The 2008 Chelsea Flower Show show garden plans have been unveiled.

Water gardens, water features, environment and sustainability are all major themes in the forthcoming 2008 Chelsea Flower Show - Go to http://www.watergardenermagazine.com/news for the latest news and pictures.

This year's Chelsea Flower Show promises to be up to the usual standard, which is an excellence so close to verging on perfection that other shows can only strive to achieve anything like the same quality of gardens and plants. Some of the great show garden creators will be there and with some new names to Chelsea that have huge international standing.

BERT HULS

Bert Huls - The Orange Garden - The Art of Nature “The Orange Garden – The Art of Nature”



Site number: WA10

Designer: Bert Huls

Contractor: Van Helvoirt Groenprojekten

Sponsor: Rabobank UK

‘The Orange Garden – The Art of Nature’ was inspired by the challenge to merge natural and contemporary design ideas. It consists of six different “sub themes” which divide the garden into different areas for different uses.

The first sub theme, “The garden is my living room”, is encapsulated by a modern covered terrace where the owner can sit throughout the year with a large dining table for entertaining. “The garden is my museum” is a green chamber made from slim hedges in which large pieces of art are hung. “The garden is my swimming pool” consists of a rectangular shaped swimming pond with an island in it for sun beds and relaxation. “The garden is my garden” displays borders for the real gardener. “The garden is my nature” incorporates a woodland feel, and plants are chosen for their qualities to attract wildlife and increase the biodiversity of the garden. And finally “The garden is my holiday” is inspired by the Mediterranean, and the planting reflects the colours and climate of the area.

The planting is divided into four main sections, including a violet border that provides the backbone to the garden. This is supported by a strong colour palette of blue and purple with accents of pink. A white and green border reflects the “natural” aspect of the garden.

BRETT LANDSCAPING IN ASSOCIATION WITH GEOFFREY WHITEN

Brett Landscaping in association with Geoffrey Whiten
“Real Life by Brett”



Site number: RHW43

Designer: Geoffrey Whiten

Contractor: Landscape Concepts

Sponsor: Brett Landscaping and Building Products

The ‘Real Life by Brett’ garden is themed around adaptability and sustainability. The garden is about real life aspirations, and provides a flexible outdoor space that’s perfect for everyday living. It is designed to change as the garden’s owner does, and can be adapted to suit each stage of life. The garden is one which could be recreated either as a small garden, or as part of a much larger one.

The garden incorporates a flexible, adaptable building, formal outdoor seating areas, water features, a compost bin and a series of square and rectangular plant beds. The paved areas will be an attractive mixture of pavers, aggregates and ground cover planting.

The beds and borders will be stocked with a selection of multi-stemmed trees, mature shrubs and pockets of colourful herbaceous plants, mixed in places with fruit, vegetables and culinary herbs. Ground cover will be planted in drifts and groups to add colour, texture and contrast to the muted shades of the stone. The balanced planting will give year round interest.

BUPA

“The BUPA Garden”

Site number: MA15

Designer: Cleve West

Contractor: Henley Salt Landscape and Architecture

Sponsor: BUPA

The value of gardens in the health care sector is becoming increasingly important, and ‘The BUPA Garden’ was inspired by BUPA’s global commitment to creating garden sanctuaries for care home residents. It is designed to illustrate the individual approach that the company takes in providing health and care, whilst also highlighting its international coverage and leadership as a provider of specialist care for older people.

A key element of the garden will be the use of features which make it particularly appropriate for care home residents who have dementia. A large spherical sculpture of textured concrete will be the garden’s main focus and will symbolise the organisation’s global values. The garden will also contain a soothing water feature, and the paths and planting schemes embrace the requirements of people with dementia.

The garden will feature a number of plants that are used in medicine and the planting structure will be made up of several large Amelanchier lamarckii. Carpinus hedging will divide the garden and provide different routes by maximising the use of space. A mixture of perennials, roses and grasses will provide colour, texture and scent.

The garden will serve as an example of how a small courtyard might be turned into a stimulating, but safe environment for residents and their carers, and after the show, the garden will be relocated to a newly-built care home in Kent.

