RHS Hampton Court
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RHS 2019 Hampton Court Garden Festival /in , , , /by

Practicality Brown at RHS Hampton Court

Every year, Practicality Brown have the pleasure of working with talented Garden Designers at the Royal Horticultural Society’s prestigious Garden Shows and this July we supplied six gardens at Hampton Court with 75m of our Instant Hedge as well as five semi-mature trees.

Five gardens used our Practical Native Mix Instant Hedge, which has plants that are all native to the UK, reflecting traditional country hedgerows and are therefore very wildlife friendly. Grown here at our nursery in Iver, we have taken great care with these instant hedging solutions to supply a premium quality product.

BBC Springwatch Garden (Feature Garden)

Practical Instant Hedge for BBC Springwatch garden

This special Feature Garden, designed by Jo Thompson, was inspired by Kate Bradbury’s wildlife garden for BBC Springwatch. British gardens cover an area bigger than all of the country’s nature reserves combined which is being represented in the BBC Springwatch Garden, as it shows three gardens belonging to different neighbours. Each with its own character and features to attract wildlife, working towards a common cause through gardening. Our Practical Native Mix Instant Hedge reinforces these wildlife benefits. Built by Bespoke Outdoor Spaces

Through Your Eyes (Show Garden)

Practical Instant Hedge for Lawrence Roberts

Silver medal winner

This Show Garden, designed by Lawrence Roberts  of Elements Garden Design, provided an immersive experience for the show visitor. The garden was overlooked by a large William Roobrouck sculpture that can be entered, allowing each person a moment alone to contemplate the garden and its message. Mental health, age, family and friendships are all addressed in the garden through the materials and the choice of planting. Our Native Mix formed the borders to this thoughtful garden. Built by Shrub and Stone.

The Naturecraft Garden (Lifestyle Garden)

Practical Instant Hedge for Naturecraft Garden

Silver medal winner and Peoples’ Choice Award for Lifestyle & Global Impact Garden

Designed by Pollyanna Wilkinson, and inspired by botanical crafts, the garden explored how we can create beautiful objects from the plants that we grow. Crafts included natural dyes, herbal medicines, flower pressing and willow weaving. As well as their decorative value, the plants in this country garden all have a purpose, whether it be medicinal, edible or practical. Our Native Mix instant hedge created a framework for the garden’s features, which form a sanctuary where creativity can thrive. We also supplied the trees for this beautiful garden. Built by Burnham Landscaping.

The Urban Pollinator Garden (Lifestyle Garden)

Practical Instant Hedge for Urban Pollinator garden

Silver Gilt medal winner

The garden, designed by Caitlin McLaughlin, was a magnet for bees and other insects, fusing design, function and wildlife-friendly values. After a long day at work this garden is designed to offer a place for the owners to relax, connect with nature, and surround themselves with pollinators, without the pressure of keeping bees themselves. Our Native Mix Instant Hedge helped support a range of wildlife and promote biodiversity. Built by Conway Landscapes
This garden is now rehomed at Cransley Hospice in Kettering, Northamptonshire, for patients, visitors and staff to enjoy.

Stop and Pause Garden (Lifestyle Garden)

Practical Instant Hedge for Dave Green

Gold medal winner Best Lifestyle & Global Impact Garden and Best Construction Award

Designed by Dave Green, this garden is a calm, still and quiet space offering mental wellbeing and meditation opportunities. Surrounded by trees, the space has a slightly secretive quality, hiding its sense of tranquillity within. At the centre, a reflection pool, surrounded by soft woodland planting, adds to the relaxed feeling. Seating areas create places to stop, pause and reflect while enjoying the sight, sounds and smells of nature. Our Native Mix Instant Hedge is integral to the design. Built by PC Landscapes.
The garden has been donated to Solihull Hospital Charity and will be reconstructed in the hospital grounds.

