RES CEO Simon Ward supporting Sparsholt College Group with their Silver-Gilt award winning garden in the Green Stem Zone.It’s been two years since we unveiled the RES Insect Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
This year, we are working with Sparsholt College on their garden, ‘The Ugly Bug Ball’, to inspire people to learn about the ecosystem roles of insects as the conversations around biodiversity, insect decline, climate change and climate resilience continue.
Many insects are subject to negative press, and their importance is often overlooked while conventionally attractive insects such as bees and butterflies get lots of attention. ‘The Ugly Bug Ball’ aims to put the limelight on ants, beetles, earwigs, hoverflies, moths, springtails and others, which play vital roles in our gardens and ecosystems.
Sparsholt College, in collaboration with the Royal Entomological Society, are proud to stage The Ugly Bug Ball which has been crafted to showcase the fascinating miniature world of insects. Within the garden, which has been designed and constructed by Sparsholt students, visitors can explore the multitude of ways that insects support our gardens.
The design and concept of the garden takes inspiration from the Royal Entomological Society’s book ‘RES Insects: Discover the Science and Secrets Behind the World of Insects’, written by a team of leading entomologists from around the world, including Dr Claire Cresswell – Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and Agriculture Lecturer at University Centre Sparsholt.
The display aims to continue a long tradition of sharing important knowledge and expertise with as many people as possible.
Fran Sconce, RES Senior Learning & Outreach Officer, at the Sparsholt garden holding up her Biodiversity page in INSECTS
Darren Allsopp, an award winning, Hampshire-based artist, created unique insect sculptures from a combination of reclaimed stainless steel and a selection of diverse organic materials. The sculptures are inspired by nature and provide insects with the perfect environments to thrive in a garden as they also contain bug hotels. Each piece of Darren’s art is hand-crafted to capture the essence of movement, whether it be a creature or something more abstract.
The Ugly Bug Ball garden is home to six of Darren’s bespoke sculptures which not only bring a flash of iridescence to the display but also provide a haven for bugs of all varieties, from earwigs and ants to beetles and hoverflies.
The garden design consists of four areas or habitats which flow seamlessly together, surrounding a small house crowned with a modern and biodiverse wildflower roof.
So how can you make your garden a place where insects want to party?
The Sparsholt garden features a series of habitats, one of which has been equipped with unique, AI driven feature for visitors to explore.
The team at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) have kindly shared their Automated Monitoring of Insects system (AMI). The AMI is a long-term, autonomous system that monitors insects active at night, with a focus on moths. The system consists of UV and white lights for attracting and imaging moths, plus data storage to collate images over long sampling periods. Battery and solar power allow the system to be deployed away from mains power. With partners at Mila Quebec AI Institute, The Alan Turing Institute, and Aarhus University, CEH have developed AI species classifiers which search for moths within the images and identify them to species level, along with a confidence score defining the certainty of the prediction. Antenna, a data platform tool, allows researchers to visualise and interact with the data, providing an important tool for analysis and labelling new images to improve the AI classifiers.
Other highlights of the ‘Ugly Bug Ball’ garden
Dry hiding spots:
The dry garden features a gabion seat, providing homes for many different species including earwigs and beetles. Drought-resistant plants are great for hot sunny gardens and provide nectar for pollinators as well.
The woodland shade garden, including a small wildlife pond is a wonderful habitat for many insects. Old logs and leaf piles are a favourite for springtails, beetles and earwigs.
Water:
Insects need water to survive and visitors were encouraged to create small ponds or areas of water – this could even include a small barrel of water.
Flowers:
A range of different flowering species feature in the garden that will flower at different times throughout the year. Where possible, native species were incorporated into the planting scheme including night-scented flowering plants such as Nicotiana, Jasminum, and Philadelphus to appeal to moths.
Encouraging messy gardens:
Items such as a log pile or leaving a pile of leaves creates rich habitats and valuable food sources for springtails and other detrivores, nature’s waste eaters.
Wildflower meadows provide flowers for pollinators such as hoverflies and habitats for many beneficial insects, including ants. Meadows and areas of long grass provide an amazing space for insects to thrive. Whether mowing is reduced or or a meadow is planted from scratch, they can be incorporated into many different locations. The Sparsholt garden features three different meadow mixes – traditional grass meadow, a shade meadow and a meadow specifically design for green roofs.
Maximising space:
Even very small spaces can be havens for insects – ivy, Hedera helix, provides pollen for many insects and the space behind the climber is a great spot for many different species. The hazel hurdle provides an attractive alternative to a fence and the spaces in between are great places for insects to hide. Through our garden, the team encourages visitors to think about what they can do in their own garden to encourage insects.
“The health of our gardens, and the wider environment, relies on insects. We hope our garden encourages everyone to love insects as much as we do”
– Sparsholt College – ‘The Ugly Bug Ball’ team
Silver-Gilt Medal for ‘The Ugly Bug Ball’ at RHS Chelsea Flower ShowThe 2025 garden is designed by Sparsholt’s multiple-medal-winning-team including several full-time and part-time mature horticulture learners, in collaboration with the Royal Entomological Society.
