Opportunity to Design a Garden for Hampton Court Flower Show



Child Friendly Garden - Hampton Court Flower Show

My ears pricked up when I heard a competition for non-professionals to design a Family Friendly Garden announced on the BBC’s One Show this week.  The winner will have the garden built at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show in July.  Family friendly gardens and how to achieve them are matters very close to my heart.  When I manage to attend a flower show I always head to those show gardens which claim to be child or family friendly.  Sometimes there are some really good practical ideas displayed, in others the lack of practicality and imagination involved  is sometimes a disappointment.

The One Show undertook a little competition on the programme.  Three people, with some help from a professional gardener, had each designed their own family friendly garden that day.  A lady with a nine year old and teenager had divided her 8 m x 8 m site into three sections to meet the individual needs of the family.  A barbeque area for the adults, a chill out zone for the teenager and an area where her youngest could perform plays. This garden was the winner on the programme.   A guy with a two and half year old wanted a garden where his tittle one would learn not be scared of spiders.  A wildlife and insect friendly garden was top of his priorities.  The final participant included a shelter in the middle of her garden so that the garden could be used in wet weather with a pathway running to and from the structure.

The  garden divided  into three sections was the winner on the programme.   Christine Walken, the One Show’s resident gardener encouraged anyone to have a go.  She thought that those without professional training would be more likely to come up with innovative and inspiring ideas.
 

I was interested to learn what the RHS considered to be family friendly, given the diversity of families in the country and their needs and wants. Not unsurprisingly the judging criteria for the 8m x 8m is flat site is very broad, but provides an interestingly insight into how gardens are judged at Flower Shows.

Judging Criteria to be used for the Garden

• How well does the design work for the family?
• How interesting and creative is the design?
• Are the plants used creatively and effectively?
• Is the design wildlife/insect friendly?
• Does the design consider sustainability issues (eg sources of materials)?
• How realistic is the rough budget? (to be refined with mentor later)

I am pleased to see sustainability issues included.  There was also a discussion on the Show on what the garden could not include.  No gnomes apparently!  So I guess the gnome I have inherited in my garden will have to wait a little longer before he comes back into vogue in the garden design world.

 

So as someone without a garden design qualification will I put an entry in?  I would love to have a go, but not certain that the 1 March Deadline will give me time to draw and write up a proposal.  If you have the time it’s a great opportunity to have a go at designing that garden you have always wanted. And if you were to win!

If you are not too sure where to start take a look at some books on designing family friendy gardens.

Hampton Court Flower Show: My Favourite Garden

The garden one that bowled me over most at The Hampton Court Flower Show was the ‘An Uprising of Kindness’ garden designed by Bill Butterworth. The garden celebrated the homeless charity Emmaus which began in France in 1954. The planting was beautiful, with an edible French Mediterranean theme, including vines, olive, bay and apple trees. The colours of purple and orange were divine. The main water feature had 19 stacks of plates representing the 19 Emmaus communities across the UK. However it was the entrance to the garden which appealed most to me. You enter through a circular arbor with seating. On the floor two curled up people are depicted with glass bottle bottoms sunk into the ground. To enter the garden you cannot walk around these people as you usually would homeless people. You either step over or walk through them when you go in. You also have the choice of sitting in the arbor and contemplating what you can see.

HAMPTON COURT FLOWER SHOW 2010: GARDENS FOR CHILDREN

When I visit gardens I am always on the look out for ideas that will get children playing and really looking at their environment. This year there was lots on offer at the Hampton Court Flower Show.  A garden which aims to raise awareness of overactive bladders may not be an obvious candidate for having child appeal. Yet any garden with a giant pink tap hovering in the air and pouring out water is a great eye catcher. There is no doubt that children will be intrigued as to how it works and how magical it really is. I am sure there will be quite a few ‘I want one of those’ heard during the course of the show. And, indeed, a smaller toned down version would be great fun.

A Matter of Urgency

A garden with a more traditional child-friendly feel is the Playful Garden designed by Southend Borough Council. It combines a blend of play, vegetable and landscape garden, all with a quirky feel, so that plants hang down rather than grow up. The tunnels in perspex are designed so that children can see the roots and animals living in the soil. The design and planting encourages lots of different type of active play and interaction with the plants and structures. I liked the arena – giving children the freedom to run around, tumble down or to dress up and put on a play.

Playful Garden

Root World Tunnel

There has been lots of publicity the Legoland Garden, which has great novelty value for the kids and is definitely better than plasticine flower garden shown at Chelsea last year. It is unlikely that you will be able to use similar features in your own garden. If you miss it at Hampton Court you will be able to see it when it is rebuilt at Legoland Windsor.

The Legoland Pirates Landing Garden

For me one of the highlights of this years show has to be the Home Grown Area. You can take tour around the fields of an arable farm in miniature and a similarly miniature market garden or is it a large allotment.  There is an orchard and chickens and an unusual mushroom growing area..  Everything looks great and children can really see where there food comes from and how ornamental it can all be. Inspirational.

Finally there is the recycled containers competition from Girlguiding UK.  I rather like this container just about identifiable as a shopping trolley.

Hampton Court Flower Show 2010

My review of the 2013 Flower Show can be found here

 I  thought I would share a with you some of my photographs from the Hampton Court Flower Show.

More on my favourite gardens and child friendly and quirky gardens to follow.