Exhibitors
SHOW GARDENS | WATER GARDENS | SMALL GARDENS | CONCEPTUAL GARDENS
INSPIRING SPACES | WINDOWBOXES & HANGING BASKETS
PLANTS | GROWING & SHOWING MARQUEE | MARKET PLACE
Small gardens
Sarah Harvey & Geraldine Dawson
Selborniensis – A Hampshire Garden
Designers: Sarah Harvey (based on an idea by Geraldine Dawson)
Contractor: Gregory Wilks and Charles Hubbertsey
Click on the image to view a hi-res version
The garden is inspired by the work of the 18th Century naturalist Gilbert White, and strives to distil the essence of White’s philosophy and love of plants into a small courtyard garden. With Selborniensis the designers aim to create, not only a place of retreat and beauty, but also a space in which to experiment and watch things grow. This is unashamedly a gardener’s garden.
While acknowledging the past, the garden is firmly rooted in the 21st Century, embracing new technologies, environmental responsibility and looking for sustainable solutions. The children of Anstey Junior School in Alton are partners in the garden. The children are raising and trialling a range of traditional and modern cucumber cultivars for the garden. They are recording their results daily and these will be available at the show.
The garden is designed to stand alone or be a garden within a larger garden. The garden has a sense of enclosure, while still allowing in light. The espalier apple trees pay tribute to White’s pleached limes. A bespoke seat offers a haven for the gardener, from which to observe and record the progress of the garden, throughout the year. The innovative growing wall is a response to the problems faced by those with small urban gardens, it offers flexible, functional and affordable greenhouse space within a small footprint. The walls of the growing wall are made from compacted straw and clay slip. The garden also offers a haven to birds and insects.
The plants chosen for the garden echo the variety and experimental nature of those used by Gilbert White. The central bed allows for the transient planting of vegetables and ornamentals, for example: martagon lilly, Babbingtons leeks, alpine strawberry, marigolds, Papaver somniferum, Allium sphaerocephalon, and true wild lettuce. The outer beds provide structure and permanent planting, while at the same time allowing nature to creep in around the edges so creating its own rich tapestry to delight and surprise with each new season.
The structural planting includes Ilex aquifolium, Prunus lusitanica, Mespilus germanica, Malus domestica, Sarcococca hookeriana, Helleborus foetidus and Passiflora caerulea. There are a range of colours throughout the garden which emerge from a carpet of green foliage. Scent is very important in this garden, in the transient and permanent planting for example: Lonicera sempervirens, Dianthus deltoides, Rosa ‘Pom Pom de Bourgoine’, Sarcococca hookeriana, sweet peas, Nicotiana sylvestris and a range of herbs.
This is Sarah Harvey’s first flower show following completion of a two-year HNC Garden Design course at Sparsholt College in Hampshire. Geraldine Dawson, like Sarah, has a passion for plants, good design and a long standing love of the flora of Selborne. Sarah and Geraldine are pleased to promote the work of the many local craftsmen, nurserymen and artists that have made invaluable contributions to this garden.