to assist this Society (SGS) and will provide them with Cosmos – one of the most valuable food…
Rare British Bee found at Enchanted Gardens in Kent
A very exciting discovery: Bex Cartwright from the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust (BBCT), found a very rare Shrill Carder Queen Bee (Bombus Sylvarum), a long tongued variety that prefers plants with long tubular flowers. She captured this queen bee at Enchanted Gardens Kent, an organic nursery dedicated to growing only bee & butterfly friendly plants…
Love your Clay: Lecture on Growing Plants in heavy Kent Soil
I’ve always been a ‘naturally gifted’ gardener and intuitively know what plants are and what they require. I genuinely struggle to accept the loss of hardy specimen and deeply regret that small independent nurseries – often family run – have declined very dramatically in the last 10 years, due to the pressures of business from…
Gardening for Mother Nature – Talk by Donna from Enchanted Gardens Kent
Donna runs Enchanted Gardens Kent in Whitstable and is absolutely passionate about pollinating insects and the loss of bees worldwide. Her approach is entirely organic and she mostly concentrates on native British perennials, since there are so few. She believes many of them have been dismissed, or are neglected as too old fashioned/ out of…
The Strength of the Light – Lecture on Seed Germination
A short introduction to one of the talks available at Enchanted Gardens. The lecture is presented by owner and manager Donna – a very knowledgeable, ‘naturally gifted’ gardener who intuitively knows what plants require in order to thrive. The whole presentation is 1 1/2 hour long, where you will find out about the importance of…
