GARDEN DESIGN NEWS

Having entered the world of horticulture only three years ago, 49 year old garden design student, Esra Parr, beat off competition from forty two of her counterparts at Capel Manor College to win a planting design competition, sponsored by Provender Nurseries, one of the leading suppliers of plants and hard and soft landscape materials in the country. Click to read full article and to view entry. 
 

Principal of The English Gardening School, Rosemary Alexander, was recently the first European invited to give a two day Master Class on Garden Design to 60 practising Ukrainian landscape and garden designers. Organised by Marina Gerasimenko and Roman Danilchenko, the intensive course was held in an old communist complex deep in a forest outside Kiev. “I was amazed at the knowledge and understanding of the landscape business, and despite the extreme climate, this is obviously a developing market, with a large available range of landscape materials and mature trees”, says Rosemary. The 60 participants, mostly female, came from all over the Ukraine, and from Russia. As a result, the English Gardening School is now increasing their activities in Eastern Europe.

Rosemary Alexander
8/8/12
 

I am writing to ask for your help with The Garden History Society’s project to compile a reference list of Conservation Management Plans (CMPs) and related research for historic designed landscapes.

The CMPs form an invaluable and sizeable body of information on the UK’s historic designed landscapes.

The Garden History Society‘s project, sponsored by English Heritage, aims to produce a readily-available reference list of CMPs relating to historic landscapes in the UK and where to access them.

I am sure you are extremely busy, but in the course of your work have you come across CMP details that you could

pass on to us?
  
Please send as many of the following details as possible, to cmp@gardenhistorysociety.org :
• Site name and location (including county)
• EH Register grade, if applicable
• Author/Consultants
• Date
• Title
• Purpose (e.g. Heritage Lottery Fund, Environmental Stewardship, English Heritage, Task Force Trees,

   planning application etc)
• Status e.g. draft, final
• Where to find a reference copy (preferably a public record office or library) and/or a web link

Additionally,
• If you are not the author/owner of the CMP, please try to obtain permission first and let us know whether this has

been done.
• Please alert us if there may be copyright issues.
• Would you be interested in submitting the CMPs to the Hestercombe archive (see below)?

The published list will make it clear that consultants will usually have to make a charge to reproduce plans.

And lastly, we hope the list also offers consultants and researchers an opportunity to show their range of experience

and expertise.

Examples of CMP details already received can be found at http://www.gardenhistorysociety.org/conservation/conservation-management-plan-project/

The list will be available online in March 2013 via the Parks & Gardens UK website, www.parksandgardens.ac.uk  

We are looking at ways to keep it updated in future.

The GHS is also working closely on this project with the Hestercombe Gardens Trust, which is creating a CMP

archive as a key resource for researchers and landscape consultants to be available through its Centre for

Landscape Studies.

Queries about the project, or to submit details of CMPs relating to historic parks and gardens can be directed at cmp@gardenhistorysociety.org , or you can call 07596 656 574.

Further details and project updates will soon be made available at http://www.gardenhistorysociety.org/conservation/conservation-management-plan-project/

The Garden Media Guild has announced that John Brookes FSGD MBE has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.  This voted for by members of the Guild who are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year.

Click here to see the awards.

Can designers bridge the reality gap?

Click here for full article in The Daily Telegraph Saturday 5th March '11

Two keen gardeners have hit upon a novel solution for publicising charity Open Gardens events - a website dedicated to town and village Open Gardens. Click here for full article.

Plus

           Jerry Harpur 

Review of the year 2010  

Staying in town this summer? Well, you can still get closer to nature and contribute to a nationwide science project.

PUSHAK is an Oslo-based architectural practice that believe we should all take responsibility for greening cities, reinventing Japanese and Victorian practices of deliberately using moss in the built environment. The result is Moss Your City at the Architecture Foundation (until 6 August) which includes ‘moss graffiti’ and the (pictured) spectacular mosscape. 

