Exciting new gardens for 2012
Highlights of the Show gardens and Show features at the 2012 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show
RHS online staff
Monday, July 02, 2012
There are some exciting gardens coming to the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show sponsored by Ecover. Here’s our rundown of the fantastic Show gardens and Show features.
Show gardens
The Badger Beer Garden designed by Flemonds Warland Design
Take a gentle stroll through the Dorset countryside, with a chance to sample Badger’s locally brewed ales. The garden’s contemporary design is inspired by the landscape, heritage and local flora surrounding the brewery in Blandford St Mary, Dorset and uses beer bottles in unique and beautiful ways. It is the first garden in the show’s history to be sponsored by a brewery and hopes to bring a taste of the countryside to London.
The two contrasting halves of this garden draw inspiration from the arts and literary heritage of Victorian Bournemouth’s most famous residents. The dark side’s subtropical design reflects the Gothic works of Mary Shelley and Robert Louis Stevenson, while the drift-like planting of the lighter side brings to mind the Art Nouveau works of Aubrey Beardsley.
This is a contemporary, Italian-inspired garden with both formal and informal planting. A calming atmosphere of tranquillity, the garden will provide a subtle place for relaxation and contemplation. It will also feature elements of balanced geometry, which will be represented by hornbeams and sculptures.
This garden takes visitors on a journey, lifting them out of the despair that adults with Overactive Bladder (OAB) can experience. The garden’s whirlpool water feature symbolises a distressing and unpredictable need to relieve the bladder, which can lead people with OAB to feel isolated, depressed and alone. Drawing the eye upwards out of the mire, a tree-lined bridge offers the pathway to freedom, allowing people with OAB to live life the way they choose.
Tony Smith takes inspiration for his garden from pharmaceutical companies patenting the compounds they have synthesized from rainforest plants. The natural green of the plants contrasts with the unnatural green and red of the test tubes. The white orchids are tainted by the green and red light representing man's interference with nature.
Contemporary Contemplation designed by OneAbode
This contemporary and stylish garden features structural planting with a graphic formation of spectacular, white-flowering agapanthus. Ferns drift whimsically through a bold geometric layout of Buxus topiary. Floating metal steps lead to a single seat nestled within the planting, with a backdrop of striking silver birch trees. This provides the perfect spot for quiet contemplation.
Old & New designed by Imogen Cox Associates
This garden combines contemporary garden design with traditional plants and materials. A living wall has been planted with cottage garden favourites and formal topiary hedges are informally shaped. Structural elements are softened by rivers of undulating planting, and a meandering grass path provides a slower route to the top of the garden.
Show features
Ecover’s Fantastic Plant-astic designed by Tony Smith
Ecover’s feature takes its inspiration from the firm’s new packaging, Plant-astic, made entirely from sugarcane. Celebrating the way in which this supports Ecover’s sustainable mission, the feature simulates sugarcane as well as highlighting key points in the Plant-astic process including the final granules that become packaging. Ecover is not limiting the homage of Plant-astic to just its garden: visitors will also see throughout the show trees adorned with bottles that aim to raise awareness of the positive impact that this green plastic has on the world.
Groundwork, The Urban Oasis designed by Chris Beardshaw
The RHS and Groundwork have come together to stage a series of features at RHS Flower Shows in 2012. At Hampton Court a whole range of transformed landscapes are brought together in one place. Parts of the feature will be recreated after the show at Groundwork projects around the country. This garden feature showcases many ways to use spare pockets of land within dense housing in our towns and cities.
The Edible Bus Stop, Riot of Colour designed by Will Sandy
Riot of Colour was inspired as a result of the UK riots of last summer. Its aim is to illustrate the benefits of green space and the idea of reclaiming forgotten and neglected spaces for the benefit of the local community. The installation represents a section of an urban street, including a planted red telephone box, a planted London taxicab, a double yellow line that becomes 3D to form a bench with a tree growing through the lines, and a green wall as the backdrop.
Milestone Academy, Work, Rest and Play, designed by Linda Fairman
This will demonstrate that outdoor spaces can be enjoyed by everyone with a disability. Visitors will be able to experience enjoyment and fun from the interactive theatres, relaxation and learning about wildlife. The garden also provides a place to learn a wide range of basic gardening skills by regularl garden maintenance.
The BBKA and Bumblebee Conservation, The Bee House and Garden, designed by Chris Myers
Honey bees and bumblebees will be the stars of this feature, and there will also be an indoor area including displays and activities from both the British Bee Keeping Association(BBKA) and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. There will be live honey bee demonstrations in the garden and a live bumblebee display indoors throughout the show.