Chelsea Flower Show - Forever Freefolk continues 1

This is very much a note by note progress of the way we worked to achieve securing a show garden at Chelsea flower show.

A show garden on main avenue at Chelsea flower show, how long can this take to go from bidding for sponsorship to applying for the space?

In truth we had 48hours to put a proposal forward to the sponsors Brewin Dolphin, one of the most renowned Chelsea sponsors.
After this a short list, which we made and then the need to do a presentation to really make the bid stick. Preparation time for this another 36 hours, talk about a tight time-scale.

Where do you begin but with a starting sketch from numerous ideas. To be honest that was not the starting point. It started with a scrap of A4 with various single words to describe the wonderful area we live in here at Freefolk in Hampshire. We live in the most amazing landscape, that over the geological era has changed significantly, through the ages.

The underlying area is made of chalk a very interesting material that can act like a sponge.

Chalk was laid down over a prolonged heating of the oceans many millennia ago. The seas were at 20 degrees Celsius the plank-tonic life was rich, the dying bodies of these coccolithophores end up on the seabed. The skeletons made from calcium carbonate of these creatures are known as coccoliths and it is this that is the backbone of the chalk.

How to integrate this beautiful natural structure into the garden design, was the next step.

All the ideas of what to base our design on had been narrowed down to the Chalk streams, Chalkdownland, Local industry and the effects upon the area.
The industry heritage is one of security paper-making. Portals make banknote paper, with the watermarks and silver threads for increasing the security of banknotes. This was all due to the Huguenots who moved here in the 1730's.
The river and path running through the garden are the silver thread.

Many of our naturally occurring features of Hampshire are utilised within the concept of this display garden.

The main underlying concept of Chalk streams is key to the story.
'Chalkstreams are our Rainforests' and are a very much a fragile important ecosystem that need protecting for our future.
Too much water extraction and we could end up with dried up streams as in our concept garden. Depicted by gravel planting and coccolith gabion stepping stones.

There are many elements to all designs, with various ideas coming and going.
Many times the constraints are monetary, as in many things in life meaning other paths have to be taken to reach the same goal.

www.hardys-plant.co.uk 

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