CADOGAN ESTATES LTD

The Cadogen Garden by Robert MyersCadogen Estate Garden by Robert Myers
“A Cadogan Garden”

Site number: MA23

Designer: Robert Myers

Contractor: Willerby Landscapes

Sponsor: Cadogan Estates

The Cadogan Estate includes some of London’s most famous streets and garden squares, including Sloane Street and Cadogan Square. ‘A Cadogan Garden’ reflects the history and the future of the Cadogan Estate. It will be a contemporary space, inspired by elements of the modern courtyards and squares of the Estate, whilst also referencing elements from its history.

‘A Cadogan Garden’ is conceived as part of a larger, shared, private courtyard off a residential street, for sitting and quiet relaxation, somewhere within the Cadogan Estate. The garden is set in a Chelsea of the future, and assumes a somewhat hotter and sometimes wetter London than today, so incorporates lush planting and cooling water canals under dappled shade.

The garden is assumed to be largely enclosed to the sides and rear by buildings, and visible from the street through implied railings at the front. The “buildings” are represented by planted “green walls” divided into panels by strips of pre-cast stone. This references the emerging possibilities of the green architecture of the future.

Cadogen Estate Garden by Robert MyersCadogen Estate Garden by Robert Myers
A space at the rear of the garden will be used for informal seating, and will be paved with sawn York stone slabs. To one side of the terrace will be a statue of Sir Hans Sloane, the founder of the Cadogan Estate. Seen through overhanging trees, this statue forms a distant focal point along the main path. The terrace will be surrounded by a shallow canal, fed by a water wall. The canal will lead to two shallow rills which flow through the planting, creating narrow vistas and informal irrigation channels.

From the terrace, stepping stones lead across the canal into other parts of the garden. A stone path runs from the canal along the side of the garden, where a long solid timber seat enables residents to view the garden in both sun and shade.

To the front of the garden will be a small piazza area, paved with sawn York stone. The two water rills emerge at this point from the planting to join to form a small pool.

The planting is ornamental and designed mainly for semi-shade, with a high proportion of evergreens for year round use and reasonable ease of maintenance. A double layered tree canopy will be created with tall palms, and smaller sculptural trees. The centre of the garden will be occupied by a panel of low shrubs, ferns and herbaceous plants creating a woodland atmosphere, using plants selected for foliage as well as flowers. The colour of this planting will be predominantly green and white.

CANCER RESEARCH UK

Cancer Research UK by Andy Sturgeon
“The Cancer Research UK Garden”

Site number: MA21

Designer: Andy Sturgeon

Contractor: The Outdoor Room

Sponsor: Cancer Research UK

The ‘Cancer Research UK’ garden is a contemporary woodland garden, inspired by the enormous amount of progress which Cancer research UK has made, and continues to make, in the battle to beat cancer.

The progress of the organisation is represented by the inclusion of four large rectangular pools which increase in size from the front to the back of the garden. From within these pools, a series of computer generated raindrop-like ripples create a sequence of movement from the rear of the garden, towards the front.

The backdrop to the garden is a “thought wall”, a construction of shot blasted and waxed steel rings, designed to symbolise the amount of research carried out by Cancer Research UK. This is placed in front of a cutting edge concrete render, made from crushed almonds, onto which the evening sun will project the bubble shapes of the thought wall.

Key plants within the design include thirty large tree ferns, and the unusual Antarctic beech (Nothofagus antarctica). These are both southern hemisphere plants which will create an exotic wood and a series of glades, planted with shade and sun loving plants. The plant scheme itself relies predominately on green plants with differing textures. An accent colour of orange is conveyed with euphorbias, as well as the trunks of the tree ferns and the burnt orange colour of the wall.

CLARE AGNEW DESIGN

Claire Agnew design with "The Reflective Garden"
“The Reflective Garden”

Site number: RHW39

Designer: Clare Agnew

Contractor: Adam Frost Landscapes

Sponsor: Ruffer LLP

Although ‘The Reflective Garden’ is geometric in plan and structure, it was inspired by nature. Tall structural trees and flowering plants are in huge contrast to cool still reflective pools and horizontal groundcover.

The garden is bounded by Carpinus hedging and bamboo screening and within it there is an eye catching vista along the back length. Pleached Carpinus, roof shaped Platanus and Cornus controversa surround and overhang three still dark pools, providing both shelter and structure for contemplation and relaxation. The pools reflect the trees and passing clouds and the edges are flanked by early flowering plants and grasses which glisten in the water.

The garden plays on two senses; as the eye surveys the reflective pools, the ear is drawn to the running water from the wall fountain. The movement of water is in contrast to the stillness of the reflective pools, which in turn reflect the sky and bring light into the garden.

