Wealden Times | WT170 | April 2016 | Garden supplement inside

Local talent...
We offer you an insider's glimpse of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show gardens
that have their roots in Kent, Sussex and Surrey
The M&G Garden
Designer: Cleve West (Surrey)
The garden has been inspired by a
memory of the ancient oak woodland
on Exmoor National Park where the
designer spent his youth. Rather than
replicate a particular scene, the designer
has chosen to pay a contemporary
homage to the landscape that made
such an early impression on him.
A stone and gravel path through
woodland edge planting leads you past
stunted oaks and rocks to a smoother
path, a sunken terrace and pool. It
could be seen as a metaphor for the fact
that the path was unsure to begin with,
but smoother once the chosen career
became clear. An oak boundary frames
the garden (as if framing a picture) and
the overriding oak theme is a metaphor
for the sponsor’s values: strength,
growth, longevity and reliability.
Show
Garden
The Modern Slavery Campaign Garden
Fresh
Garden
Designer: Juliet Sargeant (Sussex)
Bright doors and colourful planting illustrate
the ordinary streets where we all live. But
there is a darker centre to the garden,
hinting at a hidden reality; people being kept
in captivity and forced to work, in every
part of the UK. This garden is intended
to raise awareness of the 13,000 slaves in
the UK, as well as more than 27 million
worldwide. This struggle is represented
by two contrasting atmospheres: empty,
lifeless and black inside; colourful and open
on the outside. The open doors and path
represent the way to freedom for modern
slaves. Hope stands in the form of an English
oak tree; William Wilberforce stood under
such an oak tree when he dedicated his life
to ending slavery in the 1800s. (In fact,
the original oak is still alive in Sussex.)
www.wealdentimes.co.uk
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