by Bethany Vann | 10 Sep 25 | Garden Design, News
The 1804 Garden, originally exhibited at the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park in 2023, has been relocated to The Harbour, a mental health hospital in Blackpool.
Designed by Carolyn Hardern and Jon Jarvis, the garden which was awarded a Silver medal at the 2023 show, opened last week during a ribbon cutting event at the hospital.
Scaled down to accommodate its new location, the garden boasts four curved wooden benches, a selection of Acer trees, and more than 500 plants and flowers.
The original reflection pond and spherical steel sculpture, built by Foxes Bench, has also been retained and positioned at the heart of the garden.
Chief executive officer at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, Chris Oliver says the garden will be “invaluable” for the hospital’s mental health inpatients, families, careers and colleagues.
“We all know the role that being outdoors and connecting with nature has on wellbeing – from reducing stress to improving mood and aiding rehabilitation. The garden will strengthen our sense of community, something we are extremely passionate about, by providing a therapeutic environment for social connection for patients and our colleagues alike.”
Design duo Hardern and Jarvis, who in partnership with Alan Nugent founded the not-for-profit organisation Constructing Minds with Nature, won Best in Show at RHS Tatton back in 2022 for their Constructing Minds show garden.
by Bethany Vann | 25 Aug 23 | Domestic Landscaping, Garden Design, News, Topics
An award-winning show garden from this year’s RHS Flower Show Tatton Park needs volunteers to help rebuild it at Clatterbridge Hospital in Liverpool, where it is being donated.
The Constructing Minds garden designed by Carolyn Harden and Jon Jarvis won Silver Gilt and Best Show Garden at Tatton, where it raised awareness for suicide rates in the construction industry.
Inspired by the Japanese practise of shinrin-yoku (‘forest bathing’), the belief that immersing in nature can have revitalising benefits, the garden is now being relocated to the hospital to afford patients and staff a space for “sanctuary” and “rejuvenation.”
Harden and Jarvis are looking for help from local suppliers to aid the gardens rebuild, as some of the materials used in the original garden were on loan for the show. Volunteers are also encouraged for the construction and replanting elements.
Works are set to begin early September this year, with the official opening scheduled for 29 September.
by Bethany Vann | 04 Aug 23 | Domestic Landscaping, Garden Design, Long Reads, Topics, Website Exclusive
A year after becoming one of Pro Landscaper’s 30 Under 30: The Next Generation winners, Rachel Platt has scooped a hat-trick of awards at this year’s RHS Flower Show Tatton Park, including the coveted People’s Choice Award.
Platt’s show garden at this years Tatton Park, ‘Chained to Tech’ in partnership with J. Parkers, explores the behavioural and psychological repercussions of excessive screen-based technology usage in young people.
Wonder Wolf Photography Headshot of Rachel Platt
“The theme was important to me because I’ve experienced it myself, and I think everyone I’ve spoken to has a son or a daughter that is addicted to technology in some way,” explains the 26-year-old designer.
A 2021 study of 1,043 students conducted at King’s College London found that nearly 39% displayed symptoms of smartphone addiction, with 68% of those expressing trouble with sleeping as a result.
“It is having a massive impact on peoples wellbeing and their health in general; it’s a really important topic to be talking about it.”
Platt’s design encompasses the world of digital addiction through visual representation in both the hard and soft landscaping elements of the garden.
“The construction detailing was mainly based on components of technology, like binary, circuit boards, and USB drives.
“I used weathered materials to symbolism when you’re using a lot of technology you’re not looking after your body.”
The planting comprised of drought tolerant species, including Phormium tenax and Punica granatum to symbolise the dry eyes caused by extended screen time, with the vibrant colours of yellow Eremurus (foxtail lily), and blue Agapanthus to denote the vibrancy of screens, unmatched by reality.
Credit @ RHS
“Lots of people have interpreted it in different ways but I would say mainly it’s to do with the effects of technological addiction in the fact that it’s that instant gratification and euphoric feeling you get.”
In parallel to exhibiting the effects of digital addiction and their potential severity, Platt drew attention to the multiple wellbeing benefits available within nature that can offset the downward spiral of addiction.
“It is a difficult to get a young adult off the computer but when they do go out into nature, they do put down their phone away, even if it’s for just 15 seconds.
“Just going outside does help and I’ve seen it help people, so I think that’s the link there, I wanted that take home message to be that horticulture really can help.”
