Yahoo Movies RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival - all the medal winners
The RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, July 4-9, celebrates the best and up-and-coming names in garden design, with several categories celebrating the joys of first-time gardens, allotments, and global gardens.
In fact, for those who were disappointed by this year's trend for wilderness and rewilding at Chelsea, Hampton Court might well prove a welcome contrast. This year's displays are generally a lot more carefully manicured than those we saw earlier in the spring, and the entries in the Get Started Gardens category (as the name suggests!), are ideal inspiration for would-be gardeners who want to take their own outdoor space to the next level.
So without further ado, here are all the medal winners at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival...
Show Gardens
Gold
Over The Wall
An unusual garden in that its design, by Matthew Childs, is completely circular. Visitors must step ‘over the wall’ to enter the joyful, uplifting space. Still, that unusual design has paid off as, along with its gold medal, it also won awards for Best Show Garden and Best Construction For A Show Garden A winding path leads to a sunrise opening in the wall to symbolise new possibilities and colourful plantings reference the work Takeda UK does with children experiencing rare disabilities and illnesses. Plants have been chosen for their connection to Japan, where the sponsoring charity was founded.
Sponsor: Takeda UK
Silver-Gilt
Beautiful Abandonment Garden
Those who sharpened up their gardening skills during lockdown might find a lot to enjoy about this garden, designed by a team from the Blue Diamond Group to evoke the idea of an abandoned space slowly being restored into a place of beauty by newbie gardeners. Trees and a reclaimed-wood pergola offer dappled shade and wild meadow-like planting shows that this is a work in progress.
Sponsor: The Blue Diamond Group
Silver
Macmillan Legacy Garden: Gift The Future
Inspired by those who leave a gift in their wills, this symmetrical garden is split by a central rill into two halves to reflect how one gift of kindness can inspire another, with the water travelling between both. Designer Sean A. Pritchard has included three levels in the garden to highlight how a third of Macmillan’s charity donations come from legacy gifts. The front is a celebration of summer perennials which might remind visitors of the hope and warmth offered to cancer victims by Macmillan.
Sponsor: MacMillan Cancer Support
The ‘SunsLifestyle’ Outdoor Living Garden
Inspiration for those who’d like a bit more from their gardens this summer, this practical design by Samuel Moore features a louvred pergola with glass doors as a light, airy garden room (featuring a bespoke fireplace) plus a plunge pool and sun loungers. You’ll even find a lovely dining area for large, decadent gatherings with friends. Trees add structure and shade but don’t overshadow all the lifestyle elements.
Sponsor: SunsLifestyle
The Joy Club Garden
The journey through Zavier Kwek’s garden begins in an area separated off by steel screens, representing the social isolation of old age, with an evergreen pine as a symbol of wisdom and longevity. Gradually more colour is found in the planting, highlighting the joys of exploring out of one’s comfort zone. A short path leads to a bridge over a pond – a journey of reflection – and beyond that a table for socialising, and a smaller pine, not quite mature which symbolises nurturing multi-generational relationships.
Sponsor: The Joy Club
John King Brain Tumour Foundation Garden
Inspired by the rooftop gardens the foundation builds for hospitals, designer Rhi Williams has created a dappled, shaded space for patients and nurses to sit and hold often difficult conversations. At the heart of the garden is a sculpture inspired by an English oak by sculptor Emma Rodgers which showcases strength, wisdom, nurturing and healing with the leaf canopy made from applauding hands for the NHS.
Sponsor: John King Brain Tumour Foundation
Bronze
The Connections Garden
Dementia affecting the family of designer Ryan McMahon is a major source of inspiration in this garden which aims to highlight the way the dynamics in a family or group of friends change with a dementia diagnosis. Visitors will spot a claustrophobic, ‘yarnbombing’ structure in the centre of the garden, based on brain cells, with gaps representing a brain with dementia at a cellular level. The flowers are native meadow plantings, such as beautiful daisies, which evoke pleasant childhood memories, and Scottish thistle to reflect the painful parts of dementia.
The Sunburst Garden
This garden might have been exactly what the doctor ordered at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show with its emphasis on colour, fun, and theatre. Designers Charlie Bloom and Simon Webster are delighting Hampton Court Palace instead with bright electric blue and red florals, tied together by steel boundaries and ‘moon gates’ which draw the eye to a central mirror pool
Sponsor: Mediatech Ltd.
