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Show gardens
Kent Design & Ross Allan Designs for GardenAfrica
GardenAfrica
Designer:
Alan Capper, to be implemented in partnership with Ross Allan
Sponsor: Three anonymous UK-based charitable trusts
Contractor: The garden will be implemented jointly by Alan Capper and Ross
Allan with voluntary assistance from GardenAfrica personnel, students from
The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and a GardenAfrica training partner, Zimbabwean
John Nzira from Johannesburg, South Africa
Click here to view a panorama of this garden.
Click here to view a video clip of the garden.
Click on the image to view a hi-res version
GardenAfrica is an established non-governmental organisation, UK-registered charity. It was created to develop and support a wide-ranging programme of garden related projects aimed at overcoming poverty and malnutrition in communities across sub-Saharan Africa. It is working to promote appropriate social plant use to enhance community development, the use of plants relevant to community needs - be it for food, medicine, craft and/or building materials - with the most sustainable use of available resources.
This show garden is a representation of GardenAfrica’s partnership project with Kew, and is based on GardenAfrica’s comprehensive training manual which integrates HIV related nutrition, cultivation and sustainable resource management - designed with its African training partner, Zimbabwean John Nzira to identify local solutions. John will be making his first trip to the UK to assist with the build of the garden.
The garden also explores themes around the value of traditional medicine and biodiversity. The key to the exhibit is to show the relationship between people and their environment - to enhance coping mechanisms in changing socio-ecological climates.
The garden is based on principals of natural African farming, which are rooted in the community and uses no synthetic inputs. Where possible, the designers are sourcing reclaimed materials, as would be used in township communities.
Plants in the garden illustrate multi-use planting and intercropping to promote effective soil management, including fodder, medicinals (including anti-HIV properties), composting, food, soil stabilising and companion planting for natural deterrence, shade and windbreaks etc.
Intermediate water-harvesting technologies, which have drainage channels leading to a central mandala, feature in this garden. There is also illustration of vermiculture, grey water re-use, with a representation of a township dwelling, which has a preparation area for seasonal food processing.
As call to arms, GardenAfrica will launch a horticultural revolution - creating 1,001 gardens in targeted countries across Southern Africa over the next three years - at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
The garden will be reconstructed at the Eden Project and will be housed in its new Dry Tropics Biome as a permanent educational resource.
This is Alan Capper’s third time exhibiting at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Alan has previously designed two chic gardens; The Great North Garden in 2002 and Catwalk in 2003. Ross Allan has also exhibited at the show, and in 1997 he was awarded a Gold Medal for Country Life, a show garden that he designed with Rupert Golby.