“His marriage of native vegetation with the strong clean lines of modernist architecture is certainly producing fresh and powerful images”
Quote: Critique of “A Water Meadow Garden” at The Chelsea Flower Show 1998
Stephen Lacy in The Daily Telegraph
Chelsea 1998:
This garden was co-sponsored & was built on a very tight budget! We were also keen not to be wasteful and many of the garden features such as decking and trees were re-used in other projects. The design concept was to explore how a natural landscape setting such as a water meadow could be utilised as part of a marginal garden space. Award: Gold Medal
Contractor: Withycombe Landscapes Ltd
Image: “floating” timber decking over natural reed bed with mature “pollarded” Willow trees
Ceramic “fish” pole sculptures by Suffolk ceramicist Jonathan Keep were located in the reed bed
Chelsea 1998: Original concept drawing.
The garden takes shape…
A Chelsea garden on Main Avenue is not for the feint-hearted. With constant media scrutiny, it can be a pressured and stressful environment. With tight building & planting schedules, things don’t always go to plan. Due to the late delivery of an essential pond-liner, our garden was very nearly closed down by the RHS before the show opened!
To complete a garden to a high standard and have a chance of a decent medal , favours are called in and bank overdrafts extended. Many Chelsea exhibits would probably not happen at all without the kind assistance of suppliers, friends and colleagues willing to help out. Main contributors:
Sponsor: Alan Lintott and family
Contractor: Colin Withycombe Park Garden Services
Decking Fabrication; Metalcraft Ltd
Architect/deck: Gunnar Orefelt Associates
Sculpture/Ceramicist: Jonathan Keep
Mature “pollarded” Willows were planted at an angle to convey a windy, natural landscape. Dark brown Willow wattle hurdles enclosed the space.
The clean lines of a modern “floating” timber deck & steps over natural wetland planting.