After battling back from disastrous floods which swept through the borough last year, an award winning Kingston pub has been chosen to participate in a national garden scheme and help raise £2m for charity.

The Wych Elm Pub, in Elm Road, has already won numerous awards for its garden, including Kingston in Bloom and the Fullers annual flower competition.

The pub, which has been run by Janet and Manuel Turnes for 25 years, has now been chosen by the National Garden Scheme (NGS) to be included in their Gardens Open for Charity programme for 2009 after wowing judges with their urban oasis including a fruit-bearing banana tree.

The scheme raises money for good causes including Macmillan Cancer Support by opening up gardens to the public for a small fee which is then donated to charity.

The Wych Elm lost valuable takings and stock after their cellar was flooded last July but is now back to its blooming best.

The garden is filled with hanging baskets, bourganvillas, tree ferns, oleanders and even an olive tree.

Mrs Turnes said: “I love working in the garden and this year I just decided to go for it and enter the scheme.

“We’re really pleased and I hope it will attract people that wouldn’t usually come to pubs to come and pay us a visit.”

The pub will now be included in the NGS’s prestigious Yellow Book detailing the open garden and will hold one open day a week from next summer when it will offer afternoon teas and homemade cakes.

Penny Snell of the NGS scheme said: “The owner at the Wych Elm is a real plantswoman, skilled at growing very unusual plants and in a very unusual setting.”

For more information about the scheme, visit ngs.org.uk