The planting is leafy and textural, with tall early flowering plants and grasses reflecting in the water. Flowers are mainly creamy whites with a touch of warmth thrown in, planted in bold clumps and drifts. Strap like leaves of bamboo and grasses rustle in the breeze with bold use of Calamagrostris and Buxus cubes. The stems of pleached Carpinus and six roof shaped Platanus trees mirror themselves at the water’s edge along with Aruncus, Rheum, Zantedeschia, Iris sibirica, Osmunda, Angelica and Crambe cordifolia.

CROCUS (THE DAILY TELEGRAPH)

Arabella Lennox-Boyd is back with "The Daily Telegraph Garden"Arabella Lennox-Boyd - "The Daily Telegraph Garden"“The Daily Telegraph Garden”

Site number: MA19

Designer: Arabella Lennox-Boyd

Contractor: Crocus

Sponsor: The Daily Telegraph

The theme of ‘The Daily Telegraph Garden’ is simplicity. Hard elements have been reduced to a minimum, while restrained planting and water come to the fore, encouraging reflection of light and contemplation. The garden was inspired by the purity and restraint found in Japanese gardens.

The garden is a contrast of vertical and horizontal elements; of planting and water; of hard and soft.

A stone edged, rectangular pool of water fills the space of the garden, and is softened by planting on two sides. A serpentine path of stone, crossed by ribbons of white water lilies (Nymphaea alba), links the front of the garden to the planting at the back, and leads the eye towards a bamboo thicket.

The pool is punctuated by sculptural rocks, half submerged in the pool, and four trees that frame the views and lend a sense of permanence to the garden, and a sense of age and height to the composition. The largest of these trees is Pterocarya fraxinifolia chosen for its association with water.

The plants in the garden were selected for their strong visual association and effect. Simplicity and precision are key to the planting design. Large green leaves (including Gunnera), grey leaves, verticals bamboo and iris, rounded shrubs and roses create a rhythm.

DATO K.T.

"A Forest Within the Chaos of a City" by Shao Fan
“A Forest Within the Chaos of a City”

Site number: MA17

Designer: Shao Fan

Contractor: Peter Dowle Plants and Gardens

Sponsor: K.T. Wong Charitable Trust

This garden is inspired by the desire to introduce an original modern Chinese garden to audiences in the west, to link China and Europe.
The garden is sunk one and a half metres into the ground and represents a traditional Chinese interpretation of the landscape as depicted within Chinese art. The interpretation is modern, yet maintains the cultural symbolism of the garden.

In keeping with the “Literati” aesthetic of renouncing worldly temptations and other material and social obligations, this garden seeks to calm the mind and spirit of the observer. Therefore, the planting will reflect the qualities of simplicity and natural rusticity that is sought after in a Scholar’s Garden.

Each plant or tree will be chosen for its individual beauty and unique characteristics most admired by the literati scholars. Bright and flamboyant plants and planting are naturally eschewed in a space that seeks to be a retreat or refuge from society.

The plants are indigenous Chinese plants, but many are also considered to be European garden plants. Many of the choices will have medicinal qualities that have been described in the Chinese Canon of Medicine and the cultural symbolism of the plants is of paramount importance.

Key plants include pine, fragrant Osmanthus, bamboo, tree peonies, Hemerocallis minor (syn. H. graminea), water lilies, Liridodendron Spiraea, trilliums, grasses, ferns and naturalised orchids.

DAYLESFORD ORGANIC

"The Aylesford Organic Garden - Summer Solstice" by Del Buono Gazerwitz Ltd"The Daylesford Organic Garden -Summer Solstice" by Del Buono Gazerwitz
“The Daylesford Organic Garden – Summer Solstice”

Site number: MA4

Designer: Del Buono Gazerwitz Ltd

Contractor: Brambles Garden Services

Sponsor: Daylesford Organic

An organic agrarian garden, linking a green wheat field flanked by native trees and wetland ditching, to a sheltered potager for the new century. Kitchen garden becomes ‘garden kitchen’ with an architectural green-roofed building where what is grown is prepared for dining outside. The planting is native and naturalised, and seasonal for the solstice. The garden is intended to demonstrate that the demands of organic practice, conservation, sustainability and self-sufficiency can be strengths, not limitation, in contemporary design.

