APL and HTA triumph
Members of the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) and Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) are celebrating success at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
APL Vice Chairman Mark Gregory from Landform Consultants came away with three gold medals. Gold medal number one was awarded to the ‘teenage retreat’ garden that he designed and constructed for The Childrens Society. This chill out garden comes complete with a Jamie Oliver outdoor pizza oven, fire pit, curtained seating area with a thyme roof and plunge pool was set amidst a planting scheme including multi-stemmed Acer campestre trees, foxgloves, ferns and aquilegias.
It was gold too for David Cubero and James Wong’s cool green Tourism Malaysian garden also constructed by Landform Consultants. The hatrick was completed by the Music on the Moors garden designed by Christina Williams and constructed by Landform Consultants, which also won the Best Courtyard garden category.
The best urban garden category was won by the gold medal winning The Unexpected Gardener designed by Jo Thompson and constructed by APL chairman Adam Frost and New Ground Landscapers for gardening charity Thrive.
Other APL member success includes:
Soar Valley Services – The Stephen Hawking Motor Neurone Disease Garden designed by Sue Hayward – Bronze Medal.
The Garden Builders – A Joy Forever designed by Kate Gould – Silver-Gilt Medal.
Graham Bodle and Walkers Nurseries – The Pine and Conifer Enthusiasts Garden – Silver Gilt Medal.
Amongst the other HTA members to receive a gold medal were:
Burncoose Nurseries
David Austin Roses
Hall Farm Nursery
Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants
Kelway Plants
Peter Beales Roses
Most decorated female
This morning’s RHS Gold Medal, awarded to Rosemary Hardy means that Beth Chatto and Jekka McVicar’s record of 14 Chelsea golds no longer stands. Rosemary Hardy, one half of the superb husband and wife team is now the most decorated female exhibitor.
Rosemary introduced three new plants, one of which was launched by Alan Titchmarsh for Naomi House Children’s Hospice, (Gaillardia Naomi Sunshine).
The large stand was in part due to kind sponsorship from Fenchurch Advisory Partners whose Managing Director Simon Yun-Farmbrough said “We are delighted to have been the sponsors of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants outstanding display at Chelsea, and congratulate Rosy on her truly exceptional achievement.”
Tel no. 01256 896533
hardy@cottagegardenplants.fsnet.co.uk
www.hardys-plants.co.uk
Best trade Stand
Marston & Langinger won Best Trade Stand for the 7th year in a row. Inchbald School of Design graduates were invited, for the first time, to enter a competition to design and landscape their trade stand. The expectation of the winner, Odie Green was high, given M&L’s previous wins but he did not disappoint.
Andrew Duff, Director of Garden Design at Inchbald School of Designtold The Landscaper , ‘What is so exciting about Odie’s design is the way in which he has played with design principles, creating a bold and innovative design. His use of sub-tropical and more conventional planting really pushes the boundaries. This is such a great opportunity for Odie to work with Marston and Langinger, realising his dream of a garden at Chelsea.’
Alice Barrington-Wells from M&L commented, ‘Thanks to a fantastic competition, a very talented garden designer and some very hard work we have done it!’
Double Gold
As the sponsor of the Orchid Society of Great Britain’s (OSGB) 50th exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau is delighted that the exhibit incorporating replica Sri Lankan statues has won a Gold Award at the Chelsea Flower Show 2010. A second Sri Lankan sponsored stand, that of Borneo Exotic, also won a Gold Award for their exhibit. Both exhibits are located in the Great Pavilion.
Sri Lanka director UK and Ireland, Sanjika Perera told The Landscaper “We are proud to be associated with the Orchid Society of Great Britain for a second year at the show and congratulate them on their well deserved Gold Award.” The OSGB stand, ablaze with colourful orchids from all over the world, is a lush showcase of exotic botanica”. Roy White, Chairman of the Orchid Society, said “It is the best display we have ever done” and pointed out that until three days before the Show opens the Society does not know what plants will be available from members, so the tension is always very high in the build up to the judging. “We could never have done this stand without the support of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, and when this is all over we will all be considering a holiday there, to see their unique orchid flora, lush jungles and magnificent botanic gardens where the orchids grow naturally.”
