Exhibitors
SHOW GARDENS | WATER GARDENS | SMALL GARDENS | CONCEPTUAL GARDENS
INSPIRING SPACES | WINDOWBOXES & HANGING BASKETS
PLANTS | GROWING & SHOWING MARQUEE | MARKET PLACE
Small gardens
Garden Care Supplies
The Green and Light Garden
Designer: Helen Williams
Sponsor: Tony Coggans Garden Lighting, Pavestone, Hayhoe Designs
Contractor: Garden Care Contracting
Click on the images to view a hi-res version
The garden is based on a courtyard garden in Fulham. If viewed through wide patio doors from within a house, a garden is almost like a feature wall in a room, and could be planned that way, complete with wall sculptures and pieces of artwork. Courtyard gardens may be shady, therefore Helen has created ways to use and reflect any available light, such as mirrors, stained glass, stainless steel, light-coloured paving and walls, water and shiny foliaged plants. Garden lighting adds a subtle atmosphere at night.
This stylish contemporary garden has raised beds against the walls that serve as seating. It is paved with pale Travertine, as used in many Italian courtyards, with rendered walls in a similar shade. There are two joining water features; one from a contemporary wall sculpture flowing into a pool at seat level, the other from a wooden pergola that sends water down chains into a wider pool at the front of the garden. These are joined together by a narrow rill that bisects the paving.
The planting scheme follows various shades of green with splashes of yellow used in blocks, to provide an atmosphere of calm. Many plants are evergreen and maintain a structural presence through the year, such as lollipop Portugese laurels, golden bamboos and clouds of pittosporums. Large specimens of Fatsia japonica reflect light from their foliage, and are planted in shiny steel planters. Other plants include grasses, Erigeron karvinskianus (Mexican daisies), ferns and climbers. All of the plants are easy to care for.
Garden Care Contracting recycles over 90% of all arisings from work done. We make bio-compost from green waste, we crush concrete and reuse as sub bases and we screen topsoil for re-use. However none of these recycled products will be used in the garden at Hampton Court.
In 2001, Helen gained a Diploma in Garden Design from Merrist Wood College. Since then, she has enjoyed designing a range of private gardens, from small courtyard town gardens to large suburban sites, both front and rear gardens, in Surrey and SW London. Helen had hoped to enter the show last year, but had to put her plans on hold after a diagnosis of breast cancer. Now that her treatment has finished, she feels that nothing can be as frightening as that experience, and she is very excited about creating her garden at an RHS show.