Outdoor Living Garden (Lifestyle Garden)

Purple Beech Instant Hedge

Silver Gilt medal winner

This garden is a nod to the growing trend of outdoor living and alfresco dining, designed with a young couple in mind. Designed by Robert Grimstead, its features an almost seamless terrace within the garden and an outdoor kitchen for an alfresco dining experience, providing the ability to cook and socialise with friends. A reflective gravel pool creates a sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. UK grown Purple Beech Instant Hedge provides a framework to this stylish garden. Built by Lower Barn Farm

Inspired?

If you would like a garden inspired by RHS Flowers Shows please contact us on 01753 652022 or email to talk to our friendly Horticultural team.

See more about these gardens on the RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival web page

Award Winning

Congratulations to all the designers, builders and volunteers involved with these fabulous projects; see more on the BBC coverage of the RHS Hampton Court Garden festival on BBC iPlayer

Links

RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival – The Gardens

Jo Thompson

Lawrence Roberts

Pollyanna Wilkinson

Caitlin McLaughlin

Dave Green

Robert Grimstead

BBC coverage Chelsea trees
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Trees at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2019 /in , , , /by

Specimen Trees at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

There was a strong green colour scheme at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show and the BBC coverage showed many of the talented garden designers’ creations. Once again, Monty Don, respected gardener and broadcaster chose his favourite Trees from this year’s show.

Including the impressive resident avenue of London Plane trees, these specimen trees that stood out:

Hornbeam

Hornbeam treesAndy Sturgeon used large Hornbeams in the woodland feature of his M & G Garden, which was inspired by nature’s power to regenerate. This Gold medal winning garden also received the Best Show Garden award.

Carpinus betulus (Common Hornbeam) is a native tree. It has bright green leaves which turn a shining yellow through to brown in the Autumn. Hornbeam often retains these brown leaves through the Winter and into the Spring.

 

Many large unclipped evergreens were left to their natural best in these Show Gardens:

Altas CedarAtlas Cedar in Wedgwood garden

Jo Thompson reflected 260 years of history in her Wedgwood Garden, creating an impressive architectural arched structure, and used textural and structural trees to line the boundary, including Atlas Cedar. The garden was awarded a Silver Gilt medal

The Cedrus atlantica is a fast growing tree, named after the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and Algeria, from where it originates. This imperial tree can reach 30 metres in height, with branches that growing horizontally from the base of the tree all the way up to the top.

 

Monkey puzzleMonkey puzzle tree

Jonathon Snow’s silver medal winning Trailfinders garden was inspired by the temperate rainforests of South America, where the Monkey puzzle is a native tree.

Araucaria Araucana (Monkey puzzle) is a stately slow growing evergreen and structural tree, well known for its distinctive long slender branches densely covered with overlapping spiking leaves.

 

Black pine

Black pine tree

Centre stage of Chris Beardshaw’s Morgan Stanley Garden is the Black Pine. This Gold medal winning garden is inspired by the UK’s love of beautiful gardens.

The Black, or Austrian Pine is a rich, robust evergreen tree, with deep green glossy needles and a picturesque (and usually) rounded growth habit.

Pinus nigra is excellent in exposed and coastal areas, and makes the perfect selection for wind break planting and protection from the sea.

 

Semi-mature trees can make a real statement in your garden; why not browse our Tree Finder or ask us about our in stock availability.

Please either fill out the contact form, email trees@www.pracbrown.co.uk or call us on 01753 652022

Practical Instant Hedge at Hampton Court Flower Show - Hampton Gardens 2018
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RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2018 Awards /in , , /by

Hampton Court Flower Show 2018

The RHS created a new category at Hampton Court Flower Show 2018 this year;
Lifestyle Gardens: real gardens for real people

The featured gardens were designed to resonate with different lifestyles and reflect the owner’s way of life and was perfect for visitors wanting ideas to take away for their garden at home.
The RHS, as part of their commitment to inspiring new talent and encouraging more young people to pursue a career in horticulture, invited four up-and-coming female designers from the next generation for their take on garden design.

