Great storm photo exhibition open

The iris dell is among areas redesigned after the storm In Pictures: After the storm

An exhibition of photographs telling the story of how Kew's country garden recovered from the great storm of 1987 has opened in West Sussex.

Some 20,000 trees were uprooted or split in two at Wakehurst Place, near Ardingly in the storm which swept across South East England.

The exhibition, in the visitor centre until the end of December, shows how the garden was redesigned afterwards.

New features included a plantation of trees to provide shelter from the wind.

"We chose a walk through the temperate woodlands of the world as the theme for our new plantings," said head of Wakehurst, Andy Jackson.

Gardeners had to deal with 20,000 uprooted and broken trees

"It is now possible to walk from the woodlands of Tasmania to those of Taiwan, having visited the giant redwood forests of western North America."

The damage caused in the early hours of 16 October 20 years ago increased the garden's exposure to wind and sun.

But it also allowed the redesign of areas such as the iris dell and the Tony Schilling Asian heath garden

Wakehurst also holds the national collections of birch and southern beech, which will be a blaze of autumn colour while the great storm exhibition is on display.

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