News

 ROGER SAUL TO OPEN NEW LIFESTYLE DESTINATION, KILVER COURT IN SOMERSET IN CELEBRATION OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Roger Saul, founder of designer label Mulberry and owner of cult British food label Sharpham Park and boutique hotel Charlton House, is to unveil his latest venture – Kilver Court – in Somerset in July.Part of the restored Kilver Court Garden

The Gardens were first created by Ernest Jardine as a recreational space for factory workers of Kilver Court in the 1800s and were known as Jardine’s Park and Vegetable Gardens. In the 1960s they were restored and developed by the Showering family of Babycham fame, who commissioned Charles Whiteleg to recreate his Gold medal winning Chelsea Flower Showrockery garden within the setting. At the time the garden was a bold and modern design statement. Since then the Gardens have been a hidden secret for the past 25 years.

The Gardens feature a millpond and boating lake as well as rolling lawns, parterres and herbaceous borders. But probably the most staggering feature of this Secret garden is the backdrop - a vast Grade II listed viaduct built for the Somerset and Dorset railway in the 1800s and which now acts as a link to the rolling Somerset countryside beyond. In addition, following the success of the vegetable garden at Sharpham Park, Jardine’s concept of model fruit and vegetable cultivation will be reinstated with the establishment of a sustainable bio-dynamic system both for education and to supply organic produce to the Shop and Café.

June 2008: News from Hozelock about the products that were unveiled at the Chelsea Flower show and that will also be aired atThe new AC Rain Sensor from Hozelock Gardeners’ World Live and the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

New Hozelock one-touch tap timer makes holiday watering easy, an environment sensor which saves water by turning off sprinklers and other garden irrigation devices when it rains is one of several water-wise innovations which Hozelock will be unveiling to visitors to Gardeners’ World Live (NEC, June 11-15, Stand G155 in Hall 20) and the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show (July 8-13, Stand A/65).

The AC Rain Sensor (£14.99) is a companion product to another new watering aid, the AC Pro electronic tap timer (£49.99) which puts fully automatic watering at every gardener’s fingertips. As a show bonus, the sensor will be given away free to every visitor who purchases an AC Pro.

Big, soft touch buttons and 13 one-touch program settings – plus many more via an on-screen interactive ‘Watering Wizard’ – make the AC Pro electronic tap timer really easy to use, even for those of us with technophobia or big fingers. Creating a custom watering program via the Wizard’s simple question and answer menus is as easy as using a mobile ‘phone.
Used with a sprinkler to water a new lawn, it makes it possible to time-shift watering to the middle of the night when evaporation loss will be minimised and when water demand is at its lowest. Or it can control a drip watering system so that hanging baskets, patio containers or greenhouse plants are efficiently irrigated throughout the year – including during holidays – without ever having to pick up a heavy watering can again.

The AC Rain Sensor uses hygroscopic discs which mimic the characteristics of the soil, pausing the active watering program whenever rain is detected and reactivating it as and when the soil dries out. It can be programmed to react to a range of rainfall measurements from 3mm to 25mm so that light rain can be ignored.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has pronounced the 2008 RHS Chelsea Flower Show to be the best one ever! Sixteen of the 43 gardens at this year’s show and 41 floral exhibitors in the Great Pavilion, have been awarded coveted RHS Gold Awards at the world’s best flower show. This was the news from the latest RHS press release.
Robert Sweet, organiser of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, said: “Chelsea stands for the highest level of horticultural excellence, and this year is no exception with the number of gold medals awarded for gardens increasing by 30% above any previous year. The show gardens have gone the extra mile to set the backdrop for some of the most exciting trees and plants ever seen at the show. Within the Great Pavilion, trees are tickling the ceiling and the floral exuberance is better than we have ever seen before.”

“The RHS Chelsea Flower Show continues to surprise, and annually it brings new plants and innovative designs from world class designers. Exhibitors have given special attention this year to environmental responsibility by designing in features including water harvesting, recycling and using plants which are carbon dioxide guzzlers.”

Tom Stuart-Smith once more designing a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show for Laurent-Perrier has earned again the ultimate accolade of Best Show Garden as well as a Gold Medal. Tom has used a overflowing zinc troughs as a distinctive feature in his garden garden. These match the rear panels of the garden in zince, the soft grey of the zinc is always a strong favourite of Tom's.

As for the use of water as a feature in the gardens as a whole, designers are as usual using water as a strong design element in gardens of all shapes and sizes. Whether it’s for drowning
out the noise of urban living, watering plants or for attracting
wildlife. Also designers are set to inspire visitors to make responsible use of water in gardens for 2008. See the gardens below as special inspration for water gardeners.

The Spring Gardening Show at the Three Counties Show Ground near Malvern is the first really big event on the RoyalHorticultural Society calender. It is co-hosted by the Three Counties Agricultural Society and so you get a real flavour of the people, crafts and skills of that truly real rural England that is made up of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. The Food Hall and Craft Halls are in a class of their own for this sort of event and if your bent is not necessarily total commitment to gardening then the show is worth a visit for these areas alone. But for those that are really addicted to gardening, this is the first outing after months 'holed-up' and verging on 'cabin fever' and you can see it on their faces. People are mad with anticipation and desperate to get their hands on plants. There are nurseries galore at the show inside and outside the marquees and they do a roaring trade as plants of all shapes and sizes are barrowed out to waiting cars. One of the busiest stands were the ones selling little plastic collapsible trollies (at a tenner a time) that made the perfect mini-wheelie-bin to cart these newly purchased precious charges to the car.

SHOW GARDENS AT MALVERN 2008 and the Chris Beardshaw Scholarship

This show has always been considered as a stepping stone to the shows later in the year for ambitious garden designers that want their work to be seen by a larger audience. For others it is the first opportunity to put their skills on show and take enough commissions to see them through the rest of the year. This does not mean to say that the gardens are any less of a standard that the RHS would stage at any of their other shows, but it is does tend to mean that the show gardens are simpler and more modest since sponsorship tends to be private or the gardens are self-sponsored.

This year, a unique mentoring scholarship with award winning gardener, lecturer and journalist Chris Beardshaw, was on offer to an aspiring or up and coming garden designer. This would be awarded to one of 12 people that had been shortlisted to create a garden at Malvern. Whilst the show was on they were asked to pitch their garden, their ideas and their ideals and motivation to a panel of judges in front of an audience of the general public and the press in the Design for Living Theatre tent. There was a public vote and the final decision was made by Chris, Bob Sweet (Head of RHS Shows Development) and Ian Wright of Bradstone (Bradstone being the sponsors of the scheme). The winner with the best business case and showing the greatest imagination would look forward to a 12month vocational apprenticeship with Chris culminating in a recognised RHS qualifaication.

As a mid-term test, they would create another garden at the Autumn show at Malvern. Then as the the ultimate challenge they would be asked to build a small garden at the prestigiuos Chelsea Flower Show. This should pretty much guarantee them a career for the rest of their lives in garden design.

The winner this first year was Lindsay Anglin of Green and Stone who created "A Twist in the Tale" with a special award for Jack Dunkley, the amazing precocious but charming 15 year old who created "Ornamental Hurst". He will produce a garden at the Hampton Court Flower Show.