THE LANDSCAPING SOLUTIONS BLOG
Welcome to our Blog. Inspiration, updates and industry trends from the team at Landscaping Solutions.
THE FOREST WILL SEE YOU NOW - GROWING INTEREST AT RHS HAMPTON COURT 2019
The importance of integrating Nature into our everyday lives is something that is really close to our hearts at Landscaping Solutions so we were delighted to be involved with a garden with such an important message at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival this year.
The CEDEC self-binding gravel was mixed with local mud to create the forest path. Photo: Helen Gazeley.
Michelle Brandon, designer of the Forest Will See You Now, one of the gardens in the Global Impact category, also works as a horticultural therapist at Springfield University Hospital, Tooting, so she knows first-hand what huge benefits working with Nature and being in Nature can bring.
The Forest Will See You Now adds another dimension. Contained within a “wrapping” of a packet of pills, it sends the message that Nature herself provides medicine. “In my research,” says Michelle, “I stumbled across phytoncides and started looking into them.” These volatile substances are produced by plants to prevent rotting and attack from pests; it turns out that they’re also good for humans.
Stuart Dainton, Head of Innovation at The Woodland Trust, explains, “They’re helpful for the immune system and reduce stress. It’s now been proven by science.”
Garden designer Michelle Brandon wrapped The Forest Will See You Now in a pill packet to emphasise the message. Photo: Helen Gazeley.
For Landscaping Solutions, the garden was one of the simpler show gardens we’ve been involved with. Michelle had an army of friends, family and RHS volunteers to help and we came in for the elements that needed more landscaping knowledge. As ever it’s the attention to detail that creates the difference between a believable scene and one that doesn’t work its magic.
“I wanted to make a woodland that recognisable to all,” says Michelle, who created a shady forest path between, among other trees, silver birch bordered by natural planting, including shade-loving meadow grass. “I hope it will encourage people to want to go to woodland in their own locality and take ownership and protect it.”
“If we understand the benefits of woodland,” said Stuart, “then we will protect it.”
The Forest Will See You Now makes an inviting space where Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival visitors can escape from the sun. Photo: Helen Gazeley.
Playing an important part in the realistic scene is the path which, as visitors to Hampton Court are encouraged to walk through the gardens, has to be up to heavy footfall while prepared for any weather. It’s a careful combination of CEDEC self-binding gravel and local mud, mixed with a few stones to create just the right impression.
The garden towers above its surroundings, and there were nine taller trees that had to be firmly fixed in place. “The initial dig out was very strenuous,” says James, who led the Landscaping Solutions team working on the garden. “Once you’re down thirty centimetres, the ground is very stony, like ballast. When you stick in the shovel you’re not hitting, nice soft soil.”
A fallen, decaying tree displays its roots, and invites contemplation of the beauty of Nature in The Forest Will See You Now. Photo: Helen Gazeley.
The solution was a digger. We also employed the Platipus Deadman Fixing System, which requires digging down below the depth of the rootball. “We didn’t see other people using it,” says James, “but it’s a professional approach.” The Platipus Deadman is useful for anchoring tall trees, making them safe in windy sites and ensuring they stay upright and creating an aesthetically pleasing finish without the need for staking. In all, nine trees were installed with the anchor system.
This is a garden very different from our previous Hampton Court builds, but no less enjoyable for it. “It’s good fun,” says James. “Tough, with a lot of planning prior, but good fun. And it’s just nice to have your work on display.”
The Forest Will See You Now at RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival is designer Michelle Brandon’s first show garden. Photo: Helen Gazeley.
Designers often say that after a show they declare “never again”, even though they’re lured into the process again the following year. This was Michelle’s first ever show garden, and she’s made of sterner stuff. “It’s hard core,” she says. “A very, very intense experience, but when in the first year you’ve learned so much, with all that knowledge you’re already signed up for the next one.”
We couldn’t agree more. If you’d like the garden that’s perfect for you or, as a designer, would like to discuss how we can work with you on an entry in next year’s shows, contact Ben West to discuss your requirements.
RHS CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW - USEFUL GARDENS OR MERELY THEATRE?
One of the smallest services performed by us this month was actually one of the most enjoyable. After all, even the smallest job takes on a certain cachet, when it entails visiting RHS Chelsea.
The CAMFED Garden designed by Jilayne Rickards, bringing Zimbabwe to Chelsea. Photo credit: Helen Gazeley.
Attention to detail is an aspect of the job that we take really seriously at Landscaping Solutions, and if there’s one place you’ll find it in spades, it’s Chelsea Flower Show.
Jilayne Rickards, for whom we were delivering materials to add some finishing touches to what was her first Chelsea show garden, designed the CAMFED Garden - promoting “Giving Girls in Africa a Space to Grow”, an initiative by the Campaign for Female Education. Intended to bring rural Africa to central London, it incorporated an open-air classroom to underline CAMFED’s commitment to education. Made using the same techniques employed in Zimbabwe, it has a completely authentic air.
Mark Gregory’s Welcome to Yorkshire garden at RHS Chelsea 2019. Photo credit: Helen Gazeley.
Further down Main Avenue, Mark Gregory created his second show garden for Welcome to Yorkshire. Last year, his Gold-winning design recreated a hillside complete with stone bothy and trickling beck. This year a canal scene incorporated two full-size sets of genuine lock gates, towpath and, behind the scenes, fifteen different pumps creating the water effect.
Dramatic, certainly, and Mark’s in particular generated a huge amount of media interest…but are they gardens? It’s a question that raises its head every year. After all, is anyone coming to the show really going to go home determined to put a Yorkshire waterway in the back garden, any more than they’ll want to install an African classroom?
Thinking like this misses the point. It’s easy to argue that there’s little for the public to take away from the Show Gardens and the RHS seem to have taken that on board with their introduction of Space to Grow gardens, a category which replaced the controversially contemporary Fresh Gardens last year.
Details make the picture in Jilayne Rickard’s CAMFED Garden for RHS Chelsea Flower Show, 2019. Copyright RHS. Credit: RHS/Sarah Cuttle.
What these carefully constructed scenes do, though, is demonstrate attention to detail. Designers and builders reproduce a scene so faithfully on such a small area of ground that for a moment you’re there.
To create that moment, the attention to detail, not to mention the thought and planning behind it, is phenomenal. And if you can do that with a show garden, then how much more are you going to be able to think your way around a design conundrum in the real world and create the perfectly detailed garden for a client?
There’s been criticism in recent years about an apparent lack of attention to the plants and too much focus on design, but the show gardens at RHS Chelsea have a serious purpose: to demonstrate what designers and contractors at the height of their game are capable of achieving. Theatre? Yes. This is true performance.
Landscaping Solutions is no stranger to the accuracy and attention to detail required by gardens like these. Apart from five BALI award-winners, we’ve constructed several Gold and Silver-Gilt award-winning gardens at RHS Hampton Court.
Light at the End of the Tunnel, Matthew Childs Gold-winning garden at Hampton Court Flower Show 2012.
Part of Landscaping Solutions’ vision is to create a fulfilling work environment for our staff because teamwork is at the heart of award-winning gardens. Our teams love a challenge, and show gardens give us the chance to show our true colours in a place where there’s no place to hide. Next month we’ll be putting all our skills to work for the fourth time at Hampton Court Flower Show, for Michelle Brandon’s The Forest Will See You Now.
Come back next month for more details. In the meantime, for information on how Landscaping Solutions can put show garden detail into your outdoor space, contact Ben on 0208 2412402 or email info@landscapingsolutionsltd.co.uk.