FREE workshops are taking place at a new horticultural installation in the run-up to a media arts festival.

The Plant Pavilion and Archilace installation has been put in place in the Artists Garden at York Art Gallery and will be the focus of a number of workshops in the run up to the York Mediale festival, which runs from September 27 to October 6.

The timber structure, inspired by the shape of cathedral arches, will house hundreds of pots of flowering plants to attract bees, beetles, butterflies and other pollinating insects. It is part of a project by Loop.pH, a laboratory which creates art on an environmental and ecological theme.

Garden and inspect experts will be leading the free sessions, which run every Wednesday and Saturday in the garden from 2pm until 4pm.

There will also be a poetry session, Buzzing, with award-winning writer Anneliese Emmans Dean for children aged five to 11 on Saturday, September 1. They can write and take part in poems featuring the creatures who inhabit the garden.

Other workshops include:

• A wildlife-friendly gardening walk on Wednesday, September 5 when people can explore the most wildlife-friendly plants for gardens,

• A mini-beast hunt on September 8, Bees, Butterflies and More, when people can discover how bees are important to the food we eat and how ladybirds are masters of disguise.

• A seed collection on Wednesday, September 12, when people can collect seeds from native wildflowers.

• A willow-weaving craft session on Saturday September 15 to make dragonflies and bees with Angela Cole from York Hurdles. The workshop is not suitable for young children.

• A night-time safari on September 22 when families can scout for bats, moths and beetles between 7.30pm and 9.30pm.

For more information, or a full programme of events in York Mediale, please visit; yorkmediale.com