RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2008: Live coverageRHS Website

Cancer Research UK Garden

Cancer Research UK Garden -transcript

Carol Klein:  Andy Sturgen has teamed up once more with Cancer Research UK to create this stunning contemporary woodland garden.  Four reflective pools and large tree ferns create an atmospheric series of glades.  And a thought wall sculpture, inspired by a 1960’s Mary Quant dress provides a dramatic backdrop to the garden

Andy Sturgeon:  The brief of the garden from Cancer research UK was progress, really just to represent the progress that the charity’s made in the battle against cancer.  And the way that I’ve interpreted the word progress is really just to show it as a series of pools in the garden.  There’s four pools that starts high at the back and small and they get progressively larger as they move forwards through the garden.  And then within each of those pools we’ve got these ripples like raindrops landing on water and they put out these concentric circles and they dance forwards and backwards through all these pools but with a general trend moving forward, progressing towards the front of the garden.  And then the other thing is that over here we’ve got what I’m calling the thought wall and this is a huge sculptural wall and it’s really meant to symbolise all the research that the charity does.  So it’s, it’s thoughts bubbles basis, it’s light and airy aluminium and it sort of floats through the garden.  I’ve managed to tie the planting in with this idea of progress as well because we’ve got prehistoric tree ferns and then the ancient southern beech, Nothogaus Antartica.  But we’ve also got some very modern cultivars as well so I’ve managed to show how plants have evolved and we’ve got ever developing varieties.