Exhibitors
Courtyard gardens
The Friends of Michael Sobell House
Pause for Thought
Designers: Liz Robinson and Phillip Kaye
Contractor: Dave May (Builders) Ltd
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This garden is designed for Michael Sobell House - a hospice offering specialist palliative care to terminally ill patients and giving support to their families. Seeing gardens and plants has proved to have an enormously positive and therapeutic effect on the seriously ill and their carers.
The design centres around a curving dry stone wall and seat beside a reflecting pool. The planting uses many shade-loving indigenous species blended with cultivated highlights.
The dense planting design includes many flowering shade tolerant plants such as Camassia cusickii, Dicentra spectabilis ‘Alba’ and Digitalis purpurea f. albiflora. The garden demonstrates how this luxurious herbaceous style can be successfully used in a shady environment. Colours are white and cool blue to emphasise calm and tranquillity. Hard landscaping includes a dry stone wall and paving to accommodate wheelchair access.
The garden at the hospice and the garden for the show are being developed in tandem, and materials and plants from the show will be transferred to the hospice afterwards.
Liz Robinson and Phillip Kaye were RHS Silver Medallist winners at Hampton Court in 2003.