Chelsea Flower Show: Dame Judi Dench praises re-wilding garden

Dame Judi Dench has praised a charity that encourages people to re-wild gardens, saying it "inspires people".

The Oscar-winning actress was visiting a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show created by Cambridge-based charity Fauna and Flora International.

It was designed to replicated the landscape of Central Africa, including eucalyptus and banana trees and a true-to-life gorilla nest set.

"I'm very interested in everything to do with re-wilding," Dame Judi said.

The garden was built to celebrate the charity's 120th anniversary and the success of its gorilla conservation work, which started in 1978.

It also aims to highlight the importance of "wild" patches in British gardens, showcasing the impact of nettles, brambles and weeds on animals and insects in Africa and the UK.

Dame Judi is one of the charity's vice presidents along with Sir David Attenborough, who asked it to set up the gorilla conservation programme.

"I feel very pleased to be involved with something that is so good at [re-wilding] and that inspires people," the 88-year-old actress said.

She said re-wilding was "something I do in my garden, I have a lot of [wildlife] living in my garden not paying any rent".

The garden's gorilla nest set was designed by Cambridge primatologist Angelique Todd, who spent 20 years in Africa studying Silverback gorillas.

She said the Chelsea Flower Show was "a wonderful opportunity for Fauna and Flora to showcase their work saving nature".

The charity's conservation work was "not just about gorillas, it's about all sort of animals, insects, elephants, amphibians, reptiles, it's global", Ms Todd added.

Garden designer Jilayne Rickards said there was a "parallel" between the habitat of a gorilla and people's gardens.

She said: "I did go to central Africa [where there is] amazing foliage and plants, thistles, brambles, nettles, sticky grass and they're supporting this massive gorilla.

"So in the UK we have brambles, nettles and sticky grass, perhaps we should see what kind of wildlife that is attracting and stop ripping all that out."

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