Get Started Gardens
Gold
Lunch Break Garden
In a post-pandemic world, the staff canteen has been replaced by lunch in the garden for many flexible workers, and designers Jude Yeo, Imogen Perreau Callf, and Emily Grayshaw have paid homage to that idea here with their Best Get Started Garden winning design. Look for the comfortable benches for eating and chatting, and the simple selection of just eight common plants, each of which will teach would-be gardeners the basics of different kinds of plant and garden care.
Sponsor: Grayshaw and Yeo Gardening Company
Silver-Gilt
The Wooden Spoon Garden
This garden was created by designers Toni Bowater and Lucy Welsh, based on the results of a Twitter poll on what puts people off gardening. As well as its Silver-Gilt medal, this garden also won Best Construction for a Global Impact or Get Started Garden. There’s no labour-intensive lawn, instead visitors will find a sunken terrace which has the benefit of offering additional privacy. A wooden fence has been swapped for a sturdy terracotta wall. Biodiversity was also highlighted, so all plants are chosen for their value to pollinators, as well as being easy to find at garden centres.
Sponsor: The Wooden Spoon Trust & FJP Systems LLP
#Knollingwithdaisies
This garden, designed by Sue Kent, is one to watch for those who enjoy the concept of gardening, but who are too busy or find physical labour too challenging. It’s designed to be an easily maintained garden with space to sit and lounge with easy-to-grow, hardy plants such as daisies being the focus of the planting. Influenced by the social media hashtag #knolling (the process of arranging related objects in parallel or 90-degree angles), the garden displays many parallel lines and right angles in its borders, walls, paving and planting scheme.
Sponsor: Norman Industries
Silver
The Turfed Out Garden
Designer Hamzah-Adam Desai was inspired by the basic, small plots found behind many new-build starter homes. Usually these would feature a small rectangle of grass and a patio. These have been yanked out in favour of a stylish, colourful, and cost-effective planted border, a pond in the centre, and a gravel path around the middle with a bench to relax on. Colourful hardy plants are chosen for their drought-tolerant nature.
Sponsor: London Stone
Global Impact Gardens
Silver-Gilt
What Does Not Burn
A perfect embodiment of the will to resist and the desire for self-determination shown by the Ukrainian people, this garden, designed by Victoria & Oleksiy Manoylo and Carrie Preston is all about the landscape of Ukraine. It also won the award for Best Global Impact Garden. Look for the rushnyk which wraps around the remains of a burnt-out cottage. This is an embroidered cloth used in many Ukrainian rituals, as a symbol of life and identity. Inside you’ll spot a tryzub sculpture, a symbol of rebirth nestled in the field of barley and field weeds such as wild carrot, chamomile and cornflower, plus groups of wild pear and plum.
Sponsor: Guild of Landscape Architects of Ukraine and Studio Toop
Silver
A Journey
Grief is a complicated journey and designer Katherine Holland has poured all of those emotions into her design. A transitioning planting palette tells the story of normal life replaced by disbelief in the early stages of grief; bright petals appear muted. Oak cobbles and gravel weave through the circular enclosure at the garden’s centre which is designed to reflect the all-consuming grief and feelings of emptiness and desolation. But when visitors exit the garden they’ll find new shoots of colour growing around them - grief can be worked through.
Sponsor: Sue Ryder
RHS Community Allotments
Medals announced soon
Gardening with Arthritis
Designed by Colin Beevor in collaboration with staff and patients of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust who live with arthritis, this allotment is a celebration of the importance of nature and being outside for those with arthritis. It’s also a commemoration of the 80th birthday of Arthritis Action with the charity's green and orange colours reflected in the planting. Check out a hand-shaped bug and wildlife hotel made with logs; planting of red succulents depict the inflammation and damage caused by arthritis; herb planters are created from recycled crutches.
Allotment Group: Department of Rheumatology, healthcare professionals and people living with arthritis
Grow The Universe
Allotmenteers often find that they end up with surplus produce, and this garden highlights the message that this should not be wasted. Look for a crab apple tree in the centre, underplanted with strawberries and raspberries, demonstrating how even a small space can grow lots, and the falling apples can become fertiliser for the plants below. Vertical and keyhole beds demonstrate how much can be done in a small space.
