Leeds Castle won gold and Best Exhibit in the Floral Design Studio at RHS Hampton Court 2017 Pictures Ian West
Judges cast a warm golden glow over Kent’s competitors at the 2017 RHS Hampton Court Flower Show and Leeds Castle's head florist Louise Roots demonstrated why 'probably the loveliest castle in the world' is definitely home to the loveliest floral art.
Louise added another gold to last year’s haul and her pretty representation of a wildlife haven, above, also earned her Best Exhibit in the Floral Design Studio.
Louise Roots said: “I spent a lot of time drawing ideas from my own garden and the beautiful gardens at Leeds Castle, seeing how they changed over the seasons and which plants attracted the most wildlife.
"I wanted to include Foxgloves in my design as they are iconic to an English garden and I had the notion for a central beehive from the incredible number of bees seen at this time of year, especially attracted to flowers such as Alliums, with their strong garlic scent. Most of the flowers I have used can be seen growing in the gardens at Leeds Castle."
Paul Harris, of Brookfield Nurseries, Ashford, won gold for his pristine hostas, making it three with his top awards at the RHS Chelsea and Chatsworth shows.
Simon Charlesworth, of Downderry Lavender, in Hadlow, near Tonbridge, which holds the national collection of lavenders, took gold for his seductive display of white, pink and purple plants.
Madrona Nursery, of Bethersden, near Headcorn, matched its silver-gilt of last year for flowering shrubs and perennials while salvia specialist Dysons Nurseries, of St Mary's Platt, near Borough Green, stepped up from silver in 2016 to silver-gilt.
In the Festival of Roses, Eastcroft Roses of Cliffe, near Rochester, earned silver for container-grown specimens, up against such giants as David Austin and Peter Beales who took gold and silver-guilt respectively.
Plant Heritage
The Plant Heritage section featured 13 National Plant Collections, including three from Kent.
Newcomer Julian Reed from Kemsing, near Sevenoaks, has had a long career in horticulture but he was only awarded custodian of the national collection of Polypodium Cultivar ferns early this year and won silver-gilt.
The oldest cultivar is Polypodium cambricum ‘Richard Kayse’ which dates to 1668 while the species records go back to at least 1491.
Canterbury Cathedral’s head gardener Philip Oostenbrink’s Collection of Hakonechloa macra Japanese grasses earned silver for the second year – and spectacular they were, too.
Philip’s display was inspired by a picture of a temple garden in Kyoto, Japan, and included recycled scaffolding boards from the cathedral’s Great South Window project and ‘offcuts’ of Caen stone from France being used in other restoration work on the building.
Despite taking gold with his hostas Paul Harris was having a ‘nightmare’ with his display of Hemerocallis (day lilies) - the majority of his flowering stock had ‘blown’ in the heatwave and those he had managed to salvage for the show were behaving badly. Many were refusing to flower when the judges came around in the morning then out of sight of them opened at lunchtime and he was awarded silver.
Show and Conceptual Gardens
Renowned for his innovative designs former Tonbridge School boy John Warland earned silver-gilt with his conceptual garden Kinetica.
Inspired by particle theory, the garden had moving kinetic planters and everything was enhanced by the strong primary colours used throughout.
Mark Whyte and Sharmayne Ferguson, who run Hythe Garden Landscapes, took silver with Cotswold Wildlife Park & Garden: Not for Sale together with Tusk Trust which highlighted the illegal ivory trade.
The circular arch of 200 ‘tusks’, made of foam, represented the average number of elephants killed each day by poachers in Africa.
This haunting garden also had a waterhole, beside which were the skull and bones of an elephant.
Mark said: “It was really hard in the heatwave at Hampton Court, you could not work long in 35 degrees of heat but otherwise it went really well.”
Last year the pair won silver-gilt with their first show garden, inspired by Dungeness, which featured a giant wave.
On the Edge, designed by Frederic Whyte and constructed by Benton Brothers based in Maidstone, won silver-gilt in the show garden section. The garden depicted depression and therapy as people with mental health difficulties cope with their condition and manage their lives.