DIARMUID GAVIN DESIGNS

Site number: MA24

Designer: Diarmuid Gavin

Contractor: Basewood Design
Press contact: Paula Robbins
Press contact tel: 020 7727 2002
Press contact email: Paula@diarmuidgavindesigns.co.uk
Exhibitor address: Diarmuid Gavin Designs, Studio 4, Folly Mews, 223a Portobello Road, London W11 1LU

[Details will be announced shortly]

FLEMING’S NURSERIES

"Fleming's and Trailfinder's Australian Garden presented by Melbourne, Victoria"
“Fleming’s and Trailfinder’s Australian Garden presented by Melbourne, Victoria”

Site number: RHW34

Designer: Jamie Durie

Contractor: Ian Barker and Associates

Sponsor: Fleming’s Nurseries and Trailfinders

The ‘Fleming’s and Trailfinder’s Australia Garden presented by Melbourne, Victoria’ has a distinctively Australian theme. The design uses some of the unique natural materials of the Australian landscape and combines them with modern elements to create a very liveable space. The design draws on the varying Australian landscape from the beach to the bush. There is an extensive use of water and an Australian native planting theme, utilising some of Australia’s most distinctive plants.

At the front of the garden, a large shallow pond of water gives way to a serpentine timber deck. Incorporated into the deck are some gentle undulations that function as ideal positions for lounging in the warmth of the sun. These undulations are cleverly mimicked in the pool to give the impression of curved water. Rising from the timber decking, a stone wall adds a new textural element and functions as a retaining wall for the planting at the rear of the garden. Incorporated into the stone is a large day bed which offers another ideal location for relaxing. From one section of the stone, water gently spills into a secondary pool adding the gentle and calming sound of water to the garden.

At the rear of the garden, larger rammed earth walls provide a natural backdrop, as well as providing a ‘canvas’ for some traditional Australian aboriginal artwork. Scattered throughout the garden are some large steel and copper sculptures that serve as decorative elements as well as offering the functionality of being used as planters. Also of sculptural significance are some large gabion bowls that showcase some large, distinctive Australian trees.

The Australian native plants utilised in the garden are selected predominantly for their unique and unusual forms, and they are all hardy and robust plants that are able to withstand the rigours of the dry and unpredictable Australian climate. The planting mimics the way many of these plants occur in their native habitats – the larger plants in random clusters with an under storey that is more consistent and uniform.

Key plants include Xanthorrhoea (grass tree) and Brachychiton (bottletree) – both unique in habit and typically Australian. Also included in the planting will be the new Anigozanthos ‘Bush Diamond’. This is a brand new release and the very first white flowering kangaroo paw which is a true colour breakthrough.

HOME GROUP

Home Group - "Northeast @ Home" by Penny Denoon and John CarmichaelHome Group - "Northeast @ Home" by Penny Denoon and John Carmichael
“Northeast @ Home”

Site number: RHW42

Designer: Penny Denoon, John Carmichael

Contractor: Landscape Management Services Ltd

Sponsor: Home Group Ltd, One Northeast

The “Northeast @ Home” garden is designed as a communal garden which retains an element of privacy. It is simple, but stylish. Sustainable, but not boring.

A building façade represents a ground floor apartment and stairs leading to a first floor apartment with balcony. A reclaimed timber deck is a private area for the ground floor apartment. Steps lead from the deck to the communal area.

A Perspex vegetable planter is located between the deck and the communal area, which is surfaced with a permeable resin ground aggregate which allows rainwater to disperse into the ground. Stainless steel banding links the first floor balcony with the rest of the garden, and provides a continuation of the circular design of the garden layout.

The planting creates soft semi-barriers to provide privacy, but also to delineate the different areas of the garden. The rear area structure is created with pine and birch, with under planting of white coloured shade lobbing perennials and ferns. Open barriers to the sides of the garden are created using mature Crataegus hedging and multi stemmed Malus, underplanted with yellow perennials and grasses. The open areas of the garden are planted with blue and grey coloured sun loving perennials and grasses, interplanted with structural shrubs and focal specimen plants.

Roof rainwater can be collected and transported along a cobble filled rill which leads to a rainwater reservoir located underneath the Perspex vegetable planter. Stored water is used to irrigate the vegetables. Any fast flow water is pulsed over the edge of the deck to be collected in the same reservoir, whilst also creating a water feature.

