PUBLICATIONS

Issue 34 - Summer 2005

Chelsea Flower Show

Not a vintage year, 2005 saw some well known designers re-presenting previous Show Garden designs, but there were still some interesting gardens and ideas.

The Irish Dimension

Showing unique economy in the use of space Diarmuid Gavin went underground with his subtly lit, fresco decorated, concrete walled garden-house from which to experience through a tunnel, a rabbit's eye view of his garden, and to stir the last threads of the caveman in our genes. It was a memorable sensation to emerge from subterranean cool into bright, warm, lavender-scented air and view his garden of white concrete beehive huts, or entertainment pods, nestling in an undulating field of swaying, blue-green lavender, pimpled with globes of dark green box. The lavender was yet to flower; one wondered what it would be like in flower, and this brought home one of the joys of a garden - like draught Guinness, the pleasure is so much in the anticipation.

It was not, perhaps, the most practical of designs for the intended communal use of apartment dwellers. Building company John Sisk & Son Ltd and their subsidiary Park Developments Ltd commissioned the garden t-or a courtyard in an apartment development at Hanover Quay, Dublin, and sponsored its exhibition at Chelsea. Hopefully, more property developers and builders will appreciate the promotional possibilities of exhibiting good landscape at international shows. Chelsea Gala Evening is now considered the most important high-flying, corporate networking occasion in Britain, greater even than Ascot and Wimbledon.

Horticulture Ireland - Bord Bia are to be commended for their support of Ellen Landscapes 'Moat and Castle Garden'. On her very first attempt Elma Fenton introduced Chelsea to the first ever exhibited swimming pool with organic filtration set in an environmentally sound and sustainable garden. The pool was filled with water run-off and edged with contained waterbeds of water purifying plants such as Phragmites australis, which blended into informal landscape. The fine glass/resin path and a steel cable wire fence were nice touches. The swimming-pool concept appealed to BBC Television who gave it good coverage.

Lessons On The Use Of Colour

The Small, Chic and City gardens packed some punch - French designer, Shahriar Mazandi built walls of rare, black Norwegian slate intersected with luxurious Lalique 'Laurier' crystal panels to surround a Lalique 'Chene' dining table [valued at £60,000], set off with deep red/purple Japanese maples, flowers of Zantedeschia 'Black Star' and chair brocade, to give an outdoor dining space a sensuous Persian feel of sophisticated decadence. David Domoney, the flamboyant speaker at last year's Plant[ed] World Conference, sought a similar mood in his City garden with deep lilac and hot pink. Personally I found it overpowering, but it won Silver Gilt and Best City Garden, proving that colour is subjective! In contrast Sue Adcock conveyed a light, calming ambience with a cool backdrop of cream, rendered walls and travertine paving to her planting scheme of plum coloured foliage blended with flowers of apricot, burgundy and pink, colours echoed in muted figures painted on silk and encased in laminated glass panels. Her plants included Prunus cerasifera ‘Nigra’, Digitalis purpurea 'Sutton's Apricot', Heuchera 'Chocolate Ruffles', Iris 'Action Front', Phormium 'Bronze Baby', Verbascum 'Helen Johnson' and V. 'Patricia'

Horticultural black, deep purples and reds contrasting with lime greens, and occasional orange, were colours in vogue at Chelsea this year. Responsibility for the so called Black Movement is attributed to plantswoman and writer, Karen Platt and her book 'Black Magic and Purple Passion' published by Black Tulip Publishing, which lists over 2,750 dark coloured plants and 425 colour photographs. Her name and nursery have been synonymous with dark plants since 1994.

Pouring ice on purple passion was a Chic predominantly white garden, co-designed by Philip Nixon who once lived in Dalkey. Walls were framed white powdered corrugated steel, and the bronze coloured floor and water feature were made in one unit from poured tinted concrete with a ruffled polished finish. A strip of T -shaped silver aluminium inset as a border in the concrete and black-framed black and white photographs by Patrick Lichfield added a touch of class. Planting included a 40 year old multi-stemmed Rhus typhina.

Colour, I think, put me off the Australian Float Garden with its modernist style, and chunky sombre coloured, raised deck structure and upward curving swimming pool topped with a remarkable, patterned, screen ceiling. On a cloudy day the colour appeared muddy and the structure heavy but in sunlight apparently it came alive and shadow patterns from the screens played across the deck.

Success and Failure with Walls

Christopher Bradley-Hole trotted out a similar geometric footprint to last year with 'In the Grove' garden, but showed innovation in the detail. He built a striking garden wall to frame his design of controlled visual harmony based on the quincunx grid. The wall was a block and beam construction of two light coloured Italian limestones stacked and interwoven with subtle alternations of solid and shadow, to form a minimalist background to the vertical jade green canes and soft foliage of bamboo Phyllostachys iridescens, remarkable for its distinctive chalk coloured nodes.

Andy Sturgeon’s garden plan showed what promised to be a very original three dimensional, steel garden wall but, poor chap, the assembled panels disintegrated in a traffic accident en route to the show and the wall ended as rather conventional horizontal beams of grey steel, and left him at the last minute with lots of extra space to be filled.

Incorporating the Home Office

Sturgeon, however, successfully showed a contemporary glass fronted homeoffice/evening entertainment pad with white stone paved floor extending out to a terrace leading to a calming, smooth, black pool inserted with fascinating black sided cubic holes down which water silently streamed [long hours with the laser beam for perfect levels!]. Echoing cubic blocks of old oak formed seats and stepping-stones through coordinating, poolside planting where the dark tulip 'Queen of Night' picked up the black of the pool.

Continuing the home-working theme, a duo of ex-IT girls built a brushed steel, ultramodern 'work pod' around their steel, cordless laptop table, doubling as a bar at night, seat, converting to an ice bucket, and a steel sided lounger doubling as a storage bin! Here the colour orange, in cushion fabrics and tulip 'Ballerina', contrasted well with silver and white.

Chatting at Chelsea

Meeting people is one of the joys of Chelsea especially when they are singing songs of praise for the GLDA seminars. Last years Swedish speaker, Ulf Nordfjell, was at pains to say how much he enjoyed the seminar and ranked it one of the best he had ever attended anywhere. He especially liked the open-minded agenda and the receptiveness and enthusiasm of the audience. Overhearing designer Julie Toll and photographer Jerry Harper also enthusing about our seminars, well-known international photographer Clive Nichols made a note of next year's date. Past seminar sponsor Hugo Smith of Bulbeck Foundry wants to return as a sponsor. He was delighted both with the seminar and with the returns he has had from it. Alitex, moving in a new direction, introduced their very impressive and beautifully equipped plant conservatory, where their friendliness and hospitality could be appreciated in much comfort. I came across an interesting company called Scenic Blue [UK] Ltd, doing a thriving trade in association with Marshalls since 1992. It franchises local landscaping enterprises nation wide in the UK, and employs its own garden designers, project, marketing and financial experts who are available to all its franchisees. They are interested in setting up in Ireland. Go to www.google.ie and search for scenic blue franchise.

Recycling Materials

Recycling was a popular theme. Wine bottles, as well as stones, clay pipes and old pottery, were used to fill gabions to make seat bases and walls. A dark blue plastic tile made from recycled CDs faced a raised pool and looked good.

Used frequently to good effect was recycled crushed glass mixed with resin to sand paths, plaster walls, grout paving. By the way, here's a clever tip - wipe hosta leaves with milk to give a good glossy finish!

Angela Binchy, MGLDA

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