Members of the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) and Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) presented the best examples of horticultural excellence, design and landscaping at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Hillier Landscapes built the World Vision Garden which is designed by John Warland and Sim Flemons. At the centre of the garden is a ripple pool which represents the effect the children’s charity has in the world’s hardest places. Circular ripples spread from the middle to its edge, symbolising how their work with children helps families, communities and, ultimately, entire countries.
A Rural Muse is designed by Adam Frost and built by APL members New Ground Landscapes. The garden is designed for a Stamford couple who love their region’s landscape and environment, especially the walks of the well-known local peasant poet John Clare. Adam Frost has taken inspiration from the distinct and diverse countryside that shaped much of Clare’s poetry to create a space for entertaining and relaxation designed with biodiversity and wildlife in mind.
The Westland Magical Garden designed by celebrity gardener Diarmuid Gavin is the largest garden ever seen at the show. The 80ft high pyramid shaped garden has seven differently themed levels which features over 3,000 plants including a forest of bamboo, upright columns of star jasmine, exquisite clipped box balls and multi stemmed birch and amelanchiers – all intermixed with hostas, peonies and carpets of geranium and Ophiopogon.
Built by APL members the Creative Landscape Co and designed by Andy Sturgeon, the M&G Garden is a new style of English garden that celebrates traditional craftsmanship and the beauty of natural materials. A series of formal paths and terraces combines with a water channel to create a succession of garden rooms. These are delineated by three monolithic walls and a linear bench that appears to float. The focal point is the energy wave sculpture, crafted that weaves through the garden.
Landform Consultants built the RBC Blue Water Garden, designed by Professor Nigel Dunnett and the Landscape Agency. It is a modern and environmental interpretation of the traditional paradise garden; instead of formal rills and canals, excess rainwater is channelled and stored in bioswales, which form the garden’s central feature. The garden explores the concept of rainwater management by showing how sustainable concepts and biodiversity can form the basis for the design of even the most formal gardens.
This year Homebase have teamed up with the Teenage Cancer Trust for their garden which is designed by Joe Swift and built by Willerby Landscapes, this garden has been inspired by the power of plants and natural forms in an urban and suburban environment. Four bold cedar wood frames create long views through the garden, whilst dividing the space into distinct areas. Stone and wood are present in conventional garden features, but are also used in more stylised features to decorate and energise the design.
In the Great Pavilion ……
Perrywood Garden Centre, near Tiptree, are made their Chelsea debut by supplying Pelargoniums, Geraniums, Nasturtiums, Thymes and Grasses for the British Plant Nursery Guide’s display at the show, which has been designed by Rosemary Coldstream.
Through their Miracle-Gro’wers initiative The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company have been working with schools across the country to create displays of flowers, fruit and vegetables in patriotic red, white and blue colours. Pupils from more than 150 schools, from Aberdeen to Torquay have participated in the growing experience and enjoyed growing plants from seeds, seedlings, bulbs and plugs to flowering and harvest.
Fermoys Garden Centre in Devon are working with over 40 local Primary Schools in their annual ‘Wheelie B’ competition, and Director Alan Murdoch will be delivering the winning barrows to Chelsea by tandem.