Exhibitors
SHOW GARDENS | WATER GARDENS | SMALL GARDENS | CONCEPTUAL GARDENS
INSPIRING SPACES | WINDOWBOXES & HANGING BASKETS
PLANTS | GROWING & SHOWING MARQUEE | MARKET PLACE
Show gardens
Elizabeth Stoner supported by Alpro Soya
Then and Now
Designer: Elizabeth Stoner
Sponsors: Alpro Soya, Marshalls, Hillside Nursery, Arundel Arboretum, AVS Fencing
Contractor: Laurie Barker Garden Landscapes
Click on the image to view a hi-res version
Elizabeth Stoner’s passion for gardening books has inspired this design. It takes the theme of Then and Now - contrasting a typical terraced house garden in the late 1940s with a contemporary modern garden in 2007. This is achieved by building the gardens alongside one another so they can be easily compared.
The 1940s garden illustrates post-war Britain when food production was much in evidence - then the garden was a functional area. The modern garden is an extension of the indoor living space designed for minimal maintenance to reflect busy lifestyles and its primary use for relaxing and entertaining.
The 1940s garden is built of traditional materials - hazel hurdle fencing, crazy paving, small retaining walls, and a sunken area of lawn with perennial borders. It contains a shed for the garden tools and a cold frame for bringing on early crops.
The modern garden uses metal and glass to form screens, still dark water for its reflective qualities and structural plants for visual impact. Large sections of timber in-filled with blue slate and planted with box balls form bold patterns in the area leading to the large seating and lounging area provided for relaxing and entertaining.
The 1940s garden is planted with bedding, herbaceous and perennials popular in the period, including lupins, delphiniums, peonies, antirrhinums, Echinops, bearded irises and Sidalcea. The vegetable garden is planted with a variety of root crops, brassicas, legumes and salad crops.
The modern garden is planted with New Zealand flax, Osteospermum, box balls, narrow upright conifers and Cercis canadensis 'Lavender Twist'.
Elizabeth Stoner has been awarded RHS Silver and Silver-Gilt Medals she has entered two small gardens under her own name, but has still not achieved the elusive RHS Gold Medal! This year Elizabeth’s design is bigger and better and she has moved to the show garden category where she is looking forward to having more space to express herself.