As a
mark of respect for the centenary of the outbreak of World War I, a number of
garden designers are choosing to use the anniversary as a theme for their
garden display at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show which starts on Tuesday 20th
May. One garden represents a landscape from northern France, complete with
trenches and a mine crater filled with water.
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| How quickly the horticultural year goes! |
Another theme that is striking a chord in this modern age is the growth of community gardens and how horticulture can help unemployed people find work.
For his part, BBC gardener Alan Titchmarsh has co-designed a garden to celebrate 50 years of the Britain in Bloom campaign. Asked if he had any last-minute changes to make to his and Kate Gould's display, called From the Moors to the Sea, he said: "No, no, no. We're all done - we finished just about end of Saturday and it's all settling now. "And we've had a good nice quiet night and everything's sitting up. Very happy."
The garden includes a dry stone wall, which was dismantled from its original site in Yorkshire and reassembled in Chelsea.
The Queen will visit the show, at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, London, later today Monday 19th, ahead of its opening to the public on Tuesday.
One of those still working on his feature on Monday morning was Chelsea first-timer, Hugo Bugg, 26. Chelsea first-timer Hugo Bugg - one of the youngest designers here at 26 - looks particularly anxious, pruner in hand, asking his assistants why things are not just so.
He has designed a Waterscape Garden, subtitled Embrace the Rain. It is intended to illustrate global water issues and demonstrate practical solutions for home gardeners and commercial landscapes.
The No Man's Land garden, designed by Charlotte Rowe, was inspired by images of World War One. She has focused on the landscape of the Western Front in France and put together a modern representation of the area, showing how the natural environment has regenerated.
"My grandfather, who I was very close to, went over the top aged 19 on the first day of the Battle of the Somme," she said. "The idea behind it is that the land, No Man's Land, was fought over again and again with the front line moving very little, and the land got completely messed up and churned up.
"The concept is the healing of the land after severe conflict, and relating it to the human body and spirit. Plants in the garden were grown by injured soldiers during a programme of horticultural therapy.
Another exhibit celebrating Britain in Bloom is a garden made from recycled or donated materials, which was designed by renowned gardener Jon Wheatley and put together by unpaid volunteers.
A display called Reachout suggests that horticulture can improve the lives of young people struggling with drug addiction or unemployment, by providing them with work and inspiration.
The "Techno Allotment" by Leeds District Allotment Gardeners Federation highlights how communities can grow their own food cheaply and stylishly.
The show's organisers are also raising funds through their charitable arm to create more jobs over the next five years at Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) gardens in Wisley, Surrey; Harlow Carr, North Yorkshire; Hyde Hall, Essex; and Rosemoor in Devon.
RHS director general, Sue Biggs, said: "Horticulture is a vibrant, challenging and diverse industry with great job prospects. Career paths include botanist, nursery staff, designer, florist, horticulturist, plant collector, landscape architect, entrepreneur, journalist, TV presenter and many more.
"We also know that more than 80% of secondary school teachers who discussed careers with their pupils said that they themselves were not aware of the vast opportunities offered by a career in horticulture."
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