The Octavia Hill Garden by Blue Diamond with the National Trust receives RHS / BBC People’s Choice Award at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Today, the penultimate day of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, The Octavia Hill Garden by Blue Diamond with the National Trust by award winning designer Ann-Marie Powell received this year’s RHS/BBC People’s Choice Award, an award voted for by the public.
The Show Garden was also voted the favourite of the junior judges who presented the designer with the RHS Children’s Choice Award earlier in the week.
The Octavia Hill Garden by Blue Diamond with the National Trust is a beautiful plant filled wildlife garden designed to stimulate physical, mental and social wellbeing set within an urban setting.
On receiving the award designer Ann-Marie Powell said: “My goodness it’s amazing to win this award because the garden is designed for people to enjoy nature and plants and every good thing that they do for us and so for the public to recognise that and support it – is just ace! I’ve loved gardening and plants for so many years, I think, if I can just share a bit of the joy I feel from gardening then that will help someone else make their life a little bit better.
I think Octavia Hill, one of the founders of the National Trust, would love the fact we have won the People’s Choice award as it is recognition that the public approve of the work she championed all those years ago, to celebrate the joy, benefits and importance of gardens and plants for everyone. It means so much for me and the hundreds of people who have worked on the garden to win this award and to have also received the RHS Children’s Choice Award chosen by children who are the gardeners of the future – that is just extraordinary!”
My husband has supported my career for decades and I am just thrilled that although he is very ill he is still around to see me win this award, I know he will be very proud and I couldn’t have done this without him.”
The winner of the People’s Choice Award in the smaller garden categories was The Pulp Friction – Growing Skills Garden by first time designers Will Dutch & Tin-Tin Azure-Marxen. The garden celebrates the work Pulp Friction does to champion the skill, determination and passion of their members who are learning disabled and autistic people and challenge the perceptions of what they can achieve. Pulp Friction members were involved in the build of the garden and so winning the People’s Choice for the smaller garden categories is a fantastic example of just what can be achieved.
In the Balcony and Container Garden category the public voted 24 year old Thomas Clarke’s ‘Children with Cancer UK ‘Raines Repurposed’ as their winner. A balcony designed to offer respite for families affected by childhood cancer.