Design and planting ideas to seek out
Chris Young, editor of The Garden, nominates five gardens that stand out from the crowd for their creative use of space and inspired plantsmanship.
This is what the show should be all about – innovative designs and a garden to take your breath away. With the vertical compressed plastic screens around the perimeter of the garden, your focus goes to the centre and onto a calm, ‘black’ reflecting pool with two grass domes. One is convex, another is concave. One represents prosperous nations, the other poorer nations of the world. The message (that half the world’s children are living in poverty) is simple, and the design is strong.
One of the beauties of the English natural landscape is that of a chalk stream, and Fiona Stephenson has recreated that magic here. The informal feel to the garden, with plants such as meadowsweet and water crowfoot along the stream, bring a great sense of reality to the place. But it isn’t all ‘pastiche’ – contemporary sculptural spherical balls arise from the planting; a giant plug reminds us not to waste water; and the whole space reminds visitors of the balance between nature and human demands.
Bold colours, bold design, and a bold message (that women should check their breast regularly) makes this conceptual garden a great piece of design. Different hard materials (from grey rendered concrete walls to the reflective pink/blue/grey of the charity’s corporate colour) and simple, differently-shaped box balls (representing the individuality of women) create a dynamic and thoughtful garden.
Sinking a garden is a neat trick if you have a limited amount of space, and by going down 1.5m (5ft), designer William Quarmby has made this small garden feel a lot bigger than it actually is. A ‘green wall’ of heathers, spring and summer-flowering, creates a lovely, tactical backdrop; the stone wall runs the length of the space; and mixed planting softens the whole design. Generous steps and simple pipe water features make this a very achievable and realistic urban garden.
Welcoming the height of summer, this garden has as much produce as a small space can support. A range of crops are grown, within wall planting holders, planting bags and a lightly ‘planted’ wooden table. The garden is brimming with fresh produce that well mimics the high-summer promise that a kitchen garden offers. Creating a raised planting area, and a chamomile lawn, every inch of space has been used.