Lifestyle gardens inspiration at RHS Hampton
Three garden designs will be providing plenty of inspiration for getting the best from your outdoor space at this year’s (2021) RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, (6th – 11th July).
A Place to Meet Again
Sponsored by The Association of Professional Landscapers (APL), ‘A Place to Meet Again’ (pictured banner top page) designed by Mike Long, focuses on the upcycling and repurposing of various materials in order to reduce landfill and challenge innovation. The APL garden is familiar with RHS Hampton visitors and the title has turned out to be even more poignant, this year, with a nation and the show slowly emerging from lockdowns – certainly meeting up again is something we are all looking forward to.
The design encompasses an area to lounge, an area to stand and have drinks as well as a water feature and other repurposed features to create interest. Smooth paving with Dutch style pavers break-up the hard landscaping in other areas while the design sets out to demonstrate just a few ideas on how we can repurpose items for domestic use in our gardens.
Mike hopes that visitors will be inspired to look at objects and their applications in new and exciting, creative ways. There will be a gin bar, a scaffold pergola and large concrete water ducts creating seating and water feature.
The garden will be a collaborative project with 24 APL members confirmed to help in the show garden build including apprentices and trainees to gain experience.
Phil Tremayne APL General Manager said: “The APL Community is a massive asset to association and being able to give companies an opportunity like this is fantastic. Having this amount of support from the members is truly amazing, having all that expertise on site at one time is excellent.”
The garden has been sponsored by Kebur Garden Materials, Creepers Nurseries, Landscape Plus and Form Plants.
The Communication Garden
Designed by Amelia Bouquet, in support of Mental Health UK, this garden is both a symbolic refuge and a living, growing one. It’s a place to meet, talk and listen and will highlight the importance of face-to-face communication for our mental wellbeing.
The design incorporates rustic woodland planting and native trees providing a canopy while encouraging us to look up and beyond. The main feature screen signifies the nucleus of the garden determining all the shapes in the space. The partly secluded seating area draws the visitor in along fractured pathways and provides a safe place for ideas to ebb and flow.
Planting includes large statement ferns alongside delicate flowering perennials such as Physostegia virginiana ‘Summer glow’, Astrantia and Tradescantia.
Laboratorio S.Rocco: Garden of Solitude
Designed by Carlotta Montefoschi and sponsored by Laboratorio San Rocco, this garden is a naturalistic flower meadow shaded by the foliage of two trees. Terracotta pots with a glazed white finish in the shape of iconic columns will be arranged in a circle with lush planting falling from them. In the centre of the design is a chaise longue and a small basket. This intimate and protected area represents the theme of solitude as the ideal condition for thought and imagination.
The garden is inspired by the feeling of immersion in nature as a form of pleasant isolation. It is hoped visitors will be inspired to use pots, not only as containers for plants but also as key elements in structuring the space in the garden.
Picture credits: Banner ©Mike Long; Communication garden ©Amelia Bouquet; Garden of Solitude ©Carlotta Montefoschi
