Thursday, April 19, 2012

An Australian Garden at Chelsea

Thursday, April 19, 2012   Mark and Gaz   4 comments

With The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012 fast approaching, its a good time to have a look at some of the designs and plans for this year. One of the show gardens that has always caught our attention in the past has been the gardens by Flemings, an Australian nursery, who are showing at Chelsea again this year.

Their designs are often very bold and typically Aussie, with dramatic outdoor living spaces, cool looking pools, and fantastic tropical plantings.


This years design looks to continue this theme of dramatic outdoor living space. Flemings pride themselves on creating gardens that could actually be lived in (albeit the plantings would usually need to be modified for a permanent UK garden). With a dramatic outdoor room at its heart, towering palms and a spa pool the design looks like its going to be another fun design.

I love this idea, a secret outdoor bath, perhaps it works better as an idea in the warmth of a real Australian garden,
but maybe a hot tub in a similar location would work well as an alternative here. 
The planting list is equally interesting, and contains many plants we grow (some permanently outside, and others in pots). Plants such as Philodendron 'Xanadu' are too tender for permanent planting for us, but does well in a pot, coming into the kitchen for winter, but others such as Aspidistra elatior and Chamaerops humilis thrive in our garden.


The 2012 Chelsea show page on Flemings website shows a hint of the design, currently only visible in CAD form and remind me of the computer game "The Sims", but Chelsea is not that long away, so the actually finished product will soon be on display.
Gaz

Posted in: Chelsea Flower Show , exotic garden

4 comments :

  1. organicgardendreams20 April 2012 at 01:38

    Hi Gaz, that could be a garden designed for Southern California! It amazes me how "real" this design appears in a CAD form. For my personal taste it is a little bit too modern and symmetrical. There also seems to be so much stone and concrete involved in the design, but again they don't pretend to plan an old fashioned cottage garden. But even for a tropical garden I would like to see more lushness. I think, I prefer your garden way over this one :-)! Anyway, I so envy you guys that you will go to the Chelsea Flower Show, soon!
    Christina

    ReplyDelete
  2. David Marsden20 April 2012 at 06:29

    I agree with Christina. Not being too sycophantic (hehe), I prefer yours too; this seems all a little open and unexciting, with no sense of surprise. It doesn't draw me in to want to explore. It looks rather like a holiday chalet with planting designed for ease of maintenance (but perhaps that's the idea). Dave

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pampas2Palms20 April 2012 at 11:57

    The Aussie gardens are usually great - I loved the brick red wall last year made of rippled concrete.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Enduring Gardener7 May 2012 at 20:59

    Can't wait to see this garden Gaz. Not long to air now.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to reply to our post, we love reading comments and hearing your views.

Due to the increased level of spam, please note comments on older posts are moderated and only published after approval. All new comments are read and any spam is deleted.