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Below: Highlights of RHS Chelsea
Flower Show 2010:
Roger Platts will be creating a quintessentially British garden for RHS Chelsea Show
sponsors, M &G Investments. Rambling roses, lavender, foxgloves and myrtle create lush
border plantings around the central feature of a summer house carved from Sussex Oak.
The Stephen Hawking Garden for
Motor Neurone Disease, designed by Sue Hayward, is inspired by Professor Hawking’s
book on the origins of blackholes. The theme of the garden is the progression of time
which is represented by a clock set into a dry stone wall where water pours into a dark
spiralling hole.
James Towillis, designer of The
L’Occitane Garden has been inspired by the landscape, scents and sensations of Haute
Provence. Planting includes fabulous lavender, verbena and juniper punctuated with olive
and almond trees.
The ‘Places of Change’ garden by the Eden Project, will be the largest RHS
Chelsea Show Garden ever built. It features five designated zones: crops and food;
floristry and leisure; medicine and health; industry and manufacture which act as a
metaphor for the hidden treasures that lie within communities and the most unexpected
places. Eden’s Paul Stone is coordinating a team of experienced and novice garden
designers on the project. These include amateur designers from the UK’s homeless
centres.
Robert Myers, who has won four
Gold medals and the RHS People’s Choice 2009 accolade, returns for a sixth time.
‘Enlighten’ is the theme of his design for Cancer Research UK. Robert has
designed an ornamental, urban roof garden which celebrates the increased understanding of
the causes, diagnosis and treatment of cancer, offering a beacon of hope.
Tom Stuart-Smith, who has won 9
Gold medals and 3 best in shows, will create for Laurent-Perrier a visionary garden of
romance and elegance that offers a private, intimate space for entertainment or quiet
reflection. The centrepiece of this modern garden will be a bronze Pavillion designed by
award winning architect Jamie Fobert.
James Wong brings the exoticism
of the Far East to RHS Chelsea Flower Show for Tourism Malaysia. His inspiration comes
from the traditional ‘kampung’ (malay village) way of life. Elements of this
rural idyll will be transposed to create a chic courtyard garden in urban Kuala Lumpur.
The diverse planting will mix edible crops with rare pitcher plants, endangered bat lilies
and unique orchids.
A re-creation of a section of the
Leeds Liverpool Canal is the central feature of Leeds City Council’s The Hesco
Garden. The design highlights the link between the natural landscape and public
recreational space. This is demonstrated by an innovative planting scheme using hardy
annuals, showing their versatility for gardeners with their extensive season stretching
from early spring to the autumn.
Thomas Hoblyn’s design for
Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust celebrates Voltaire’s eighteenth century
classic, Candide. Set in a Turkish smallholding, it depicts the eponymous hero’s
journey across oceans and rapids represented by two pools linked by a scalloped flowform.
A risqué sculpture series depicts Candide’s love quest, Cunegonde, and her
transformation from a precocious girl to a social climbing courtesan, thorough a series of
lusty ‘thought bubbles’.
Phillipa Pearson and Jonathan
Denby’s design for South Lakes Hotels - The Victorian Aviary Garden - moves forward a
hundred years to the nineteenth century. The aviary is the central feature of this
Cumbrian garden now used as an informal outdoor room with its two side wings planted with
shrubs for year round interest. The aviary theme is reflected in other areas of the garden
with a bird-themed mosaic path. The box edged borders combine late Victorian planting
styles with a more modern approach.
The Fleming’s and
Trailfinders Australian Garden combines the love Australians have for outdoor living with
modern architecture. Key features include a swimming pool, spa, sunken lounge and
functional outdoor kitchen area.
The Daily Telegraph Garden
designed by Andy Sturgeon is a contemporary gravel garden influenced by the Maquis
shrubland of the Mediterranean, the Chaparral of California and Mexico, the Matorral of
central Chile and Fynbos from the Southern Cape. Spaces within the garden are created by
Cor-ten steel screens with linear natural stone paths leading to a courtyard dominated by
a stately cork oak. The sound of water creates a contemplative, spiritual space.
Kazahana, which translated from
Japanese means “A light snow flurry from a cloudless sky”, has been designed by
Ishihara Kazuyuki. A green oasis within an urban landscape, the majority of surfaces will
be clothed in plants to create an emerald room.
The Kebony-Naturally Norway
Garden designed by Darren Saines, takes inspiration from Nordic scenery including the
fjords. This is reflected in an undulating water feature surrounded by planting using
weather resistant species.
The Children’s
Society Garden designed by Mark Gregory has been inspired by The Children’s
Well-Being report. The survey of nearly 7,000 10 – 15 year olds revealed that what
made children most happy were their family, friends and having freedom of choice. The
garden reflects this need with a covered lounge seating area where families can unwind and
relax around a safely designed fire pit.
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Stephen Fry -
just one of the celebrities on preview day at Chelsea Flower Show in 2009
