By Isle of Wight Observer
Ventnor resident Lesley Brown, known as the Ventnor Flower Fairy for her work transforming weed-infested spaces into fragment havens for bees and other pollinators, is raising funds to help her spread her magic a little wider.
Her mission started when she noticed that the beds outside Ventnor Winter Gardens needed some tender loving care, so with the blessing of the owners she filled them with over 300 plants she had grown from seed or cuttings. She then turned her attention to the neglected and overgrown exterior of the BT Building and has her eye on the land outside St Wilfred’s Church.
Lesley has given all her time and efforts for free, but now wants to raise funds to help her feed even more bees. She needs to purchase compost, perlite, paint for community planters and raised beds and the occasional packet of seeds. She hopes that Islanders will support her work by buying her decoupaged steel buckets, which she will decorate to order in the evenings ‘when it’s too dark to grow flowers’. You can purchase them empty at £15 or fully planted for £20. Each one is unique and plants will vary according to the season and what Lesley has available at the time.
All profits will go towards filling Ventnor with flowers and there is also a collection pot in Lesley’s Nutshell shop in Pier Street.
You can contact Lesley and place an order through her Facebook Ventnor Flower Fairy page.