Third gold medal
Garden designer Adam Frost notches up a third gold medal at the world famous show.
Working with his landscape partners, New Ground Landscapes, Adam and Richard Penfold from NGL built this year’s Best Urban Garden – designed for the Thrive charity, by Jo Thompson.
The Unexpected Gardener garden, created for Thrive, shows how that age and disability are no barrier for gardening – incorporating raised planter beds for ease of access, and outdoor fireplace, fountain and seating area.
Adam – who lives in Stamford – is an already two-time gold medallist at Chelsea. He said: “Judging day is always an anxious time, so to be involved with a ‘best in show’ garden is amazing.”
Richard of New Ground Landscapestold The Landscaper : “It has been extremely hard work, but to get a gold medal makes it all worthwhile. Our last gold was in 2007 when we worked with Adam on his Realistic Retreat Garden.” Adam is also sharing a small part in another gold medal at this year’s Chelsea, helping with the planting on Mark Gregory’s Childrens’ Society Garden that also gained a top honour.
Claire Austin wins Gold
After a two year break from the world’s most famous flower show, Claire Austin, has returned to Chelsea in style to win the coveted Chelsea Gold medal. Claire’s exhibit features 40 varieties of bearded irises in perfect full bloom in a beautifully designed iris courtyard garden.
“I am so excited to win Chelsea Gold,” says Claire, who nurtured all the plants for the show at her Shropshire nursery. “It really is the ultimate accolade for every grower, and I am absolutely thrilled. It definitely makes all the effort behind the scenes worthwhile.”
“Why settle for 40 varieties at Chelsea, when you can see over 400 varieties for FREE in Shropshire this weekend?” Claire Austin’s FREE Iris Open Days – 29&30 May and 4&5 June
TEl 01939 251173
enquiries@claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk
www.claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk
65th consecutive Gold
There was joy and relief on the Hillier stand as the team learnt that their record-breaking run of Chelsea Gold medals remained intact. Andrew McIndoe, the company’s managing director and designer told The Landscaper “I am absolutely delighted with our medal result . Staging the Hillier Chelsea exhibit is a fantastic team effort, and so to win a 65th consecutive Chelsea Gold medal is a great thrill for the entire Hillier group, We had a mighty battle with the elements this spring, and all credit goes to Ricky Dorlay, who brought all his 45 years’ Chelsea experience to bear in preparing the Hillier plant material.“
Designed by Andrew McIndoe, the Hillier ‘Adventures in Gardening’ exhibit takes gardeners through a series of interlinking gardens from the soft palette of Sylvan Spirit and White Water through Indian Intrigue to the hot colours of Moroccan Magic and Venetian Adventures. Andy hopes Hillier have created an exhibit that will inspire and excite thousands of gardeners to embark on their own gardening adventures.
Tel: 01794 368944
andrewmcindoe@hillier.co.uk
Largest ever
Homelessness agencies, their service users and prisoners around the country had cause to celebrate when the Places of Change Show Garden won a silver medal. The Garden is the largest ever in the history of the event. It’s part of an ambitious collaboration between national regeneration agency the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), Communities and Local Government (CLG), the Eden Project, the national membership charity Homeless Link, and the London Employer Accord. It builds on the success of the silver medal award-winning Key Garden at the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show, which required the manpower of over 200 homeless service users
At almost 600 square metres and almost three times the size of the Key, and containing around 12,000 plants, a journey through the Places of Change garden reveals exclusion, choices, opportunity, hope, achievement, enterprise and change – and its powerful and challenging themes have proved a winner with the Royal Horticultural Society judges.
The Garden was created by around 500 volunteers from over 40 homeless agencies from all corners of the country, including Deptford Reach in London, the Salvation Army in Plymouth, St George’s Crypt in Leeds and Stonham Women’s Services in Hull. People from eight prisons also joined in with the growing and planting.
