Museum of Science and Industry – Bee Garden 2018

In 2018, Alex was approached by the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester to create a ‘Bee Garden’ for their site during the summer months to complement the Bee in the City festival which ran across Manchester city centre at the same time. Beautifully painted ‘Industrious Bee’ was chosen from a competition for the Bee in the City festival where local artists designed and painted giant bee sculptures. Inspired by the industrial nature of the museum’s site, the design mixed reclaimed and salvaged materials with soft and pretty planting. Echinacaea purpurea ‘White Swan’,  Perovskia and Achillea were just some of the of the nectar rich plants used to attract Bees and other pollinating insects. Old pallets were converted into a simple green wall which was planted with edible salad leaves and herbs. Fruit trees were planted into salvaged oil drums. Irrigation pipes were cut down to form a screening wall around the back and gabions were filled with logs, branches and roofing tiles to create a large insect hotel.. topped with a railway sleeper to make a bench. The garden was on site for several months, which meant that it was planted with long flowering species and was maintained by a museum led volunteer group.