Designer Charlie Bloom, who was mentored by show judge and plantsman Roger Platts, who runs a nursery in Edenbridge, Kent, was awarded silver-gilt for her Colour Box garden.
Louise added another gold to last year’s haul and her pretty representation of a wildlife haven, above, also earned her Best Exhibit in the Floral Design Studio.
Louise Roots said: “I spent a lot of time drawing ideas from my own garden and the beautiful gardens at Leeds Castle, seeing how they changed over the seasons and which plants attracted the most wildlife.
"I wanted to include Foxgloves in my design as they are iconic to an English garden and I had the notion for a central beehive from the incredible number of bees seen at this time of year, especially attracted to flowers such as Alliums, with their strong garlic scent. Most of the flowers I have used can be seen growing in the gardens at Leeds Castle."
Paul Harris, of Brookfield Nurseries, Ashford, won gold for his pristine hostas, making it three with his top awards at the RHS Chelsea and Chatsworth shows.
Simon Charlesworth, of Downderry Lavender, in Hadlow, near Tonbridge, which holds the national collection of lavenders, took gold for his seductive display of white, pink and purple plants.
Madrona Nursery, of Bethersden, near Headcorn, matched its silver-gilt of last year for flowering shrubs and perennials while salvia specialist Dysons Nurseries, of St Mary's Platt, near Borough Green, stepped up from silver in 2016 to silver-gilt.
In the Festival of Roses, Eastcroft Roses of Cliffe, near Rochester, earned silver for container-grown specimens, up against such giants as David Austin and Peter Beales who took gold and silver-guilt respectively.
Plant Heritage
The Plant Heritage section featured 13 National Plant Collections, including three from Kent.
Newcomer Julian Reed from Kemsing, near Sevenoaks, has had a long career in horticulture but he was only awarded custodian of the national collection of Polypodium Cultivar ferns early this year and won silver-gilt.
The oldest cultivar is Polypodium cambricum ‘Richard Kayse’ which dates to 1668 while the species records go back to at least 1491.
Canterbury Cathedral’s head gardener Philip Oostenbrink’s Collection of Hakonechloa macra Japanese grasses earned silver for the second year – and spectacular they were, too.
Philip’s display was inspired by a picture of a temple garden in Kyoto, Japan, and included recycled scaffolding boards from the cathedral’s Great South Window project and ‘offcuts’ of Caen stone from France being used in other restoration work on the building.
Despite taking gold with his hostas Paul Harris was having a ‘nightmare’ with his display of Hemerocallis (day lilies) - the majority of his flowering stock had ‘blown’ in the heatwave and those he had managed to salvage for the show were behaving badly. Many were refusing to flower when the judges came around in the morning then out of sight of them opened at lunchtime and he was awarded silver.
Show and Conceptual Gardens
Renowned for his innovative designs former Tonbridge School boy John Warland earned silver-gilt with his conceptual garden Kinetica.
Inspired by particle theory, the garden had moving kinetic planters and everything was enhanced by the strong primary colours used throughout.
Mark Whyte and Sharmayne Ferguson, who run Hythe Garden Landscapes, took silver with Cotswold Wildlife Park & Garden: Not for Sale together with Tusk Trust which highlighted the illegal ivory trade.
The circular arch of 200 ‘tusks’, made of foam, represented the average number of elephants killed each day by poachers in Africa.
This haunting garden also had a waterhole, beside which were the skull and bones of an elephant.
Mark said: “It was really hard in the heatwave at Hampton Court, you could not work long in 35 degrees of heat but otherwise it went really well.”
Last year the pair won silver-gilt with their first show garden, inspired by Dungeness, which featured a giant wave.
On the Edge, designed by Frederic Whyte and constructed by Benton Brothers based in Maidstone, won silver-gilt in the show garden section. The garden depicted depression and therapy as people with mental health difficulties cope with their condition and manage their lives.
Designer Charlie Bloom, who was mentored by show judge and plantsman Roger Platts, who runs a nursery in Edenbridge, Kent, was awarded silver-gilt for her Colour Box garden.
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