Practicality Brown proudly supplied Practical Instant Hedge to three of the four gardens in the Lifestyle Garden category at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2018.

The Family Garden designed by Lilly Gomm

Silver Gilt medal winner

Gardener, designs seen at Tatton Park. First time at Hampton

Hampton Court Flower Show 2018

Family Garden at Hampton Court

The Family Garden: A garden to inspire young environmentalists

A relaxing space where insects thrive and children are immersed in nature. Intended for an environmentally-conscious family, the garden is a learning environment inspired by the enchanting and lasting impression a garden can have on children through play and discovery, instilling an awareness of our collective responsibility towards our natural surroundings. The garden is relaxed and unmanicured. Fruit trees and a shaggy lawn are surrounded by soft, informal planting, creating habitats for insects and other wildlife.

We supplied Practical Instant Native Mix Hedge

The Health and Wellbeing Garden designed by Alexandra Noble

Silver medal winner and People’s Choice Best Lifestyle/Conceptual/Changing World Garden

Winner of The One Show Garden Design Challenge, second year at Hampton

Practical Instant Hedge at RHS Hampton Court - Hampton Gardens 2018

Health & Wellbeing Garden at Hampton Court

The Health and Well-being Garden: A new look at medicinal plants.

This garden’s scheme was to create “naturalistic, floaty, dreamlike” experience with masses of fragrance around a clever continuous path that takes its inspiration from both abstract art and meditative process. The aim of the garden is to slow one’s pace and mind and encourage a sense of being in the moment.

We supplied Practical Instant Griselinia Hedge

The Entertaining Garden designed by Anca Panait

Silver medal winner

Landscape architect and illustrator, first time at Hampton

Practical Instant Hedge at RHS Hampton Court - Hampton Gardens 2018

Entertaining Garden at Hampton Court Flower Show

The Entertaining Garden: Gin and botanicals

The garden celebrated gin, the nation’s most fashionable alcoholic drink, and its botanicals. Designed as an entertaining space for parties, it’s perfect for mingling with friends and exploring new botanical associations. Immersed within the

planting, visitors are indulged with both the taste and aroma of the plants

We supplied Practical Instant Native Mix Hedge

 

 

 

We supplied elegant taxus hedge elements for Paul Richardson’s Steel Sculptures trade exhibition,

RHS Hampton Court trade exhibition - Hampton Gardens 2018

Steel Sculptures

which was awarded 5 Stars by the RHS

During June, we were also involved with two other award-winning gardens – see blog for details.

If you would like a garden inspired by Flower Shows please contact us on 01753 652022 to talk to our friendly Horticultural team.

Beech instant hedges at Chatsworth
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Flower Shows 2018 focusing on Instant Hedges

June

Congratulations to everyone at the June Flower Shows, Practicality Brown proudly supplied instant hedges to:

  • The Brewin Dolphin Installation designed by Paul Hervey-Brookes won People’s Choice at RHS Chatsworth Flower Show
  • Inspiration in the Raw designed by Peter Cowell awarded Gold Medal at BBC Gardeners’ World Live

The Brewin Dolphin Installation

Inspired by a past landscape of the Chatsworth Estate, this conceptual garden echoes a ‘lost’ village that once stood in the shadow of Chatsworth House before being removed to make way for Capability Brown’s famous landscape. The planting references the indigenous landscape combining native plants with decorative varieties introduced in later years.

Sponsored by Brewin Dolphin, this garden affirmation from the public with The People’s Award for Installation at RHS Chatsworth Flower Show. We supplied Elveden Instant Beech Hedge for this garden.

Inspiration in the Raw

The garden focuses on using natural materials to create a more peaceful area to live in the garden. With an emphasis on recycling and reusing materials, this garden caters for a family, the garden is divided into sections by sliding barn doors. At the rear of the garden there is a dedicated play area with rope swing and playhouse, meanwhile, parents can entertain in the free-form concrete seating and dining area or relax in a quiet corner.

This garden was awarded a Gold Medal by the judges at the BBC Gardeners’ World Live. We supplied Practical Instant Native Mix Hedge for this garden.

July

At RHS Hampton Court, we are supported three out of the four Lifestyle Gardens, as well as a trade exhibit.

And Paul Richardson’s Garden Steel Sculptures – see blog here for more details

If you would like a garden inspired by Flower Shows please contact us on 01753 652022 to talk to our friendly Horticultural team.

Semi-Mature Trees Common lime tree
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Semi-Mature Trees at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018

There were very many beautiful gardens at this RHS Chelsea Flower Show and the BBC coverage showcased many of the designs. Monty Don, respected gardener and broadcaster chose his favourite Semi-Mature Trees from this year’s show; all of them spectacular specimens:

Morus nigra (Black Mulberry)

Centre to Paul Hervey-Brookes’s The Viking Cruises Wellness Garden is an aged mulberry tree, which designer Paul Hervey-Brookes has been nurturing for the last five years.

The Black Mulberry is a pretty, deciduous tree that is native to South Western Asia. It has very bright green leaves that are heart-shaped and have a serrated looking edge to them.  The bark is gnarly, giving even younger trees an old and historic appearance. As a mature tree, the Black Mulberry has a spreading, rounded shape to it which is almost domed, giving it a wide appeal architecturally.

The fruits emerge throughout the summertime, ripening towards the end of this period to be deep purple in colour and loganberry like in appearance. This tree will tolerate most soil conditions, preferring a lighter well-drained soil.
The Viking Cruises Wellness Garden is a space inspired by the spa and the idea of living well, both of which are intrinsic to the Nordic way of life. The garden is imagined to belong to a single person or couple and is a place in which to relax, feel at home with nature, unwind and recharge from the stresses of life. It is rich with traditional Nordic herbal and culinary plants, many of which are resurgent in Norway and Sweden.

Punica granatum (Pomegranate)

Sarah Price used Punica granatum (Pomegranate) for the M&G Garden

The M&G Garden is a romanticised haven designed for a warm, sunny climate. It expands on a timeless idea that a wall, a tree and a seat can create an intimate and beautiful place of repose. Using Mediterranean flora and raw materials dug directly out of the earth (clay, aggregate and pigment), the space celebrates the expressive language of colour, texture, light and shadow. The stand-out plants in the garden are a pair of beautifully gnarled old pomegranate trees.

Betula nigra (Black birch)

Trees take centre stage of Chris Beardshaw’s Morgan Stanley garden for NSPCC with a Betula nigra giving a genuine sense of maturity to the garden, allowing ground level planting to soften the rest of the space.

This tall tree forms a pyramidal shape, often having multiple trunks, with deeply ridged, dark brown bark. Younger trees have a uniquely flaky, orangey-red bark, which peels away from the tree without detaching. Foliage consists of soft, green rhombus-shaped leaves and yellow-green catkins are produced in April.

Designed to raise awareness of the work of the NSPCC, this garden’s design is a metaphor for the emotional transition that takes place in a child as they experience the positive impact of the NSPCC’s work

Tilia x europaea

Tom Stuart-Smith used a huge Tilia europaea in the Garfield Weston Foundation garden.

Tilia europaea is an impressive, fast growing tree which has a broad crown at maturity. It has fragrant yellow flowers that hang in cymes, whilst it’s lush green leaves turn a vivid yellow just before they fall in autumn. This is a tough tree, thriving on most soils, and is frost hardy. It is good for urban areas and is wind resistant.

Celebrating 60 years of the Garfield Weston Foundation, The Weston Garden is a private, enclosed and romantic space that emphasises the simplest and most enduring characteristics of a private garden

 

RHS Chelsea Flower Show
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BBC RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017: People’s Choice Award

There are three People’ Choice awards that the public can vote for at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show:

  • Best Show Garden
  • Best Fresh Garden
  • Best Artisan Garden

Voting for Best Show Garden is via the www.bbc.co.uk/chelsea website only and voting is only open for one day, opening 21:00 Wednesday 24th May and closing at 21:30 on Thursday 25th May 2017.

This vote is for the best of the large 8 Show Gardens. These display the latest innovative designs and must-have plants, crafted with skill by highly-talented designers and their teams.  Each of these gardens feature on the BBC’s coverage of the RHS Chelsea Flower show. The winner will be announced during the BBC’s coverage on Friday 26th May 2017.

Voting for Best Fresh and Artisan Gardens is via theThe RHS Peoples’ Choice Award web page; voting is open now and closes on Friday 26th of May 2017.

Vote for the best of the 5 Fresh Gardens: Bold and daring, the Fresh category uses innovative materials and daring design to present and question concepts

Vote for the best of the 9 Artisan Gardens: The artisan category demonstrate traditional designs, materials and craft skills revitalised by contemporary approaches

The RHS medals have been awarded at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, and the next big honour is BBC/RHS Peoples’ Choice Award, which as its name suggests, is voted for by the public.

See the BBC’s Chelsea coverage to a review of the gardens or RHS’s Chelsea pages for more details on each of the gardens.

Practicality Brown is proud to have been able to supply our Native Mix hedging to two gardens this year:

Welcome to Yorkshire Show Garden

Welcome to Yorkshire Show Garden

World Horse Welfare Artisan Garden

World Horse Welfare Artisan Garden

Read more →

Welcome to Yorkshire show garden design by Tracy Foster
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RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017 preview

Practicality Brown are proud to be supporting garden designers for Show and Artisan Gardens at RHS Chelsea 2017 this May by supplying top quality large hedging plants.

Show Garden: The Welcome to Yorkshire Garden

Welcome to Yorkshire show garden design by Tracy Foster

Welcome to Yorkshire

 

Designed by Tracy Foster | Built by Landform Consultants

This Welcome to Yorkshire garden is inspired by the Yorkshire coast, the drama of the county’s many historic buildings and Yorkshire’s special relationship with its agricultural heritage.  The garden will feature a ruined abbey, chalk cliffs, a beach and the sea, with gently rolling waves lapping the shore. The inclusion of a trompe l’oeil painting within the ruin links this coastal paradise to the farmland beyond. The planting has a wild feeling with plenty of colourful wildflowers, grasses and native trees.

With seven RHS medals to her name including four gold, Tracy Foster has also won Best in Show, People’s Choice and Best in Category at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

Tracy is keeping her facebook up to date during the Chelsea 2017 building phase.

 

Artisan Garden: The World Horse Welfare Garden

World Horse Welfare designed by Woolcott Smith

World Horse Welfare

Designed by Adam Woolcott and Jonathan Smith | Built by Conway Landscapes

The garden has been designed to celebrate 90-years for World Horse Welfare charity and aims to highlight the plight of abandoned, neglected and abused horses in the UK and abroad. The garden is a traditional wildflower garden that will tell the story of one of these ‘invisible’ horses. A derelict stable in one corner will be surrounded by plants harmful to horses, which open up into an open, bright and secure meadow, with horse friendly plants. It will feature a life-sized sculpture of a horse made from reclaimed horseshoes by Tom Hill.

Woolcott Smith have won three Gold medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and two BBC/RHS People’s Award for Best Small Garden in Show as well as Best Courtyard Garden in Show.

Adam and Jon had kept a diary of their work during the process for Chelsea 2017.

The designers have been working hard in the preceding months, sourcing materials and plants for their gardens, ensuring their vision comes to fruition at the world’s most prestigious flower show. The show opens on Tuesday 23 May 2017.

Lifting underway
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Craning trees into rear garden

Our clients were undertaking a refurbishment programme at their home in Kensington, London and wished to add trees to their rear garden, which had no vehicular access. We had been acclimatising their carefully selected trees at our Tree & Hedge Nursery in Iver, Buckinghamshire for the previous twelve months, waiting for the house renovations to be completed.

