Latest news with #gardenDesign
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gold medal-winning garden designer to appear at Taunton Flower Show
A gold medal-winning garden designer will take centre stage at this year's Taunton Flower Show. Chris Hull, a presenter on BBC's Garden Rescue and winner of a Gold Medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, will appear at the event on Friday, August 1, in the Floral Marquee. Rebecca Fox, event manager for Taunton Flower Show, said: "We are absolutely delighted to welcome Chris to this year's show. "His wealth of knowledge, commitment to sustainable gardening, and passion for the therapeutic power of green spaces perfectly reflects the values of our show." Mr Hull, who has more than 16 years of experience in the industry, leads Greenbook Landscape Design and is known for his work on high-profile residential, public, and community projects across the UK and internationally. He will give a talk titled 'Healthy Landscape, Healthy Mind,' exploring how garden spaces can support mental health and wellbeing. Mr Hull will also join the panel for a Gardeners' Question Time and serve as a judge for the Designer Gardens showcase. The Taunton Flower Show returns to Vivary Park on Friday, August 1, and Saturday, August 2, for its 194th year. As one of the longest running flower shows in the country, the event promises a packed schedule of entertainment, gardening demonstrations, floral displays, and family-friendly activities. Visitors can also enjoy live music, food vendors, and shopping from a wide selection of artisan and floral traders. Discounted tickets are available until Thursday, July 25 at Ms Fox said: "With Chris Hull joining the festivities, it's the perfect chance for local gardeners and nature-lovers to learn from one of the UK's top horticultural minds." Mr Hull's design approach emphasises sustainability, ecology, and the positive impact of green spaces on mental health. His appearance at the show is expected to draw interest from gardening enthusiasts and professionals alike.
The Guardian
27-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
The hottest trend in gardening? The coveted outdoor kitchen
This week, I read that Joa Studholme, Farrow & Ball's colour curator, was predicting the onslaught of butter yellow paint in our homes a decade ago, when everyone was still furiously coating their walls in 'mizzle' grey. I marvelled at both her foresight and the comfortingly glacial pace of interior design trends. But if interiors trends are slow, I'd argue gardening ones are even slower. One of the trends that comes up persistently is the outdoor kitchen. In my mind, they are associated with Guides' camps and fixed barbecue grills that are used once then languish unwashed until the entire shenanigan unfolds again the following summer. But I've realised I'm alone in this: garden designer Pollyanna Wilkinson, whose book How to Design a Garden is full of invaluable advice, tells me 99% of her clients have requested one in recent years: 'They're popular as they allow you to be sociable – if you're hosting outside, you can remain with them while cooking.' While I do host a lot, I can never be bothered to offer more than drinks outside; it's such a faff to carry everything in and out, and food can quickly go cold outdoors. But if you are dedicated to alfresco hosting (and have a four- or even five-figure budget), top-end outdoor kitchens provide work surfaces with built-in barbecues, sinks, wired-in fridges and beer taps. Ideally, it would be integrated with its surroundings, reflecting the materials used in your home or garden. Things to think about if considering one of these include checking where the sun will be in the evenings (now is a good time to do this; it will be in a different position come autumn or winter) and how your planting will fit the area. Softening the utilities with elegant grasses and perennial colour will make a massive difference. Salvias are a good place to start, as they keep colour coming from midsummer through to November. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion But you probably want to make the most of the outdoor dining season right now. The most aesthetically pleasing, low-impact, though not the cheapest solution is the coveted Big Green Egg, a ceramic charcoal barbecue which also works in smaller gardens. Wheel it in, wheel it out; make the most of those open-fire flavours. And while I don't crave an outdoor worktop, I do see the benefits of a sink and a tap: it's a space to wash off flower pots, muddy boots and maybe even that barbecue grill before another summer sails by. Whatever you're cooking on, it's chic and sensible to grow some edible plants around your outdoor dining area. Pots of herbs on the table, nasturtiums, borage, chamomile and cornflowers within reach – perfect for the freshest of garnishes for salads or cocktails, and good for the bees too.
BBC News
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Hawkhurst mum's design to go on show at Gardeners' World Live
A mum-of-two from Kent who retrained in horticulture after suffering postnatal anxiety twice in five years is to have one of her designs shown at a national gardening show next Eastwood, from Hawkhurst, is now a student gardener at Hole Park in Rolvenden after leaving the civil service where she worked as a spending last year as an apprentice where she was mentored by Hole Park's head gardener Quentin Stark, Ms Eastwood started bringing her own designs to she has two designs going on show to the public this summer, including The Newborn Garden which will be on display at Gardeners' World Live in Birmingham. Ms Eastwood said she reached a career crossroads after giving birth to her second said: "I couldn't face having quite a demanding London-based job with two children whilst living outside of London, and I also needed for my own mental health to do something that was outside, something creative, something with nature."The mum-of-two first signed up for a garden design mini-course at Hole Park, after which she was introduced to a work and retrain scheme by assistant head gardener Joe Eastwood handed in her notice after securing a student apprentice role at the Rolvenden grounds. The Newborn Garden design is intended to be a "welcoming and peaceful space for anyone looking after a newborn baby".Ms Eastwood said: "I know it can often be stressful and lonely looking after a newborn baby, so I wanted to create a place where people can sit privately but also connect with others in the space if they want to."Her second design, The Millennium Garden, went on display last said: "I wanted the design to compliment the Terracotta garden on the other side of the house, which is all hot reds and oranges, and create a lovely west-facing evening view."I couldn't believe it when they said that they loved my design and wanted to go ahead with it."Gardeners' World Live will take place from 12-15 June.
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."