LAURENT-PERRIER

"The Laurent Perrier Garden" By Tom Stuart-Smith
“The Laurent-Perrier Garden”

Site number: MA20

Designer: Tom Stuart-Smith

Contractor: Crocus

Sponsor: Laurent-Perrier

The ‘Laurent-Perrier Garden’ is designed as a contemplative space with a dreamy and slightly surreal character. It is a garden of elegant understatement based on the idea of juxtaposing opposites. The build elements of the garden are comprised entirely of brick shaped objects, orientated in one direction, whilst the planting is in a seemingly random pattern.

The layout of the garden is composed by overlaying a number of separate patterns.

A grove of thirty year old hornbeams extends over the garden. The trees are pruned so that the foliage forms a number of rounded “clouds” which seem to float in mid air. This grove is dissected by a pattern of paths made from traditional Flemish bricks which are laid over the garden like a net. The paths eventually lead to a terrace at the back of the garden to a seating area.

A third element of the design is a number of zinc tanks which are placed throughout the garden. Designed by Andrew Ewing, they brim with water and appear to overflow. Zinc is also used in large panels to form the rear wall of the garden. The metal was chosen because it can be used to make precisely detailed features and has a beautiful patina, and the cool blue-grey colouring suits the contemplative green garden.

The fourth element of the design is the herbaceous planting which forms an undulating tapestry throughout the garden. The colour palette is predominantly green, and key plants include Rodgersia, Molinia, Epimedium, Asarum, Hosta ‘Devon Green’ and Astrantia. The planting is designed to be calm and poised, with an emphasis on form and texture, rather than colour.

LDM ITALIA

The infamous Paul Cooper with his 'From and Ocean to a Garden"
“From an Ocean to a Garden”

Site number: MA8

Designer: Paul Cooper

Contractor: Pople Landscaper

Sponsor: LDM Italia

The theme of the garden is a geological story. It is a garden as a visualisation of the history of limestone, which began on the seabed as compacted shells, later to be forced upwards as continents collided to form mountain ranges. It is a garden of two levels; a lower zone is given over to water, and an upper zone is dominated by planting. With the planting at head height and above, the garden is intended to provide an intimate sensory experience for the garden’s owner.

The architectural style of the garden refers to the 16th century limestone Veneto villas designed by Palladio, and the planting refers to both the native and man-made landscape of the same region.

The hard materials used will be exclusively Italian limestone. Water will cascade, pour and slide down all of the stone surfaces, columns and sculptural forms in the lower zone and will collect in pools within the contoured stone floor. This area is intended to represent the formation of the stone on the sea-bed.


The planting represents the final part of the narrative: the emergence and establishment of plant life on the young hills and mountains, and later the intervention in the natural landscape by man, first for crops and then for the creation of gardens.

The rear of the garden will contain the familiar backdrop of dark firs, supported by other plants native to this region. Productive plants such as olive and myrtle will also be included as will some imports which are now established in many of the Villa gardens in the region. A box hedge will serve to provide a link with the architecture, and will also separate the montage of agricultural and natural planting from the formal pleasure garden. Roses have been introduced in many of the Villa gardens of the regions and are used to complete the story of the limestone.

LEEDS CITY COUNCIL, PARKS AND COUNTRYSIDE

"The Largest Room in the House" designed by Denise Preston for Leeds City Council
“The Largest Room in the House”

Site number: MA12

Designer: Denise Preston

Contractor: Leeds City Council, Parks and Countryside

Sponsor: GMI Construction/Talbot House/The Royal British Legion

‘The Largest Room in the House’ celebrates the ninetieth anniversary of the end of the Great War and takes its inspiration from the garden at Talbot House at Poperinghe near Ypres in Belgium. Known as ‘the largest room in the house’ the garden at Talbot provided an oasis of peace and calm where soldiers were able to grab some much needed rest and relaxation between periods in the trenches.

The garden is a cameo of Talbot House and is designed to contain the main features of the original and, importantly, to capture its essential atmosphere. The textures, scent and colour of the planting palette has been chosen to give a sense of comfort, peace and serenity, using pastel shades in the central area, with the outer beds taking on slightly stronger tones.

Materials have been chosen to represent the simplicity of the features at Talbot House and are typical of those in place during the Great War. A raised area accommodates a replica of the wooden summer house that still exists in the garden at Talbot House.

