Medals awarded are perfect examples of the artisans’ crafts
The Best Artisan Garden at RHS Chelsea 2019 was the Family Monsters Garden, which was designed by Alistair Bayford. The People’s Choice Award was given to The Donkey Sanctuary Garden: Donkeys Matter.
Probably my favourite RHS Chelsea category, these small gardens focus their designs on traditional artisan skills, materials and crafts, revitalised by contemporary approaches. Things my garden would embrace if I had the time/skills/money, etc! Compare and contrast these gardens with 2018’s Artisan Gardens. Read about the show highlights.
Family Monsters Garden – BEST ARTISAN GARDEN, GOLD
Designed by Alistair Bayford, built by idverde, sponsored by idverde and Family Action
Celebrating 150 years of Family Action supporting families across the country and idverde’s 100 years of creating and maintaining landscapes for local communities. The garden shows the pressures faced by every family and the journeys they take to face these challenges – financial, health, wellbeing, lack of time, communication and resolving disputes. The journey in this garden leads to a family space, where all come together to reflect. The pool offers reflection and perspective.
RHS Chelsea 2019 – The High Maintenance Garden for Motor Neurone Disease Association – GOLD
Designed by Sue Hayward, built by Soar Valley Services Ltd, based on an idea by Martin Anderson MBE, founder member of the MND Association
This is a loved space, created over many years of hard work, that is gradually being reclaimed by nature, reflecting the limitations of a person with motor neurone disease to maintain it. The hand-built sports car is of equal passion to the garden owner – the result of a lifetime of planning for an enjoyable and active retirement. The owner can still enjoy the garden’s sensory elements, its relaxed beauty and atmosphere, while unchecked, it becomes a haven for wildlife.
Green Switch – GOLD
Designed by Kazuyuki Ishihara, built by Ishihara Kazuyuki Design Laboratory, sponsored by G-Lion
The ‘green switch’ represents the space we inhabit when we ‘switch off’ from the stresses of contemporary urban life. The atmosphere of the garden is one of openness, featuring a two-storey structure with a sedum-covered roof. In the upper storey is a tea room with glass walls, and below is a parking space. A glass shower room is set to the side of the tea room. Two waterfalls and a pond create differing reverberations, and the ripples in the pool provide fluctuations of reflected flowers.
RHS Chelsea 2019 – Walker’s Forgotten Quarry Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Graham Bodle, built by Walker’s Nurseries, sponsored by Walker’s Nurseries
In a section of a disused quarry featuring redundant industrial elements that include an inspection tower, aggregate conveyor, digger bucket and old tyres, nature is reclaiming the space and a garden is growing. Large pines, textural foliage, a small nature pond and a bench provide a relaxing space. The garden captures the industrial atmosphere of the site.
Miles Stone: The Kingston Maurward Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Michelle Brown, sponsored byMiles Stone, Kingston Maurward College, Goulds Garden Centre, Greg & Will Wilks Landscaping, Holme for Gardens, The Green Gardener
Celebrating 70 years of education at Kingston Maurward College (KMC), Dorset, the garden embodies the philosophy of the college in educating future professionals. Fusing contemporary and traditional approaches, artisanal craft techniques can be seen in the blacksmith-created cupola, sawn stone paving and dry stone walling. The planting creates a calming, romantic space, from the woodland understory and edge plants – Dryopteris, Polypodium, Aquilegia, Digitalis, Leucojum, Brunnera, Ajuga and Viola passing into the sunny meadow of Hakonechlora, Acorus, Anethum, Mentha, Soleirolia and Thymus.
RHS Chelsea 2019 – The Donkey Sanctuary Garden: Donkeys Matter – SILVER
Designed by Christina Williams and Annie Prebensen, built by Frogheath Landscapes and How Green Nursery, sponsored by The Donkey Sanctuary
The garden celebrates The Donkey Sanctuary’s 50th anniversary, and the vital role donkeys – the ultimate in sustainable transport – provide access to fresh water, food and medicine. In an arid location, a shelter provides a shady spot near a well, surrounded by fuller planting. On higher ground, a bank of lavender is reached by a path that leads to a rocky area, representing the vital journeys that donkeys carry out on behalf of some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities.
For more information and tickets for the next show, visit www.rhs.org.uk.
