Chelsea Flower Show 2012
I'm returning to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2012 with a design to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Furzey Gardens in Hampshire and the achievements of its learning disability team.
The woodland garden, incorporating many acid loving species such as rhododendrons, azaleas and primulas has been designed to evoke the spirit of Furzey Gardens, based in the New Forset, Hampshire and which is home to The Furzey Gardens Charitable Trust.
The trust operates in conjunction with its sister charity, the Minstead Training Project, which provides a wide range of services for students with learning disabilities. The students have been an integral part of the Chelsea Garden Team from the start and have helped us not only with their ideas for the design but they've also helped grow plants for the show garden and come up to the Chelsea site to help plant them too. This is the first time students with learning difficulties have been involved directly with a Chelsea garden.
Our Journey to Chelsea - the final instalment!
The weather has been the main topic of conversation as it always is at Chelsea, but in reality it hasn’t hindered us much at all and we have managed to keep to our very tight daily schedule due to the incredibly hard work of everyone including the contractors and of course the Furzey team.
Once we had completed all the groundworks and all the heavy machinery had left, the site became a much safer environment for the students from Furzey to come and join us. So over the last week we have had four students a day helping us planting up the big trees and shrubs and finally the understory of perennials and wildflower meadow. They really seemed to enjoy the whole atmosphere in the show ground and seeing their garden come to fruition. Many of the students will be helping to man the garden during show week and I know this will be great fun for them with all the razzmatazz that surrounds Chelsea.
New Book - Due out Spring 2013
Chris has just finished writing a new book called 100 Plants that (almost) changed the World!
This lighthearted and humourous take on plants regales us with interesting tales and fascinating facts which you bound to want to share.
If you would like to be the first to buy his book at a special early bird price please register here and we will contact you nearer the time with full details.
Email Form Here
NEW – One to One Skype Consultations with Chris
Are you stuck for inspiration as to what to do in your garden? Have you ever had a burning question you want answered by a gardening expert?
Chris can help you with his new one to one Skype video consultations - you can book a 30 minute or 1 hour skype session and put your design or gardening questions directly to Chris.
Simply drop us an email and we will let you know when the next consultation session will be available. Costs are £90 for 30 minute consultation or £170 for an 1 hour consultation.
Once you have requested a consultation we will send you a short form to complete ahead of your appointment.
Email Form Here
NEW – One Day Courses with Chris
We are planning two regional One Day Garden Design Courses with Chris to take place later this year. These will typically cover topics such as; How to approach designing your garden and How to achieve beautiful planting combinations.
If you would be interested in taking part please register your interest by completing our enquiry form and we will keep you updated the dates and venues.
Email form Here
Urban Oasis - A Groundwork & RHS initiative
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has partnered with national charity Groundwork to celebrate both charities’ work to get local communities gardening and involve more people in transforming neighbourhoods.
In a unique effort to mobilise people from all walks of life to get involved in making their streets, parks and neighbourhoods greener places to live, the RHS and Groundwork have devised a series of show gardens, designed by me and I am really honoured to be working on this project.
The gardens are themed under the title Urban Oasis and will showcase some of the most challenging urban environments where gardening, community work and good quality landscape design have brought people together and yielded powerful social benefits.
