Inspiration

I was very lucky to be able to help out at Hampton Court Flower Show last week. My friend Fiona Stephenson, who I worked with at the beginning of my Garden Design career, has designed the World Wildlife Fund garden this year and I volunteered to help out with the planting.  I thought you might like to see some of the pictures I took whilst the garden was in the making…

Fiona (left) and Catherine (a volunteer)

Fiona has attempted to recreate the magic of a chalk stream and has based the garden on a stretch of the River Itchen in Hampshire.  I think she has totally managed to capture the essence of the chalk stream habitat – it’s as though a piece of the countryside has been picked up and moved to the grounds of Hampton Court!

The show garden stream flows from the chalk wall at the back of the garden to the rustic gate at the front where it empties into an enormous plughole.   The garden aims to draw attention to the plight of Britains over-extracted rivers and the plughole is there to get the point across.

Fiona and I agreed that it was quite a challenge to create a show garden that is designed to represent the natural environment as the planting needs to be of a high standard if the garden is to be awarded a medal, but it also needs to be quite wild if it is to truly represent the habitat that it is based upon.

Fiona’s last show garden at Hampton Court “Oak Tree Lying in State” was awarded a Gold medal and I am keeping everything crossed that she is awarded another for her garden this year as it was looking truly fabulous by the time I left on Thursday afternoon.  It takes a lot of hard work and creative vision to create a gold medal garden but it’s fun too…

…and great to work in a team where everyone is working towards the same goal…

If you are going to Hampton Court next week do make sure you check out the WWF garden, I’d be really interested to hear what you think.

I coordinate a local Society of Garden Designers’ cluster group and last week we visited the Maundy Todd Sculpture Garden and gallery in New Malden.  Set in Maundy’s own beautiful house and garden she exhibits the work of contemporary British sculptors who make limited editions or unique pieces for the garden and home. Read more

I spent this weekend helping my parents with the Axvale Show.  As some of you will know, they own Forton Nursery near Chard in Somerset and always attend the local shows to promote the nursery. Read more

I took a day out last week and went on a fabulous cliff-top walk with a friend of mine from Dover to Deal in Kent.  We were SO lucky with the weather, just a few spots of rain here and there, but look at the view – it more than made up for that!  To be honest, I love to be by the sea when it’s windy and a bit bracing…really does blow away the cobwebs! Read more

Following my visit to Loseley Park again last week I promised to tell you a bit more about the Zimsculpt exhibition which is on there at the moment.  Over 100 pieces of stone sculpture from Zimbabwe are on display throughout the garden and you can see some of the smaller pieces under cover in the marquee near the tea shop where you can also meet some of the Zimbabwean sculptors who will be giving demonstrations for the duration of the exhibition.  Here are some of my favourites… Read more

I returned to Loseley Park this week, just 4 weeks after I was invited for a special tour of the garden and the changes to the garden were really quite amazing.  This time of year is a bit like that in the garden – if I ever go away on holiday in early summer I’m always amazed when I get back at how much the garden has come on in 1 or 2 weeks. Read more

So you’ve been to the show and taken lots of pictures of the things that excited and inspired you, and then you returned home ready to tackle your own garden only to find yourself in a dilemma about where to start! How will you ever recreate some of the show garden magic in your own garden? Read more

Whether I’m visiting gardens, flower shows or simply walking around the countryside, I’m always looking for new planting combinations that work really well together.  Because of the challenging growing conditions this year (i.e. a hot, dry Spring) we saw different combinations of plants at Chelsea Flower Show this year. Read more

It’s the final day of the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show today.  The last visitors will be enjoying the show gardens, floral displays and the Great Pavillion and then later this afternoon the big plant sell-off will start, which in turn will cause chaos on the tube and trains as people attempt to get them home in one piece! Read more

I promised you some more highlights of the Chelsea Flower Show and I suspect that by now you have heard much talk about Diarmuid Gavin’s Garden which was certainly attracting lots of attention on Wednesday.  He designed the Irish Sky Garden for sponsors, Cork City Council and he earned himself a well deserved Gold medal. Read more