Overseen by the Eden Project’s award-winning designer Paul Stone, participants have been involved at every stage; from design, planting, gardening, construction, and carpentry during the site development, to on-site hospitality and multi-media facilities during the week of the Show. In doing so, they have gained new skills, new confidence, and discovered new talents.
Rob, a volunteer and service user at Watford New Hope Trust, who helped grow the vegetables in the food zone of the garden said today: "It’s been a privilege to be here and part of such a major event. It’s been a pleasure to focus on growing, which has been a great release from the pressures of daily life, and, most of all, hugely therapeutic."
The overall theme of the garden is craft and enterprise, and the importance of teamwork, which is reflected in a number of specially designated zones such as crops and food; florestry and leisure; medicine and health – which features a “green man” made of hundreds of healing plants grown in the precise bodily regions to which they bring benefit, to symbolise nurture and well-being; industry and manufacture; and conservation and the environment. All of these act as a metaphor for new skills and the journey embarked on by the individual to get there.
www.placesofchangegarden.org.uk
drowe@EdenProject.com
malinee.wanduragala@communities,gsi.gov.uk
World class talent’
Talented young gardeners showcase world class skills and reap rewards with silver medal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show
A team of talented young landscape gardeners that helped create a garden designed by UK Skills to showcase ‘world class talent’ have had their achievements celebrated by the judges by winning a silver medal.
UK Skills, the not for profit organisation that champions skills and learning for work through competitions and awards, created the garden “Growing World Class Talent: celebrating the workforce of tomorrow”, to promote excellence in vocational education and training. It also aimed to illustrate how greater investment in skills and development will help lift UK industry out of recession. The garden features a variety of edible, ornamental and native plants and showcases the wide range of skills that are required to construct an outdoor space suitable for 21st century living. The garden was judged in the Urban Garden category at the Show.
The extraordinary UK Skills garden build team, which included a team of talented young people all under the age of 25, created the garden from scratch using a wide range of expert skills which included: landscape gardening, bricklaying, electrical installation, cabinet making, plumbing, floristry and stonemasonry. All the skills represented in the UK Skills garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show are also present at the biennial WorldSkills Competition, the world’s largest international skills competition for young people.
(The biennial WorldSkills competition, hosted by UK Skills, will be held at ExCeL London, from 5th-8th October, 2011. Over 1,200 competitors, from 50 countries/regions will compete in 45 skills from landscape gardening to hairdressing and robotics and from bricklaying to cooking and aircraft maintenance)
John Woods scoops Gold
John Woods Nurseries won the Gold Medal for its Upwardly Mobile garden design and planting. The award recognises the development work and creative thinking behind the concept of this innovative front garden feature.
The award win continues the busy start to the event for John Woods Nurseries after the company played host to a star studded guest list on Monday, the first day of the Show. Dropping in on Upwardly Mobile were thespians, Sarah Lancashire, Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Derek Jacobi, TV presenter Linda Barker and music legend Lulu – who particularly liked the Twist’n’Shout hydrangea.
John Lord, managing director at John Woods Nurseries told The Landscaper “Upwardly mobile shows how easy it is to create kerb-to-frontage appeal to a home with original front garden design,” he said. “We’ve used plants that are happy in different types of soils and situations, for example, to help inexperienced gardeners understand their options. We’re delighted that the judges recognised the design principles, the planning and the sheer hard work that were necessary to bring this feature to life.”
Upwardly Mobile, part of Generation Gardens – a special feature at the show sponsored by The Sun and comprising six front garden designs – is showcasing plants from the company’s Endless Summer and First Editions ranges amongst others. Plot sizes on Generation Gardens are 5m x 5m and are backed by a house front to capture visitors’ imagination. At the end of the show, key elements of Upwardly Mobile will relocate to the National Gardening Centre at Capel Manor College to occupy a larger plot of 11m x 7m. Here key elements will evolve into a family-friendly back garden, supported by the rear facade of a modern contemporary family home.
