Exhibitors
SHOW GARDENS | WATER GARDENS | SMALL GARDENS | CONCEPTUAL GARDENS
INSPIRING SPACES | WINDOWBOXES & HANGING BASKETS
PLANTS | GROWING & SHOWING MARQUEE | MARKET PLACE
Show gardens
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
The Miller’s Gardens
Designer: Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Parks Technical Section
Sponsors: KeyMed (an Olympus Group Company)
Contractor: Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Parks Technical Section
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This garden aims to create a feeling of nostalgic reflection, invoking memories of a time when life was quieter and the countryside less intensively managed. An English watermill at the turn of the nineteenth century is the inspiration. Many traditional Essex weatherboard buildings can be found throughout the county, including in Southend-on-Sea.
The garden features a working watermill, mill pond, barley and arable ‘fields’ typical of the period. The ‘arable cornfield’ is sown with a mixture of bearded wheat, barley and oats interspersed with cornfield annuals such as field poppy, corn marigold, corn cockle, cornflower and chamomile. The meadow and field are divided by a split post and rail rough timber fence that complements the aged weatherboard façade of the watermill.
The miller’s garden is planted with herbaceous perennials, shrubs and roses. The mill is powered by an overshot waterwheel, which is the most efficient method of powering a mill. The overshot waterwheel was used when there was a dependable flow of water, but not a high flow rate. The water then passes into a pond planted with deep water aquatics, marginal plants and floating waterlilies. Much of the planting will attract a variety of insects and the mill pond provides the ideal habitat for a number of creatures. The waterwheel contains a reclaimed bearing from a playground roundabout.
The Parks Technical Team of Southend-on-Sea Borough Council are veterans of RHS flower shows having exhibited at every RHS Chelsea Flower Show between 1995-2005, collecting several RHS Gold Medals, before making their show garden debut at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2006 winning an RHS Gold Medal and the Tudor Rose for Best in Show.