SGD Chelsea Press Coverage

Living etc (May issue)
Garden Design Journal (May issue)

Evening Standard

GardenForum

RHS Website

Garden Design Unlimited 
Horticulture Week
The Enduring Gardener
Daily Telegraph

Best in Show & Gold Winner by Andy Sturgeon MSGD

Dear All,
If you’re planning a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show this week, make sure to visit the SGD stand (Stand Number PW26). A huge effort has gone into making our presence at Chelsea a really big success this year. We’ve secured a fantastic location for our stand in the heart of Main Avenue and we will be using our presence at the show solely to promote MSGD/FSGD and to talk to visitors about the importance of choosing a MSGD when looking for a garden designer.

To encourage visitors onto the stand, we will be running a number of daily activities including: Designers’ Question Time – the chance for the visiting public to meet some of the MSGD who are regulars on the Chelsea scene including Arabella Lennox Boyd, Andy Sturgeon, Cleve West and Tom Hoblyn. We are also offering free design consultations on a first-come-first-serve basis and have enlisted the help of nearly 40 MSGD to run the service for us.

We’ll also have a number of specially designed garden design workbooks on the stand enabling us to illustrate the process of working with a garden designer using projects from small urban garden to large public spaces.

Other activities include a ‘Win a tree’ incentive – an opportunity for the SGD to build a database of people interested in hearing more from the SGD and their members through regular newsletter, by entering their detail into a prize draw.
For those of you that took part, look out for the MSGD/FSGD posters on the stand too. We had a great response and will be displaying nearly 100 posters this year.

We have been working hard to get the press interested in our activities at Chelsea and the MSGD participating at the Show. Please look to the top of this page for more details of all the press coverage.

Finally, we thought it would be great to support our members who are exhibiting show gardens at Chelsea by taking part in the People’s Choice Award. From today, you can vote for your favourite Show Garden and Small Garden at the show on the RHS website - http://apps.rhs.org.uk/peopleschoice  Also all those who vote online, will be entered into a free RHS prize draw. Members who are exhibiting this year are:

Show Gardens:
Andy Sturgeon (MSGD) – Daily Telegraph Garden
Tom Hoblyn (MSGD) – Foreign and Colonial Investments’ Garden
Sue Haywood - The Stephen Hawking Garden for Motor Neurone Disease

Urban Gardens:
Nicholas Dexter (MSGD) – Naturally Fashionable Garden for Brand Alley
Olivia Kirk – University of Worcester Garden
Kate Gould – Hartman – A Joy Forever
Jo Thompson – The Unexpected Gardener

 
Courtyard Gardens
Amber Goudy - SAC Strutt and Parker
Generation Gardens
Chris Deakin (MSGD) and Jason Lock (MSGD) – The Upwardly Mobile Garden
Geoffrey Whiten (FSGD) - A City Roof Garden 
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/peopleschoice

It would be great if the winner could be one of our members so do take the time to vote. Kind regards,
Annabel Downs and the Marketing Team

Free Garden Design Consultations at The Chelsea Flower Show 
For visitors to the Chelsea Flower Show who have been inspired by the wealth of exciting garden designs and are wondering how to get started on their own garden, The Society of Garden Designers (SGD) has the answer.

This year the SGD stand at Chelsea (Stand No. PW26) will be dedicated to helping the public realise their dream garden. The SGD stand provides Show visitors with a unique opportunity to meet and talk to a wide range of experienced, practising garden designers from all over the UK. More than 40 different garden designers will be on hand throughout the week and the SGD will be running a daily programme of design events for show visitors on its stand. These include:

FREE Garden Design Clinics 

For anyone who is planning on re-designing their garden and is looking for expert advice from an experienced garden designer, the SGD will be offering a limited number of free garden design clinics. Allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis, these 20 minute, one-to-one, consultations will be running throughout each day of the show; designers will able to show visitors how they can make the most of their outdoor space. Clinics need to be booked in advance from the SGD stand.

Designer Question Time
Award-wining garden designers Andy Sturgeon, Thomas Hoblyn and Cleve West are just three of the designers who will be hosting daily question and answer sessions from the SGD stand during the show. From the heart of Chelsea’s Main Avenue, visitors can learn how world-famous Chelsea Show Gardens are turned from concept to creation, how designers select and design with plants, water and landscape materials and how to work with a garden designer.


