RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2015 - Living Landscapes H U G by Rae Wilkinson

RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2015:
My Healing Urban Garden with Living Landscapes



I am delighted to be creating a show garden at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show this year, for their 25th anniversary year. The garden will be built and sponsored by Living Landscapes, an award winning landscaping company based in Horsham, West Sussex.

For me, having designed and cared for gardens for many years, creating a show garden brings the opportunity to be creative in a more imaginative way.

The garden is entitled ‘H U G’ - an acronym for ‘Healing Urban Garden’. The design is based on the  idea that green space in an urban environment can be powerfully restorative. My intention is to create a place of escape and retreat, a sensory hug within a small and simple green space.

The colour scheme has been selected for calming qualities, whilst the planting palette is a largely herbal, evergreen and low maintenance combination of scented and textural foliage. Planting is my passion and will be key to the final effect.

Bold sculptural elements take the form of a curved sectional wall providing a sense of enclosure, and a large scale curved bleached oak bench.
The H U G bench is an important focal point and destination within the garden, designed in collaboration with award winning sculptor Alun Heslop of Chaircreative who will be making it. We have come up with this bench design specifically for the garden, to provide an organic and welcoming resting place, big enough to share with a companion - or to recline, and providing a sense of being held.

A curved path journeys into the space, flanked by sensory planters to create distraction and provide a decompression opportunity. Next to the bench is a large water bowl to bring a reflective water element, bringing the sky and the birds to the visitors side.


Our garden appears in the Summer Gardens category which is very popular and always well worth a visit for intriguing ideas.


Follow these links to find out more about the show, as well as those involved in the garden:

RHS show gardens 2015:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-hampton-court-palace-flower-show/2015/gardens-at-hampton-court-2015

Rae Wilkinson Design:

http://raewilkinson.com/

Living Landscapes:
http://livinglandscapesuk.com/

Alun Heslop:
http://www.chaircreative.net/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
HUG  Rae Wilkinson Design, Living Landscapes and Chaircreative created a soothing HUG at RHS Flower Show 2015 RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2015 - Silver Gilt  Living Landscapes Healing Urban Garden showed how a green space in an urban setting can be wonderfully soothing and restorative. Pooling our design and build talents, the HUG team successfully created a soothing, sculptural, urban garden space. The crowds loved the colour and feel of the space and the focal bench brought the intended wow factor. Planting was low maintenance, evergreen and predominantly herbs, providing a scented and naturalistic vibe to the space with hues of silver and blue. The HUG bench was lovingly created using sectional high grade oak which was carved and bleached, and set on custom cast white concrete feet. Its a piece of sculpture, a wonderful seat and a statement piece for any garden space.* Urbis supplied a Lily water bowl and three of their new style Olive Pots for dis...
Read more

Space Within - Mindfulness Garden RHS Chatsworth 2019

Image
Space Within  - Mindfulness Garden RHS Chatsworth 2019 The ‘Space Within’ garden is a biophilic meditation space in which to escape the hectic outside world. The first moon gate represents a portal from the busy outside world, through which the visitor passes to the ‘Space Within’. The central area provides a symbolic place which both offers and mirrors the healing, tranquil inner space of meditation. A mini forest references Shinrin –yoku :  the therapeutic benefits of “forest bathing” or being among trees which enables wellbeing at many levels A second portal at the back of the garden provides a view to flowing water and lush foliage, calming the senses and symbolising the energetic flow which follows a moment of serenity. Textural foliage provides a lush green element that travels up the walls and brings the positive green element associated with ‘biophilia’ - the human need to connect to nature, which is much needed within modern urban living.  Links:...
Read more

Space to Grow - Chelsea Flower Show 2018

Image
Space to Grow   Chelsea Flower Show 2018 I was delighted to be asked to create a visitor zone garden for the RHS at this year's Chelsea Flower show. The garden showcased the new show garden category 'Space to Grow' and provides information and ideas for visitors to take home - no matter how small your outdoor space may be. Plant list and supplier / contributor information is all listed below. The garden showed some simple planting combinations for sunny and shady conditions, both in the ground and in containers. I designed some bench seats for the space which are natural and simple and separate into 3 seats or 2 seats and a table for versatility. Contemporary terracotta bird feeders are  hung in the trees to bring wildlife into the space and tone with the corten steel. Bench by Rae Wilkinson Design and Living Landscapes, corten steel planters by Adezz from The Pot Company Bench by Rae Wilkinson Design and Living Landscapes, corten steel planters by...
Read more