Chained to Tech is not Platt’s first exploration into the benefits of horticulture at Tatton, with her 2022 award-winning debut ‘The Covid Recovery Garden’, designed to exhibit the physical and physiological healing properties accessible through nature, relocated to a local hospital to provide a recuperation sanctuary for patients suffering from long-covid.
“It’s always good to highlight something like this. I don’t do small things, I talk about pretty dark, deep things.”
With Tatton now closed and three new awards under her belt, including Best Construction and a Silver Gilt medal, Platt is now focusing her efforts on an upcoming project in Edinburgh, of which she could not divulge too much information on, but watch this space.
If you’re interested in entering this year’s Pro Landscaper’s 30 Under 30: The Next Generation in partnership with Green-tech, or you’d like to nominate someone for the prestigious award, you can find more information here.
by Bethany Vann | 19 Jul 23 | Domestic Landscaping, Garden Design, News, Topics
Nathan Webster has been awarded a hat-trick of awards for his Off the Grid Garden, including the Best Young Designer Garden award at the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park 2023.
His woodland design exhibits how an individual can live self-sustainably within nature, featuring beds of edibles, fire pit cooking station and an outdoor shower.
The RHS Young Designer of the Year category has been a feature at Tatton Park since 2009, open to entrants aged 28 and younger, to help create a stepping-stone into the garden design and landscaping sectors for the younger generation.
This year’s Young Designer winner, Nathan Webster says: “Throughout the years of the young designer competition being run, the standards have improved significantly. To be a part of this category is a massive achievement and will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Webster’s garden, built by Wright Landscapes centres around a contemporary lodge, juxtaposed to the limited forest planting tones of foxgloves and ferns, with a rural path connecting the features representative of a forest clearing beneath an airy canopy of conifers.
Webster says: “Even before I became a landscape architect, I had a passion for nature and the outdoors. From my experience in 2015 creating a Back to Back Garden, I have aspired to design my own garden and influence garden enthusiasts whilst showcasing my designs.
“The main feature of the design is upcycling and reusing materials, something that can be implemented in any garden, and using an existing environment to its full potential, highlighting the benefits of adapted living.”
Webster’s Off the Grid Garden has also been award Best Construction (Young Designer Garden) and a Gold medal, with the People’s Choice awards yet to be announced until Friday at 4pm.
A full list of Best in awards can be found here.
by Bethany Vann | 19 Jul 23 | Domestic Landscaping, Garden Design, News, Topics
The RHS Flower Show Tatton Park is underway this week. With more categories for 2023, this year’s medal winners have been announced.
Constructing Minds
Best Show Garden I Silver Gilt Medal
Designed by Carolyn Harden and Jon Jarvis and built by The Landscape Academy, the Constructing Minds Garden raises awareness of suicide rates in the construction sector, the highest among all industries.
Designed to offer a calm and secluded space to help those struggling with ill mental health, the wildflower meadow is inspired by the Japanese practise of shinrin-yoku (‘forest bathing’), the belief that immersing in nature can have revitalising benefits.
Harden and Jarvis say: “Research shows that regular access to green spaces can benefit mental health, and we have designed a calming space that we hope may help support those in suicidal crisis.”
Photo credit to the RHS.
Parker’s Chained to Tech Garden
Best Construction (Show Garden) I Silver Gild Medal
The garden, designed by Pro Landscaper’s 30 Under 30 winner, Rachel Platt addresses the increasing prevalence of screen-based technology addiction among the younger generation, in correlation with the garden’s sponsor J.Parker’s current research project of the same subject, in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University.
The gardens bold colour planting represents the visual vibrancy of screen-based technology, designed to create ‘instant gratification and the feeling of euphoria that using technology provides.’
Parker’s Chained to Tech Garden was built by Everest Garden Landscapes.
Off the Grid
Best Young Designer Garden I Best Construction (Young Designer Garden) I Gold Medal winner
Designed by Nathan Webster, Off the Grid showcases naturalistic living in a forest setting, underlining the self-sustainable benefits available in nature.
The limited woodland planting tones and tall pine and birch trees create a rural and realistic forest space, juxtaposed by the modern structural design of the lodge.
The garden was built by Wright Landscapes.
Brickyard
Best Terrace and Slim Space Garden I Gold medal winner
Inspired by the traditional northern city brickwork, the Brickyard Garden designed by Conal Studio exhibits how historic spaces can become accessible to modern life and nature.
The gardens planting is a mix of contained foliage and wild flora thriving against the backdrop of traditional red bricks, highlighting nature’s capability to grow in diverse terrain and environments.
Brickyard was built by Acorn Landscape Services.