LLOYDS TSB

"The Traveller's Retreat" by Trevor Tooth for Lloyds TSBTrevor Tooth's design for "The Traveller's Retreat" for Lloyds TSB garden: The hi-tech bits and pieces
“Traveller’s Retreat”

Site number: MA22

Designer: Trevor Tooth

Contractor: Trevor Tooth Garden Practice Ltd

Sponsor: Lloyds TSB

The ‘Traveller’s Retreat’ garden represents an area of garden that was once a pond, but due to the change in the water-table now sits mainly in the dry. This area has been transformed into an area of inspiration with vibrant colours, plants and architecture, evoking memories of travels around the world.

The garden will be surrounded by a two metre high rendered wall which will be painted black and red. The wall will give protection to some of the more tender varieties of plants, and the coloured back drop will compliment and jar against the planting. The garden is connected by an oak pathway suspended above the planting, linking circular concrete platforms which are designed to allow a visitor to the garden, the opportunity to pause on their journey through it.

Trevor Tooth's design for "The Traveller's Retreat" for Lloyds TSB garden: where the bitd goTrevor Tooth's design for "The Traveller's Retreat" for Lloyds TSB garden: The finished masterpiece
Travelling into the garden, the visitor reaches a curtain of water, which leads to a platform suspended over a pond with bubble jets to give the water movement and life. On this platform, the visitor can shelter from rain or sun under ‘Venus’ - a metal sculptured folly inspired by a Venus fly-trap and made of steel and Perspex.

The planting in the garden is an eclectic mix of plants giving different moods throughout the garden. Towards the front of the garden there will be plants that grow predominantly in dry, sunny positions, with mass drifts of Carex buchananii and Dianthus deltoides. An old olive tree sits to one side, and a Lagerstroemia under planted with Corokia cotoneaster to the other. Further in to the garden the planting becomes more tropical and vibrant and incorporates canna lilies, tree ferns, palms, Helenium and bananas, and plants in rich orange, red, yellow and blue. Verbena bonariensis repeats throughout the section, alongside purple textured plants, linking the planting scheme and leading the eye. The planting colours to the rear of the garden are gentler, with pinks, blues and greens and some subtle yellows.

There are several key features within the garden. To the rear, is the ‘curtain of water’ within a stainless steel frame, which encapsulates a waterfall in a modern form. This curves and divides the garden naturally. Creating power for the garden and home is a wind turbine which is placed amongst some silver birch trees.

MARSHALLS PLC

"The Marshall's Garden that Kids Really Want" by Ian Dexter
“The Marshalls Garden That Kids Really Want!”

Site number: MA14

Designer: Ian Dexter

Contractor: Marshalls Gardens & Driveways

Sponsor: Marshalls Plc

The theme of the ‘Marshalls Garden That Kids Really Want’ is an organic playground. Its aim is to create a sustainable, organic space with a balance of fun, excitement and risk in a controlled, managed environment. It is an area where children can connect with and learn about wildlife, horticulture and biodiversity.

The garden was inspired by what children really want. Throughout 2007 Marshalls conducted a series of school workshops to find out what children would like in their gardens if they had full design control, and from this, the ideas were translated into the final design for the garden.

The majority of the play elements within the garden are inspired by the children’s ideas, including a tree for climbing and a rock stack with openings to create a cave-like chamber, for scrambling over and playing within. The rock stack has water percolating through one of its faces into a shallow pool that is edged with timber rounds which create a stepping stone path. The path leads to a timber orb den. The garden also has a carved stone snake path that winds its way through the garden. The snake’s head rises above ground level to provide a platform for climbing and jumping.

The planting is designed to be robust and interactive. Large, bold leaves of Gunnera manicata and Fatsia japonica encourage children to play and hide amongst them. Other plants are more textural, including Acer triflorum and Prunus serrula with peeling barks, and Cryptomeria japonica ‘Elegans Compacta’, Cotinus coggygria ‘Young Lady’ and Stipa tenuissima with soft, tactile foliage. Strong, vertical accents such as Astelia nervosa ‘Westland’ work well within the soft planting, and grass mounds and other areas of wild flower encourage insects and other wildlife.

The Material World Charitable Foundation

"From Life to Life" by Yvonne Innes and Olivia Harrison
“From Life to Life”

Site number: RHW31

Designer: Yvonne Innes, Olivia Harrison

Contractor: Hillier Landscapes

Sponsor: The Material World Charitable Foundation

This garden was inspired by the life of George Harrison, who not only gained international fame from his time in The Beatles, but was a dedicated and inspired landscape gardener.

