Media
School Garden Chalks Up Silver Award at Chelsea
24 May 2005
Judges at the world-famous show gave Peace is Special, an eye-catching Chic Garden, a silver award for its planting and design. Jennifer Hirsch, the Kew-trained garden designer, said “To win a silver with my first garden is thrilling. The experience is addictive and I’ve already got a scheme in mind for next year.”
David Andrews, CEO of sponsor Xchanging, said “First time at Chelsea and Jennifer and the Oak Lodge children have shown what a combination of vision and a lot of hard work can achieve”. Thanks to this unique gardening project, Xchanging - the world’s leading business processing services company - is now looking to forge links with selected special schools to establish work experience schemes for pupils.
Peace is Special, a Chic garden, shows how the landscape of war can be cleverly regenerated into one of peace - barbed tape becoming trellis and rifle shot metal used as sculpture. Allium are planted in the geometric pattern used for military graves and polished concrete paving stones carry the names of peace treaties through the ages. Camouflage pebble-shaped cushions and herbaceous yellow planting, echoing the colour of loved ones far from home, soften the harsher edges of this dramatically urban garden.
Jennifer adapted the unusual brief given to her by pupils from Oak Lodge School near Southampton with stunning effect. The youngsters, from the school’s gardening club, chose the theme of peace after war and then brainstormed many of the garden’s detailed features with Jennifer. They have helped pot up many of the 1,200 plants and written the peace poetry engraved on the paving stones.
Rather than viewing the Chelsea Flower Show as an exciting one-off, the children, who have a range of special educational needs, have been on a four-month tour of discovery. With the help of Xchanging, visits based on the garden’s theme were planned to give the youngsters the best opportunity to absorb information, including trips to the Imperial War Museum, the National Gallery in London and Bovington Tank Museum.
Minimalist and urban, Peace is Special is framed in steel with cantilevered concrete benches and opaque plastic walls – the opacity of the latter balanced by the solidity of the other two. There are three blocks of planting – one of Ophiopogon japonicus ‘Nippon’, another of Allium ‘ Mount Everest’ under planted with Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dance’.
The final area of planting is a yellow and cream scheme planted in a meadow style - Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus, Iris siberica ‘Butter and Sugar’, Phlox divaricata ‘White Perfume’, Polemonium caerulem ‘Album’, Primula prolifera, Selaginella kraussiana and Thalictrum aquilegifolium ‘Album’ are woven together in a carpet of colour.
A steel channel of still water bisects and links the different areas of garden and up-lit pavers appear to float on the water surface. On the far wall, and lit at night, hangs a sculpture formed out of panels of rifle shot metal.
All the plants for the garden were grown by Julia Benn of Test Valley Nursery in Timsbury.
For further information and interviews regarding the garden contact Emma Mason, freelance PR, on 07762 117433.