Latest news with #gardenDesign
BBC News
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Chelsea Flower Show medal for Rutland designer's bird garden
A Rutland-based garden designer has won a medal at her first RHS Chelsea Flower Oakey received a silver gilt for highlighting the plight of the UK song bird in her show SongBird Survival Garden aimed to show the narrative of a bird's daily life with a birdhouse den made from reclaimed materials showing motifs of threatened UK and Stacey actress Alison Steadman was one of the visitors to the garden and said she had picked up some tips to attract birds into her own garden. Ms Oakey said she wanted to include three elements, "shelter, water and food that are instrumental to birds' lives" in her garden. "My design is inspired by the movement and perspective of a bird, foraging for food and water while moving between points of safety and shelter."Two pathways weave between layers of planting, mimicking how birds prefer to move through a network of cover," she Oakey said the garden featured a birdhouse den made from reclaimed materials, with bird-friendly planting which provides natural sources of food and nesting material. 'Family tradition' Ms Oakey said her parents were florists and avid orchid growers, who had won seven gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show previously. She said: "It's just lovely to be able to follow in their footsteps. "It's exciting to follow the family tradition and come to Chelsea." Once the Chelsea Flower show has finished, Ms Oakey says the whole garden will be relocated. "We're taking it on a lorry up to Hull to its permanent home with the Neighbourhood Network Charity, who manage a bustling community centre, based in Bransholme."It currently doesn't have an outside space, so it'll create a lovely place for people to sit and an oasis for birds in the city," she said.
BBC News
20-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Garden inspired by boy with Down's Syndrome wins Chelsea prize
A garden inspired by a young boy from Dumfries and Galloway has won a RHS Silver Gilt medal at this year's Chelsea Flower Show. Scottish-based designers Duncan Hall and Nick Burton said they were "over the moon" to be presented with the award for the "Down's Syndrome Scotland Garden", which was inspired by Hall's eight-year-old nephew designers said the garden aimed to celebrate the joyful, unique qualities that people with Down's syndrome bring to society while highlighting some of the daily challenges and barriers they will be on show in London until 24 May before it is relocated to its permanent home in North Lanarkshire. Designed for the Scottish charity Down's Syndrome Scotland, the garden is part of a collection of show gardens being displayed at the prestigious flower and Burton said the garden incorporates a weaving path that takes visitors to two distinct areas reflecting the contrasting moods of calmness and this path, a water pool appears to be a barrier to progress, symbolising the daily challenges faced by people with Down's a submerged bridge within the water pool allows the 'barrier' to be overcome and allows visitors arrive at a welcoming shelter designed to look and feel like a warm and comforting 'hug'.The 'hug' has been designed to reflect the compassion, kindness and joy that comes naturally to so many people with Down's syndrome, the designers said. Hall and Burton said they where delighted to win their first silver gilt medal, and hoped visitors would take a moment to look a little closer and see the deeper meaning behind what the garden stands for. Hall said: "We hope our garden will allow people to reflect on the daily challenges faced by people with Down's syndrome, so they can reconsider misconceptions about their abilities, and appreciate the many joyful, positive qualities they bring on a greater level to society."Eddie McConnell , the chief Executive of the charity Down's Syndrome Scotland, said: "Duncan and Nick have captured the spirit of people with Down's syndrome brilliantly in their garden design while not shying away from some uncomfortable truths."People with Down' syndrome, like so many disabled people, still face prejudice and discrimination and that needs to stop."
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bardwell designer creates his final RHS Chelsea Flower Garden
A multi-award winning garden designer created his tenth and final garden for the RHS Chelsea Flower Hoblyn, who lives in Barwell, Suffolk, designed a sensory garden for the end-of-life charity, Hospice UK called Garden of Compassion. "I jumped at the chance at doing this," said Hoblyn, who has also designed gardens for children's hospices Haven House, in Woodford Green, east London and The Nook, near Norwich."There's a desperate shortage of gardens in hospices; they play a vital role in creating a positive atmosphere for end-of-life care." Hoblyn said it was important to create a design for the show that "grounds people in nature, and to activate all the senses"."Smell, sight, sound, touch is particularly important in a hospice garden," he added. The garden was inspired by Mediterranean themes, which allowed him to use very bright colours as well as heavily scented flowers, such as the Spanish broom, Spartium junceum."The fact you're using a lot of Mediterranean plants means you attract a lot of insects, so you get a lot of noise too," he many gardeners may have been mourning the lack of rain this spring, Hoblyn's dry and hot garden has not. "This is my 10th garden for Chelsea, and it's never been without rain before, so this is an absolute blessing, this is great," he said. 'We need to make way for young people' Explaining why this was his final Chelsea garden, he said he had spent 18 months on the Garden of Compassion. "It's a lot, and I do have real work I should be doing," he said."It's also time, we need more young people in horticulture, we need to make way [for them]."He added he would now like to devote some time to mentoring young people for designer has been involved with pieces at the London horticultural show for the past 25 years, winning many accolades."We've done well, but it's not just me - I just surround myself with the best people," he back, he said his highlights included winning the People's Choice award at Chelsea in 2012, again for a Mediterranean garden. "To get People's Choice is so rewarding, it's not just based on judges, but the people's views," he said. Hoblyn's garden was funded by Project Giving Back. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Independent
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Garden design exhibition at V&A Dundee aims to inspire ‘joyful future'
An exhibition celebrating international garden design is to open at the V&A Dundee in a bid to inspire a 'greener, fairer and more joyful future'. Garden Futures: Designing With Nature will be on show at the design museum from Saturday until January 25. The exhibition explores the impact of garden design, including kitchen gardens and the popularity of allotments, as well as looking at artists such as William Morris. It includes a scent trail which features the fragrances of rose, jasmine and narcissus. More than 400 objects are on display in the exhibition, which 'digs up surprising stories of gardens through time, including creating sanctuaries and empowering communities and individuals to find peace and hope in times of adversity', according to curators. It explores international themes, including Persian garden paradises to the sustainable Oban Seaweed Gardens in Argyll and Bute, huge vertical gardens in Milan flourishing in giant concrete apartment blocks, and a garden in China inspired by video games. The exhibition also includes Dior menswear inspired by the garden at Charleston in Sussex which was a retreat in the early 20th century for the writers and creatives known as the Bloomsbury Group, including Virginia Woolf, and was the home of painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Work by garden designer Piet Oudolf and Arabella Lennox-Boyd, who designed the landscape at Maggie's cancer centre in Dundee, is also on display. Leonie Bell, director of V&A Dundee, said: 'We are delighted to be opening Garden Futures: Designing With Nature as gardens and gardeners across Scotland are hitting their seasonal stride. 'Gardens are both everyday and extraordinary – they mean something different to everyone. These designed spaces reflect the times we live in and express our relationship with nature. Some are productive spaces for work, rest and play, while others represent profound spiritual, cultural and political ideas. 'This vibrant exhibition blooms with design stories of gardens from Scotland and around the world, unearthing different approaches to creating the 'perfect' garden. 'Garden Futures looks back to early earthly ideas of paradise and considers how gardening can cultivate a greener, fairer and more joyful future for humans and nature alike. 'Whether you're a seasoned gardener or you've never grown anything in your life, the exhibition offers a thought-provoking experience, providing moments of sanctuary and creative inspiration within its stunning design. 'We look forward to welcoming visitors who we hope will come away with a renewed sense of what a garden can mean, or a new-found curiosity about gardening and growing.'
BBC News
11-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Kent hospice garden transformation by Chelsea designer
A Kent-based garden designer, who is about to display at RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the first time, is in the process of transforming a hospice Fenton, from Gravesend, is creating a "peaceful, sustainable sanctuary for patients, family and staff" at ellenor, a charity in neighbouring new space will feature a memorial wall for grieving families, accessible pathways and pollinator-friendly planting, the charity Fenton said the project was about "creating a space that gives people comfort when they need it most". He said: "A garden can offer peace, connection, and time to reflect - and that's what we've tried to create together."The project is being supported through government funding as part of a nationwide initiative to improve hospice facilities across the latest collaboration builds on a project in 2023, when the designer created a smaller therapeutic garden at the on the final phase of the scheme is due to begin after Mr Fenton has displayed at Chelsea later this month. Bob Shepherd, maintenance supervisor at ellenor, said: "I'm really looking forward to working on the garden project. "I look forward to seeing the new garden finished and being enjoyed by patients and staff. "We're a small team and this project will help highlight some of the important work that often happens behind the scenes."
