Beautiful borders

Our gardening team has added more than 1,500 bedding plants to DZG’s formal borders – and it’s looking blooming lovely.

French marigolds, pelargoniums, salvias and cordylines have been planted around our 40-acre site including the nine beds near the Castle keep to create a delightful display for our visitors.

Plants are also being put in at the Victorian cottage, known affectionately as Harry Hatch’s Cottage after the Head Gardener who lived there when the zoo opened to the public in 1937, and borders near reptiles, flamingos and spider monkeys.

Then later this month the team will move on to put up hanging baskets and make urn arrangements outside the Queen Mary Restaurant.

DZG Head Gardener Carl Stevens said: “We always make sure the formal borders are re-stocked in early June as part of our summer planting programme.

“We are now praying for rain in the evenings and the nights for the new plants and sunshine in the day for our zoo visitors.”