Exhibitors
SHOW GARDENS | WATER GARDENS | SMALL GARDENS | CONCEPTUAL GARDENS
INSPIRING SPACES | WINDOWBOXES & HANGING BASKETS
PLANTS | GROWING & SHOWING MARQUEE | MARKET PLACE
Small gardens
Plumpton College
The Path Not Taken
Designers: James Mason and Chloe Gazzard (Plumpton College)
Sponsor: Plumpton College
Contractor: Plumpton College
Click on the images to view a hi-res version
The Path not Taken remembers Robert Frost’s poem The Road not Taken, where two roads diverge and the writer has to make a decision:
‘. . . sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
And every decision has its own consequences:
‘I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged . . . , and I--
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.’
This poem has been interpreted as a declaration of the importance of independence and personal freedom. In this garden, designed by garden design students at Plumpton College, Sussex there is only a positive decision at the fork of the path, where, whichever path is taken, there are no regrets. Colour, texture and water add to the reflective and stimulating quality of the surroundings.
Two seating areas offer a place to sit surrounded by warm-coloured planting while listening to the cooling sounds of water and rustling grasses. Colours are enhanced at night by a backdrop of cut-out images softly lit from behind with colour filters. Strategically placed up-lighting provides added interest at night. Pools are edged in copper to echo the planting colour and provide surface texture. Boulders provide shelter from heat for wildlife and add texture to the surface. The garden will be rebuilt within the college grounds after the show.
Plumpton College has a good record of achievement at the South of England Show, winning the Best Garden for the last four years. The college is now developing courses from National Award (design) & National Diploma in Horticulture into Foundation Degrees in both garden design and in horticulture. Plumpton College is a Centre of Vocational Excellence in Horticulture. Three of the team have been medal winners at previous shows but this is the first time the college has entered an RHS flower show.