The garden will be divided into four areas to represent George’s life story. The area to represent his boyhood years in Liverpool will be a small area reflecting the post war atmosphere. It will include an old child’s bike, rough weedy grass and a reference to his father’s vegetable patch where George’s love of gardening began. The 60s are represented by colourful planting and textural contrasts reflecting the decade. A huge glass sun with George’s song titles spiralled into the glass is a focal point of this section. George’s mature gardening years are illustrated by a complete contrast to the 60s and feature a tranquil moss lawn with ferns, grasses and white stemmed birches. The final section, George’s spiritual life, is accessed via a narrow rill of water. The planting is predominantly white and red and as scented as possible. The area features an ornate pavilion with decorative hangings, furniture and cushions, as well as two trees, large shrubs, roses, perennials and grasses.

Linking each area is a path which changes in colour and texture as you progress along it.

PHILIP NASH

"Elevations" by Philip Nash
“Elevations”

Site number: MA1

Designer: Philip Nash

Contractor: Plantation

Sponsor: Gavin Jones Ltd, DuPont Corian

The purpose of this contemporary garden is to entice and inspire; a retreat for the emotions and a space to entertain. The garden is viewed from predominantly elevated perspectives to challenge the way one would usually move through a garden. The design also explores the use of contemporary, new materials in a progressive and unexpected way.

The backbone of the garden is an elevated walkway which leads you over planting and water, and finally bridges onto what appears to be a ‘floating island’ with an infinity pool at the heart of the garden. At its opposite end, the walkway transforms into satellite seating and a terrace.

QVC

"The QVC garden' by Sarah Price
“The QVC Garden”

Site number: RHW37

Designer: Sarah Price

Contractor: Wynniatt-Husey Clarke Ltd

Sponsor: QVC

‘The QVC Garden’ is a tranquil space for intimate relaxation, quiet enjoyment and rejuvenation.

The garden was inspired by the natural beauty of the Welsh Black Mountains. surrounded by still, reflective water and fresh, naturalistic planting; this is a space of calm beauty. To create a sense of connection with rural landscapes, further inspiration was drawn from natural cob structures, dry stone walling and meadow planting. In contrast, 1950s architect, Richard Neutras, inspired the integration of steel frames within the space.

An overhanging stone platform offers vistas across a still pool of water and naturalistic planting. Defined, steel frames create subtle points of alignment through which to view this tranquil, atmospheric space. Meadow planting extends into a mirror-like expanse of water, which in turn, seamlessly meets vertical glass. In contrast, rough cob walls further define the space.

Inspired by natural meadows, a palette of grasses is blended with umbellifers to simultaneously provide harmony and contrast in form. Parallel lines of perennials run in repeats through the loose planning. Lime green, cream, white and yellow create a fresh colour scheme in the garden. Accents of dusky pink and aubergine from Astrantia, Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’ and Atriplex hortensis var. rubra provide tonal counterpoints.

Working with the charity Thrive, the plants and trees exhibited in the garden will be replanted within Battersea Park as a part of its ongoing Battersea Project.

SAVILLS PLC

"The Savills Garden" by Philip Nixon“The Savills Garden”

Site number: MA18

Designer: Philip Nixon

Contractor: Landform Consultants

Sponsor: Savills Plc

Inspired by the Tate Modern, and the experience of the journey through its varied spaces, ‘The Savills Garden’ examines the relationship between art and gardening. Whilst preparing his design, Philip Nixon used the rhythm and geometry of pictures hanging on walls and sculpture on display in galleries to influence his thought processes.

The garden itself will be structured, geometric and randomly rectilinear. Both hard and soft materials will define the geometry. The planting will be predominately perennial with added accents of textural shrubs, including ‘frames’ of Buxus, and sculptural trees. The planting palette will be varied to allow for contrast in colour and form.

Key features in the garden will include frames of reflective water, echoing paintings on walls. They will be still pools where colour and textures is created through reflection.

