Witan Investment Trust PLC Global Growth Garden

Derived from the circular nature of the garden at RHS Hyde Hall, the design is formed around a double helical path along which the visitor will travel, experiencing the colours, scents and textures of a beautiful yet edible garden.

At the centre of the garden is a beautiful sculpture formed from leaves. The garden is framed with a grass covered landform. Witan is keen that the Global Growth Garden be welcoming and engaging for a wide range of visitors. The variation in plants and colours reflects the diversity and specialisms of Witan’s external managers within an holistic design, faithful to the company’s calm stewardship of its shareholders through turbulent markets to achieve long term growth in capital and income via active investment in global equities.

The inclusion of edible plants and flowers links to Witan’s sponsorship of the RHS Hyde Hall vegetable garden and the allusion to trees reflects Witan’s age, experience and authority, having been around since 1909. The designer, Jane Bailey, has a keen interest in unusual edibles and grows many experimentally on her own allotment.

The colour scheme progresses throughout the design, starting with a soft, relatively unstructured planting of cool, calm blues and whites (the sponsor’s colours) punctuated with bay balls. Plants include herbs (Achillea ageratum, Hyssopus officinalis, Clinipodium vulgare). This progresses through to pinks and purples (Salvia officinalis, Calamintha grandiflora and Chenopodium giganteum), culminating in hot reds, yellows and oranges of dahlias, hemerocallis and cannas, many of which are predominantly from the southern hemisphere. The plants reflect the broad diversity and specialisms of the Witan brand. In the central area of the garden the multistem amelanchier trees are underplanted with cool whites and greens of hostas, ostrich ferns, sweet woodruff and claytonia.

Edible Plants List: