Exhibitors
SHOW GARDENS | WATER GARDENS | SMALL GARDENS | CONCEPTUAL GARDENS
INSPIRING SPACES | WINDOWBOXES & HANGING BASKETS
PLANTS | GROWING & SHOWING MARQUEE | MARKET PLACE |
Show gardens
Volvo Car UK
Volvo: The Artist’s Garden
Designer:
Thomas Hoblyn
Sponsor: Volvo Car UK
Contractor: The Outdoor Room
Click on the image to view a hi-res version
Click here to view a panorama of this garden.
This garden is designed for the artist Simon Carter, providing a studio for painting and a garden for experimentation. Simon is fascinated by the relationship between nature and the man-made, and asks the question: can the sunlight bouncing off the Volvo C70 be as transcendent as nature? This is the essence of the garden - the flowing shapes of the beds, the hornbeam hedge and the obelisk are all inspired by the fluid elegance of the coupe. Simon’s paintings are easily recognisable by their lively, rough-textured strokes, overlaid with calmer, milky swathes of colour and secret pockets of green, blue and grey. Simon sees the British landscape as a palette of lime green, blackcurranty-pink and burnt orange.
Plants such as Dahlia ‘David Howard’, Erigeron ‘Dunkelste Aller’ and Alchemilla mollis, married with fireworks of complementary colours, signify Simon’s take on life. The pleached hornbeam, sunken amphitheatre and birches superimpose contrasting shade to further enhance the subtle degrees of light.