STUDIO LASSO

"Garden in Silver Moonlight" by Haruko Seki
“Garden in Silver Moonlight”

Site number: RS1

Designer: Haruko Seki

Contractor: Terra Creative

Sponsor: Royal Palm Development Co. Ltd

The garden is inspired by the architectural features of the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto and it is designed as a contemporary interpretation of traditional Japanese concepts, such as a ‘succession of various sequential views’ and ‘capturing changing scenery alive’. The garden particularly focuses on the moon that is reflected and captured in a pond, to be looked at from a viewing platform.


In the middle of the pond the moon will appear by shot-blasted glass lit from the bottom of the water in the daytime. On 20 May, the real full moon will appear in the evening and will be reflected onto the pond and viewed from the platform at the highest point of the garden.

The garden is structured by a white stone pathway and viewing platform at the highest point. The curved path that leads finally to the platform travels first alongside water, then up a slope to a bamboo woodland. A wider decking path is surrounded by numerous bamboo sticks. The first line of the path leads people through the dark woodland of Japanese cypress trees, and the second line of pathway directs to the view of bamboo woodland behind the platform.

The dark woodland, as a backdrop to the garden, is mainly composed of cypress which is seen in shrines and temples in Japan, and provides a secluded atmosphere. The planting colour scheme is silver-grey, and silver foliages complements silver-grey hard materials. Marginal plants, including irises and water lilies will provide special character to the garden.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2008: Dates, Opening times and Vital statistics

Date: Tuesday 20 – Saturday 24 May 2008
20-21 May RHS members only
22-24 May RHS members and non-members

Time: 20-23 May 8am-8pm
24 May 8am-5.30pm (sell off starts at 4pm)

Venue: The Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London, SW3

Ticket hotline: 0870 842 2234

RHS show information: 020 7649 1885 www.rhs.org.uk/flowershows

The Exhibitors
There are around 600 exhibitors at the show, including:
• 22 show gardens
• 22 small gardens including courtyard gardens and urban gardens
• 100 floral exhibitors in the great pavilion
• Approximately 300 garden product exhibitors

Top name garden designers creating gardens at the show include:
• Tom Stuart-Smith, “The Laurent-Perrier Garden” for Laurent-Perrier
• Arabella Lennox-Boyd, “The Daily Telegraph Garden” for Crocus (The Daily Telegraph)
• Cleve West, “The BUPA Garden” for BUPA
• Shao Fan, “A Forest within the Chaos of a City” for DATO K.T.
• Andy Sturgeon, “The Cancer Research UK Garden” for Cancer Research UK

First time exhibitors include Growing Ambition, a group of newly qualified garden design students from Oaklands College, St Albans, who are designing a Small Garden for Simmons & Simmons. The eight women who make up Growing Ambition all come from very different backgrounds, including a former scientist, a beauty therapist, and a signer for the deaf.

Long standing garden designers include Geoff Whiten, designing a Show Garden for Brett Landscaping and Building Products. Geoff has designed a show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show every year since 1975, making 2008 his 33rd year.

The Show
The RHS Chelsea Flower show has been held at the Royal Hospital since 1931. The 2008 show will be the 86th to be held on the site.

The cycle of planning for the show lasts 15 months.

157,000 visitors will attend the show. The number has been capped at this since 1988.

Visitors say the Great Pavilion is their favourite feature at the show.

Most visitors spend about five hours at the show.

At the 2007 show, 68 gold medals were awarded to exhibitors.

In 2007, the evening programmes about the show on the BBC, were watched by over three million people a night.

During show week, 49,000 glasses of Pimms, and 5,000 bottles of champagne, 54,000 cups of tea and coffee and 28,000 sandwiches are sold.

Over the past six years, nearly 400 new plants have been launched at the show.

The Showground
The showground covers 11 acres and for the rest of the year, is a series of playing fields.

It takes up to three weeks to build a show garden, 10 days to build a small garden, but the gardens all come apart in just five days.

In 2006, a 100m deep borehole was drilled to source water for irrigating gardens and floral exhibits at the show.

Ticket information ALL tickets must be bought in advance
Tickets can be bought online at www.rhs.org.uk/flowershows or on the phone by calling 0870 842 2234.

 

RHS MEMBERS	8am-8pm	3.30pm-8pm	5.30pm-8pm
Tues 20 May	£46	£23	£15
Wed 21 May	£37	£20	£13
Thu 22 & Fri 23	£31	£23	£18
Sat 24 May	£31	-	-
NON-MEMBERS
Thu 22 & Fri 23	£41	£23	£18
Sat 24 May	£41	-	-