RHS Tatton is open until 23 July, for more RHS news, see here:
RHS Tatton Park designers to “push boundaries”
J. Parker’s partners with Rachel Platt to produce mental health inspired garden at RHS Tatton
by Bethany Vann | 12 May 23 | Domestic Landscaping, Garden Design, News, Topics
J. Parker Dutch Bulbs (Wholesale) Ltd., one of the UK’s online market leaders in garden plants and bulbs has partnered with emerging designer Rachel Platt to present a show garden at this years Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Tatton Park Flower Show.
The garden, titled ‘Chained to Tech’, will address the increasing prevalence of technology addiction amongst the younger demographic and the repercussions this can have on their mental and physical health, with reference to how horticulture can be a source of support.
Rachel Platt says, “I was thrilled to be approached by J. Parker’s to design their show garden this year. This garden really resonates with me, having seen the impact of technological addiction myself and I hope the garden will be meaningful and impactful for others”.
The garden has been created using a mix of dense planting and hard landscaping, the latter appears flawless with clean sharp lines and smooth appearance, but on closer inspection, the materials are raw and distressed, representative of the detrimental effect technological overuse can have mentally and physically.
Minimal maintenance plants are featured through the garden, with trees, shrubs and grasses providing the majority of the planting structure. Pops of colour and scent are present through the use of perennials such as Agastache, Coreopsis and Salvia.
J. Parker will also be partnering with behavioural specialists from Manchester Metropolitan University to conduct independent research projects into the impact horticulture can have on those suffering with mental health.
Neuroscientist Dr Elizabeth Braithwaite, senior research associate, Manchester Met, adds, “We are really excited to be working with J. Parker’s and using this innovative garden design to disseminate knowledge on the impacts of technology addiction on poor mental health, and the potential role that gardening and horticulture may play in buffering these effects. Rising rates of poor mental health is a serious problem, especially among young people, so raising awareness of potential risk factors, such as technology addiction, is important work.”
Many of this years’ RHS Tatton designers are pushing the boundaries, taking inspiration from powerful yet delicate subjects, from suicide awareness to J. Parker’s mental health showpiece.
‘Chained to Tech’ is not Rachel’s first exploration into the healing properties of horticulture at Tatton, the 2022 Pro Landscaper 30 under 30’s: The Next Generation winner Tatton debut, titled ‘Covid Recovery Garden’ was designed for a hospital to provide a recuperation sanctuary for patients suffering from long-COVID.
The garden saw the young designer take home a trio of awards, including the highly coveted People’s Choice Award.
The 2023 RHS Tatton Park Flower Show is taking place from the 19th to the 23rd of July, more information regarding the event can be found here: //www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-flower-show-tatton-park
by Nina Mason | 03 May 23 | Domestic Landscaping, Garden Design, News, Topics
A variety of topics and issues will be highlighted at this year’s RHS Flower Show Tatton Park in July. Designers will tackle subjects from nocturnal pollinators to technology to suicide at this year’s show, which has seen a large increase in local participants.
A blackout tent with close-up projections will celebrate lesser-known pollinators in The RHS Nocturnal Pollinator Experience, designed by immersive technology artist Georgia Tucker and designer Sharon Hockenhull.
Last year’s RHS Young Designer of the Year finalist Rachel Platt will explore tech addiction among young adults in ‘J.Parker’s Chained to Tech Garden’. Designers Carolyn Hardern and Jon Jarvis, on the other hand, will be raising awareness of the high suicide rates among construction workers with ‘Constructing Minds’.
‘The Macmillan Legacy Garden; by Lynn Cordall invites visitors to consider supporting the cancer charity with gifts in wills, which fund over a third of its services. Pip Probert’s ‘Alfresco Garden’ provides an entertainment space.
In the RHS Young Designer of the Year competition, 24-year-olds Ollie Pike and Nathan Webster and Camellia Hayes, 28, will compete for the title.
This year’s show will also feature for the first time the Long Borders category, which was popular at the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show.
Helena Pettit, RHS director of gardens and shows, said: “It’s fantastic to see how designers at our youngest flower show are so keen to push boundaries in the world of garden design. Tackling such a broad range of subjects, from mental health and tech addiction to modern, luxurious yet sustainable living, through horticulture, we’re demonstrating how gardening and the outdoors can both empower people while bringing calm and good health to the individual.
“Of equal delight is the fact that we’ve got such a high number of local participants this year. It’s great to see the North West catapulting the best in growing and garden design to the forefront.”
