Musical theme adds new dimension
From small back gardens to Chris Beardshaw's display promoting the greening of our towns, RHS Flower Show Tatton Park had a show garden to interest everyone.
RHS Show department
Friday, March 16, 2012
Gardens with a musical theme featured among the diverse selection of show gardens being staged at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park.
The Orchestra Gardens consisted of four innovative show gardens, with designers creating a garden that reflects part of an orchestra.
There were four gardens, each of which represented one musical discipline: brass, woodwind, strings and percussion.
Great ideas from Back to Back Gardens (video)
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Chris Beardshaw and Groundwork UK
Also new to the show gardens line up: broadcaster Chris Beardshaw linked up with the charity Groundwork UK to promote gardening and greening up our towns and cities. This was one of a series of gardens Chris designed for all the 2012 RHS flower shows - the idea is to focus minds on not just gardens, but all the green space around us in our urban environments.
Chris Beardshaw said: 'The green space around us - where we live and work - has a fundamental effect on our emotions and behaviour. It is well documented that in areas where these spaces are neglected and poorly designed we see strong evidence of social unrest'.
Groundwork UK is a national regeneration charity whose first exhibit is staged at RHS Show Cardiff in April.
Small but perfectly formed
Back to Back Gardens provided great ideas on a smaller scale. These 6m x 4m plots crammed lots of clever design ideas into a tiny area and are perfect for giving inspiration for themes, projects and planting ideas to try at home.
Smaller still, the School Front to Front Gardens were 3m x3m plots that gave school children from all over the North West the chance to create their very own gardens. The project, run by the Winsford Educations Partnership and sponsored by Barclays, included 28 designs with themes geared around 1950s and 60s children’s television programmes.
Other highlights
- The Visionary Gardens: four to six gardens that challenge the boundaries on conventional design and engage art and sculpture in horticulture.
- The National Flowerbed Competition: for the first time this was given a theme of Celebration of Sport to celebrate the Olympics 2012. Each bed depicted a different sport.