Last February 27th, a sustainable gardening workshop took place at the IES Joan Brossa institute in Barcelona, with the marketing team of the fashion company Desigual. The workshop was based on landscaping two spaces, one in sun and another in shade, with plants used in sustainable gardening. For this purpose, the concepts of sustainable gardening and the steps to follow to landscape a space were introduced.
As a summary, it was explained that sustainable gardening involves rationalizing and minimizing the use of external resources, such as water, fertilizers and phytosanitary products; the construction of such a garden is based on the use of species adapted to the natural environment of the place. But the choice of species is not the only aspect we must take into account, various recommendations that should also be followed were also explained:
Aspects related to the design and planning of the garden, such as the use that will be given to the garden, the area it will occupy and the objectives we want it to fulfill.
The study and actions on the soil, since we must know the characteristics of the land where the garden will be established and, if necessary, modify them to enhance the development of plants.
Image of land preparation
Very important is the selection of plants; at Sala Graupera we have a wide variety of species suitable for the climate of our area and which, by their nature, need little attention and little water.
Next, we must think about the irrigation system to be used. It is convenient to adapt irrigation to the needs of the plants and the characteristics of the land to optimize water consumption.
Finally, we also mentioned the different mulch materials that can be applied to the soil. Organic materials, such as pine bark, or inorganic ones, such as gravels or volcanic soils, prevent water loss through evaporation and the proliferation of weeds, while providing a pleasant aesthetic effect.
Once this introduction to sustainable gardening was made, we got down to work with the creation of the garden. We had three planters, one in the sun, and two more under a porch, in the shade.
Image of the planting process
Some of the species selected by the marketing team are plants with very diverse colors, both in the color of the leaves and the flowers. Among the sun plants we chose Dodonaea viscosa 'Purpurea', a plant with intense purple leaves from Australia / Arizona; Polygala myrtifolia, a South African plant that is currently in full bloom, with lilac-colored flowers. From our region, we opted for a plant with a very light violet-blue flower, Globularia alypum. We also selected Rhodanthemum hosmariense, a silvery green plant with a typical white Asteraceae flower, from Morocco. Lavandula angustifolia from the Lamiaceae family, with its typical flowering gave a touch of lilac color. And finally, different Phormium were mixed, playing with the colors of their leaves and sizes.
Image of the planter with shade plants
The planters located under the porch, which were in the shade, were planted with shade plants, of which we have a wide variety at Sala Graupera. Such as: the only Phormium resistant to shade; it is Phormium 'Platt's Black', with very dark purple leaves; Agapanthus 'tinkerbell', this agapanthus has variegated leaves and blooms in lilac. Fuchsia x hibrida was also planted, a plant with a very characteristic reddish-toned flowering; Iresine herbstii, Bergenia crassifolia, and finally also Acorus gramineus 'ogon', a plant with linear leaves from Japan.
From Sala Graupera we hope that this collaboration initiative with Desigual will serve to learn more about the world of sustainable gardening, value teamwork and bring our work closer to the students of IES Joan Brossa.