Allotment Group: Ealing Allotments Partnership
Historic Royal Palaces: Hampton Court Palace Kitchen Garden
The festival hosts are here too, showing off their reconstructed Georgian kitchen garden designed by Hilary Theaker, which features four beds, each with a different kind of vegetable or herb. Coxwell gravel and terracotta are also used in the paths - the orange colour contrasts with green foliage of the garden. Heritage vegetables reflect the history of this kitchen garden: ‘Mariana di Chioggia’ squash, ‘Yellow Pear’ tomatoes, scorzonera and sea kale. Old-fashioned techniques, such as growing celery in trenches, are also demonstrated.
Allotment Group: Hampton Court Palace Kitchen Garden
Theme Of Cycles
This is a futuristic, post-apocalyptic garden, designed by Welsh friends and garden collaborators, Yaz Allen and Kath Teo. There’s a story to this garden, based on a survivor of the end of the world living off the land. They have grown, created, and salvaged what they can, but nature is encroaching with the balance of humanity and wilderness at the heart of the design. Look for an abandoned dinner table with containers filled with sedums and small plants, as well as jars of preserved fruits, flowers, and vegetables. A journal will be present for visitors to view chronicling the life of the sole survivor and their growing tips.
Allotment Group: Kathryn Teo and Yasmin Allen
Kitchen Garden at The Pig Hotel
A kitchen garden inspired by the walled kitchen gardens at the heart of The Pig’s restaurant with rooms, designed by Ollie Hutson. Look for seasonal veg and salads, alongside edible flowers which bring a burst of colour, flavour, and texture on the plate. The focus here is on British produce, given that The Pig's kitchen works with local farmers and small producers, all within a 25 mile radius of the restaurant, as well as its own garden.
Symphony Of The Wild
The central component of this little garden is the huge violin at the centre which designers Robin Hutchinson and Georgia Neesham have added to highlight the connection between creativity and nature. Listen out for a soundscape of music from old salvaged musical instruments which have been repurposed into planters. This perennial wildflower meadow is based on the Tolworth Court Farm Fields, a suburban nature reserve close to the sponsor’s community gardens at Tolworth Railway Station. The area served as a place of peace and respite during Covid and this allotment pays tribute to that.
Allotment Group: The Community Brain
Protect Our Playground
Designed by Shannon Keary, best known for her podcast, Diary Of A Lady Gardener, this garden has been created to educate visitors on the overuse of plastic in gardening, and the importance of protecting soil. Structures created from repurposed materials found during beach cleaning activities and things donated by the community are also included, along with educational messages up the wooden path.
Allotment Group: Plastic Free North Devon with Diary of a Lady Gardener
The Tram Driver’s Retreat
In celebration of Southend becoming a city this year, this allotment looks back on the location’s history featuring a model of an early 1900’s tram. Southend prides itself on its municipal gardens and designer Tony Waggstaff has represented this by the planting of vegetables and flowers in the plot, with some donated by local residents.
Allotment Group: The Cluniac Garden
Walton Charity Community Allotment
A mini representation of Walton Charity’s own community allotment, this garden includes elements such as a recycled pallet bench, and a cold frame made by a local Men in Sheds group. This quirky display as won the award for Best Community Allotment. In a nod to the charity’s virtual lockdown activities, which included making vegetables out of yarn, the garden has been ‘yarn bombed’. Everything you see in the garden from the growing to the knitting to the design has been done by different groups of volunteers - residents from the charity’s sheltered housing, people who have been referred to volunteering, and members of the community.
Allotment Group: Walton Charity
The ReGeneration Plot II
With a name that sounds almost like a movie title, this plot is about the slow process of regeneration in Acton with a focus on the impact of what makes a place special to wildlife, nature, and its people. Cultivate London has partnered with the developers, local authority, and residents to ensure the area retains the character of the old ‘South Acton Estate’ while celebrating the new opportunities for cross-pollination as the area becomes Acton Gardens.
Allotment Group: Cultivate London
Global Generation
Inspired by the idea of how we can eat together and in so doing swap stories and experiences to learn from each other, the centre of this garden is a long wooden table, surrounded by edible plants including onions, herbs and annuals among lettuces, beets, kales, beans and peas, while marigolds and other companion plants add colour and attract pollinators.
Allotment Group: Story Garden Growers and Co.
Groundbreaking Projects
Designed entirely around recycled items, this colourful allotment was put together by the Groundbreaking Projects team who specialise in getting people involved in gardening and working in landscaping as part of the community to give people better opportunities and outcomes.
Allotment Group: Groundbreaking Projects
