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Cloudscape: Rain or Shine

Camila Torres Rise Communications and Student Engagement

Manchester Met students are back at it again, joining forces with Jason Williams, aka the Cloud Gardener, to bring more green spaces into our city. This year’s challenge? A Global Garden for the Manchester Flower Festival!

They are bringing not one, but two epic garden designs to the heart of the city, each crafted to suit one specific side of Manchester’s famously unpredictable weather – sunny or rainy.

And here’s the twist: none of them are horticulture or landscape students! These passionate participants stepped up to the challenge, inspired by their mentor’s Churchill Fellowship research, and have come up with some truly innovative ideas.

The Sunny Group

Inspired by Jason’s studies on guerrilla gardening in Barcelona, this group is all about edible gardens – small-scale, community-led green spaces that bring a bit of the wild into the city. Expect to see creative, sustainable designs that turn grey spaces into lush, productive pockets of green.

The Rain Group

Taking cues from sponge parks in Wuhan and Chongqing, this group is focused on water-smart gardening. They are using what they learned about stormwater management to create a garden that soaks up rain like a pro, helping tackle one of Manchester’s most iconic features – its rainy weathe

Catch Us at the Manchester Flower Festival!

The Manchester Flower Festival is a free event that transforms Manchester City Centre into a floral oasis. It runs from the 23rd to the 26th of May and is completely free! If you are in town, swing by King Street to see these creative student gardens in the Ginnel Gardens – come say hi and check out what they’ve been working on!

What Happens Next?

After the show, both gardens will be relocated to Easy Come, Easy Grow (ECEG) in Oldham. ECEG is a group of residents in Newton Heath working together to create positive change. They transform unloved spaces into welcoming, inclusive, and accessible green havens, supporting their community through gardening, creative projects, and local events.

Special shoutout to Notcutts UK, Sow the City, Greater Manchester, Boiler House, and CityCo Manchester BID for making this all possible.

Rain or shine, let’s grow together!