Skip to main content

Back to Hadlow College

I was invited by lecturer Brian Hawtin to visit college last Friday, the year 2 garden design students have been set the task, as part of their construction and planting unit to build our winning show garden in the grounds of Broadview gardens for the public and college to view, how exciting!

I must say they have given it a prime position and the students all seem incredibly keen. We discussed the site, its aspect and the larger plot over and above the 5 x 7 metres at Hampton Court which will enable us to extend the garden out to the linking paths.

I talked to two of the students who are working up the extended planting palette and we agreed on Espalier Apples on tension wires, Cobnuts and a Mulberry tree with big bold swathes of ornamental grasses with Heleniums, Rudbeckia, Achilleas, lots of bulbs, more apple stepovers and obviously keeping within the spectrum of the red orange and yellow. The college are also taking the trouble to position our prized and precious Lemon tree positioning it in the garden during warmer months and replacing it with a pear tree during colder months. I shall report on progress, be good to see it all back together, If Alex (head gardener) catches me weeding it on a sunday afternoon that would be funny!!!!!

Comments

  1. i can just imagin you now- midnight weeding!! it will be great to see it again - how exciting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. yes, it would be lovely to see the garden again, with a new twist.

    Sue W x

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is very exciting I can't wait to see it in a few months time when we are there again.
    The new additions sound fun :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sculpture in the garden, greencube designs a sculptural ball garden

I'm still out taking photos of all the gardens that have been constructed in the last year and last night I visited our clients in Borough Green, Kent to photograph this garden. We designed the terracing around this very beautiful home and picked up on the existing buff coloured stone detailing that formed the sills and frames around the doors and windows. A complimentary colour  of yellow granite was finally chosen (Yellow Granite paving from CED) and a sculptural border of yellow granite balls (from Rock Unique) underplanted with Ilex crenata balls and Libertia grandiflora. Oak benches and oak arches have also been included and some division of zones created by deck laid flush with granite. This scheme fuses well with the house and setting. I will return in August to take further photos when the garden furniture is in place and hopefully get some night shots, lighting not yet fully completed at time of visit. Greencube planted this garden in two phases, the trees, ro

But my favourite is most definitely the Telegraph Garden

Designed by Cleve West, a magical space with walls retaining at seat level, so wherever you walk you can pause, sit and enjoy, I managed to gain access to Cleve's garden and even had a brief chat with him. I loved it even more once in the space. The star plant at the show for me is most certainly Dianthus cruentus, with its crimson flowers which looked wonderful in amongst the cotswold stone, with its elegant stems and deep red flower. The statuesque columns, the wonderful dry stone walls and planting that had space, looked natural and certainly did not look like it was only planted a week ago!!!! The play with water with the water pipes and channel through the garden with stone stepping stones, all beautifully executed and inspirational.

greencube's garden in Langton Green, near Tunbridge Wells features in Dutch Magazine this month

Our large garden in Langton Green  designed back in 2010 features in a Dutch magazine for April - Groei & Bloei , I had to use google translator to work out what they said: dutch "door efficient gebruik te maken van niveauverschillen ontstaan op een klein oppervlak twee terrassen, gescheiden door een prachtige plantenbak, die tevens dienst doet als regleuning van de zitbank." literally translates to: "through efficient use of level differences arising on a small surface two terraces, separated by a beautiful planter, who also serves as backrest of the sofa." my dutch is not too good! Here are some more photos of this garden: