project:

London

architect: 

Designers Balston Agius Ltd (Michael Balston & Marie-Louise Agius) Susannah Hunter with Catherine MacDonald

year:

2013

Showgardens:

East Village Garden  

The Massachusetts Garden

Products:

SeptimA Mahogany

SeptimA Olive 

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the most famous and prestigious of the Royal Horticultural Society’s annual garden shows and probably the most famous flower show in the world. It is held every year in late May for five days in the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, London, attracting visitors from all continents.

The highlights of the show are the floral displays in the Great Pavilion and especially the large Show Gardens and the slightly more moderately sized Artisan and Fresh (formerly Urban) Gardens. 

At this year’s Centenary Flower Show designers chose Vande Moortel pavers for two award winning gardens. SeptimA Mahogany with its warm colour took centre stage in the Gold Medal winning East Village Garden. In the Silver Gilt Medal winning Massachusetts Garden, the light grey-green SeptimA Olive pavers were chosen to complement the garden’s planting and innovatively used leather panels.

The East Village Garden has drawn its inspiration from the achievements and legacy of the 2012 London Olympic developments, which created a new residential neighbourhood, providing modern city living with luxurious amounts of (green) open space in the heart of East London. 

In the garden the SeptimA Mahogany pavers were used for the generous path and seating area and as edging along the water feature. For the path the designers decided on a running bond, a common bond for facing bricks that can be used as a creative alternative for pavers. The bond was laid at an angle. Not following the direction of the winding path, this created a visual invitation to stay and enjoy the space.

Pictures and more information are available via the following links.

Link 1     Link 2     Link 3

The Massachusetts Garden drew inspiration from the works of Massachusetts born poet Emily Dickinson and featured huge leather panels sewn with beautifully intricate appliquéd magnolias, foxgloves and irises. The panels sat alongside atmospheric planting, including columbines, peonies, poppies and flowering dogwood trees.  

The green-grey colour of the SeptimA Olive paver with their tumbled finish, used for the path and bridge, complemented these perfectly. Also in this garden, the designers decided upon a less commonly used bond for the path. The chosen quarter bond is sometimes used for decorative wall design. As in the East Village Garden the bond in the Massachusetts Garden ignored the line of the path, again creating a special inviting feeling to stay.

Pictures and comments are available here.

These two gardens at Chelsea 2013 are great examples for the use and quality of Vande Moortel clay pavers, which have featured prominently in previous show gardens at Chelsea. Leading garden designers Tom Stuart-Smith, Cleve West and Adam Frost have all chosen Vande Moortel pavers for Gold Medal winning Chelsea  gardens.