The theme of the Upwardly Mobile garden is to demonstrate how easy it is to create a garden – especially your first – and take components of it, such as planted containers, with you when you move home. The garden incorporated some great plants from John Woods Nurseries. Drawing on the company’s broad range, the designers have made wide use of the Endless Summer range of repeat-flowering Hydrangeas, in particular the new lace-cap Twist ‘n’ Shout. From the First Editions range will be the evergreens, Coprosma Pacific Sunset and the first ever variegated Diervilla, US-developed Cool Splash, showing how to brighten up those dry shady areas. Complementing these is the striking Cornus VenusTM, recognisable by its large creamy-white bracts which appear for up to three weeks from mid to late May.
www.johnwoodsnurseries.co.uk
www.endlesssummerblooms.com
Leeds win away
Leeds City Council claimed their first-ever gold medal for excellence. The HESCO Garden 2010, produced by the council’s Parks and Countryside staff with engineering design and support from sponsors HESCO Bastion Limited, wowed the judges and visitors alike to earn the highest-ranking level of award at the prestigious event in London.
The gold medal is a first for Leeds at Chelsea after 
earning two successive Silver Gilt Flora awards in the last two years and either silver or bronze category awards with their five other previous show gardens dating back to their first appearance at Chelsea in 1997.
Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor Andrew Carter told The Landscaper “This is a day we have all dreamed of since Leeds first started coming to Chelsea – competing with the best in the world and winning a gold medal. It is an absolutely fantastic achievement for the city of Leeds and we are all delighted beyond words. Congratulations go to the whole Parks and Countryside team and we must say a huge thank you to our sponsors HESCO Bastion for their invaluable support. The garden looks absolutely incredible and everyone who worked so hard on it thoroughly deserves this success.”
The HESCO Garden 2010 is the largest and most ambitious garden design entered by Leeds at Chelsea, modelled on a section of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal complete with a canal and full-sized lock gates as the centrepiece which the organisers the RHS have confirmed is the first time such a water feature has ever appeared at Chelsea.
The theme of garden is to celebrate the green linkages which connect the city centre to the countryside in and around Leeds, as well as the importance of protecting the local environment and raising awareness of the proven health benefits green spaces provide.
The symbolic use of the canal and lock gates is a reflection of the industrial past of the city, when the Leeds-Liverpool waterway was used as a key transport route. The lock gates are also flanked by three distinct sections – woodland, wetland and a floral meadow – which can all be found in green spaces in Leeds.
The HESCO Garden 2010 was visited by a host of celebrities including Dame Helen Mirren, Piers Morgan, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Nick Knowles, Jayne Torvill, Christopher Biggins, Lesley Joseph, Linda Barker, Sarah Greene, Moira Stewart and Jennie Bond.
roger.boyde@leeds.gov.uk
Gold Knoll Gardens
Knoll Gardens near Wimborne in Dorset collected its ninth successive Gold Medal for ornamental grasses.
This year’s win is the latest in an unbroken series of Gold Medal’s going back to 2002 for Knoll’s owner, Neil Lucas, and provided a further opportunity for him to shine the spotlight on ornamental grasses, and their place in a sustainable approach to gardening. Visitors to the exhibit were particularly impressed with the selection of native grasses in the display.
The Gold Medal is an auspicious start to a gardening year which will see the completion of a number of new projects at Knoll, including the publication of Neil’s first book, ‘Designing with Ornamental Grasses’.
Other firsts include a programme of new Naturalistic Gardening Masterclasses starting on June 24th and the September launch of a range of Knoll Gardens’ grasses at Wisley before becoming generally available at select garden centres.
“This is going to be an exciting year for us at Knoll Gardens, and it is wonderful to have been awarded another Chelsea Gold Medal to start the gardening year in style,” said Neil. “Everyone recognises that plant quality required to win a Gold Medal at Chelsea, but I think they sometimes forget all the people that work continuously to maintain that quality. My personal thanks have to go to Ross Humphrey, my Nursery Manager, and Knoll’s team of staff. Their ongoing dedication plays a huge part in our continuing Gold Medal success.”
TEl 01202 873931.
enquiries@knollgardens.co.uk
www.knollgardens.co.uk