A garden designer from Earley has been chosen to showcase his work at a national gardening event.
Marc Buirski, 30, who first discovered his love of gardening as a child, will recreate the garden that has been designed for a local secondary school at the BBC Gardeners’ World Live 2025.
The event, which is set to take place from June 12 to June 15, will welcome thousands of people to the NEC in Birmingham.
Marc’s design, The Garden of Reflection, is a school garden that actively involves students in its creation and upkeep, fostering a supportive, peaceful environment for personal growth and mental wellbeing.
Marc also hopes to inspire the next generation of gardeners with the project.
He said: “The idea behind it is to have a kind of low-maintenance but colourful garden that’s running through the space.
“The space at the school is quite a long, thin space. It measures 70 metres by 7 metres and is at the back of the school.”
The garden, which is located at The Piggott School in Wargrave, will feature herbs such as thyme, oregano, and rosemary.
Students will be able to use these fresh products in their home economics classes.
There will also be vibrant plants like echinacea and agapanthus to add more colour to the garden.
The plants have been chosen specifically to flower later in the season so that students can enjoy them once they return from their summer holidays.
The students were involved in the initial planning stages and provided feedback on the garden’s design.
They also participated in a volunteer day alongside 70 members of the community, helping to shift 20 tonnes of mulch onto the site at the school.
In the run-up to the show, 15 of the school’s older students will join Marc and the team in Birmingham where they are having a planting day.
They will also be there to help during the BBC Gardeners’ World Live and speak to the public about the inspiration behind the garden.
Marc, who started his gardening journey as a hobby, said: “I first got into garden design because I am a gardener at heart. I enjoy plants and I love being surrounded by plants and for my own mental wellbeing I need to be outside and have my hands in the dirt.
“Speaking to the Piggott School, they said that they have children with special educational needs, social needs and mental health needs and they felt they needed to offer that space for them.”