We called in an expert crane hire company, who used their 100 tonne mobile crane to lift the six large rootball trees into the rear garden using our own Newman Frame, which is a bespoke attachment for lifting trees with care, over the rooftops.  The trees were carefully positioning directly into the pre-prepared planting pit, in the rear garden.

The trees were:

The works, which were undertaken by in-house experts, included two days of onsite preparation, a full road closure, planting and project management.

This is an example of the complicated projects that we can undertake; from sourcing specific species, delivery using our own vehicles and planting using our own experienced installation team; that is the Practicality Brown difference.

 

Native Mix Instant Hedging
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Garden Hedges

Hedges are aesthetically pleasing and add character to a property, whether they are an integral part of the design, or form a boundary fence.  We have a number of mature hedge options across a range species, both evergreen and deciduous, including the popular Native Mix.

 

A good hedge has many benefits in addition to being a garden boundary:

Native mix hedge in private garden

Native mix hedge in private garden

  • It provide a good shelter; reducing wind strength better than a solid fence
  • It acts as a filter; absorbing dust and noise
  • It offers privacy; as an effective visual screen
  • It offers a level of security; a prickly hedge is a great deterrent
  • It has natural beauty and interest with seasonal changes
  • It provides background texture and colour to complement other plants
  • Wildlife can benefit from its food and shelter for insects, birds and mammals
  • It is long-lived; many hedges can last hundreds of years

 

Native Mix Instant Hedges

Native mix hedging contains plants that are all native to the UK and as such emulate traditional country hedgerows found throughout Britain.  Our Native Mix would usually contain a combination of Hazel, Blackthorn, Hornbeam, Dogwood and Hawthorn, all of which are indigenous species.

Close up of Native Mix hedge leaves

Close up of leaves in Native mix hedge

 

Native Mix hedges creates a natural look and contain a variety of colours and textures which provide a rich living collage for excellent seasonal interest from the early spring blossoms to fruits and berries in the autumn.  All kinds of wildlife will be attracted by the food and shelter opportunities.

 

Native hedging, by its very nature will thrive on most soil types and can be planted in all but the deepest of shade.  It will tend to grow quite quickly at some 20 – 40 cm per year and will require pruning once a year, ideally in July; it can be left un-pruned, when it will prove even more wildlife friendly.

 

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Practicality Brown have a full page editorial feature in the January 2017 edition of industry publication, Pro Landscaper in their Nursery Factfile section.

Pro Landscaper

Pro Landscaper January 2017

Our top five bestselling plants

  1. Prunus laurocerasus Novita semi mature trees
  2. Carpinus betulus pleached tree (great for screening)
  3. Betula jacquemontii semi mature trees
  4. Practicality Brown Instant Native Hedge
  5. Elveden Instant Hedge Green Beech

Pro Landscaper also sourced some testimonials from top Garden designers to accompany the feature with thanks to

Rae Wilkinson

We used an instant hedge from Practicality Brown for our RHS Hampton Court garden this year. I had struggled to find what I was looking for with other suppliers and Practicality Brown was extremely helpful and accommodating.  It found what I wanted and sent me photos prior to delivery as I was not able to visit to hand pick them. I have specified its hedging on other projects which has always been good quality.

Tracy Foster

I have loved working with Practicality Brown over the years because I know it offers sturdy field grown stock, including the lovely mixed native hedging that I recently ordered for RHS Chelsea.  The other great thing about ordering is the service, which is always friendly and helpful.  Its cliché but really nothing is too much trouble.

Paul Martin

I have had the pleasure of working with Practicality Brown on major projects and show gardens over the years. It has helped enormously in our attaining of three Gold medals at RHS shows including Chelsea and Hampton Court, which is a testament to its staff, products and company

and Lisa Cox

I worked with Practicality Brown on a domestic project where we needed to screen off a house. We wanted a solution that would do the job from day one and chose Elveden beech instant hedging. This was more subtle than a wall or fence and looked amazing from day one – you wouldn’t have known it had just been planted