Members of the Society of Garden Designers at Chelsea 2010
Once again, there will be a number of leading SGD garden designers participating in the show and the SGD is hoping to capitalise on previous achievements: in the last two years, SGD members have received a total of 23 Medals including eight Gold Medals, seven Silver-Gilt Medals, five Silver Medals and three Bronze Medals.

Registered members of the SGD (MSGD) participating at Chelsea include the renowned landscape designer, author and TV presenter Andy Sturgeon (MSGD) who makes a welcome return to Chelsea this year with the Daily Telegraph Show Garden. Andy has won numerous awards, including four consecutive gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show from 2005 to 2008. Andy’s garden started from the idea that life takes you down many different paths and he has designed his garden using a series of metal screens that block off and open up vistas as you pass through the garden.

This year, Thomas Hoblyn (MSGD) is putting on his first full-sized show garden at Chelsea. The Foreign & Colonial Investments’ garden celebrates the C18th novel Candide ou l’optimisme by Voltaire. The field-like layout of the garden is suggestive of the Turkish smallholding where the novel was set and the planting and pools of water in the design add an appropriate Mediterranean flavour. This style of garden could easily be found in the warmer parts of the UK and demonstrates new ways with exotic plants, now possible in a changing climate.

Following on from his silver-medal winning garden last year, Nicholas Dexter (MSGD) will be unveiling his Naturally Fashionable Garden for Brand Alley at Chelsea this year. The garden, which is one of the Urban Gardens at the Show, is inspired by the avant-garde and pioneering work of textile designer Sonia Delaunay. Her block coloured textile designs were a great influence for the garden layout which combines strong geometry with natural planting.

Jason Lock (MSGD) and Chris Deakin (MSGD) of Deakin Lock will be working with John Woods Nurseries to create a small, contemporary garden that will be included in the National Garden Centre at Capel Manor College. All elements of the garden have been designed to be transportable and the garden will be transferred in June to join the series of ‘Show Gardens’ set up by Capel Manor, with support of the RHS, for the public to enjoy.

In response to the potential loss of the MA Garden History Course at Bristol our Chairman has sent the following:

Dear Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Head of the School of Arts, Professors all

The Society of Garden Designers are extremely concerned to learn of the threat and potential loss of the MA Garden History Course at Bristol. Under Timothy Mowl the course has won itself an excellent reputation and an output of students whose training and understanding is essential in a wide variety of workplaces: heritage, culture, education and business.

At the same time we hear that the Garden History course at Birkbeck College is to close.

We urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider your action. Not only will this leave a vacuum in the market where there is a growing demand and viable future for qualified garden historians, but it will also reveal a lack of understanding by the University of Bristol on the true value of this course as part of UK education. Please do not close the course.

yours sincerely

Annabel Downs CMLI MSGD

Chair
Society of Garden Designers

SGD Expands to Form a New Region

The SGD council is delighted to announce that even in these straightened times the SGD is expanding to form a new region in Northern Ireland. Following on from a series of fabulous events run recently by a very energetic group of SGD designers the new RCO, Michael O’Reilly, will soon be arranging, an RSH and Project Appraisal for members.

Designer selected for the Worldskills UK Garden Challenge 2010

2009 Chelsea and BALI Award Winning Designer signs up to design WorldSkills UK Garden 2010


Patricia Fox MSGD of Aralia Garden Design, who won a BALI Landscape Design Excellence Award and a prestigious award at Chelsea in 2009, has signed up to design the WorldSkills UK Landscape Gardening Competition Garden in 2010. Patricia will follow in the footsteps of highly accomplished designer Andy Sturgeon who designed the competition garden in 2009.

Patricia will use her professional expertise and her enthusiasm to grapple with the competition garden design. Designing a garden for a small space in a competitive environment is a challenging task. It takes skill and creative flair to design a garden that will show off materials donated by the competition sponsors and be interesting to spectators, The WorldSkills UK Landscape Gardening Competition Garden is designed to test the landscape gardening skills of student competitors.

Further information

For more information about the World Skills Landscape Gardening Competition UK please visit the BALI website at www.bali.org.uk or call 02476 690 333

BALI 2009

Landscape Design Excellence Award

Sponsored by: Society of Garden Designers

Principal Winner: Andy Sturgeon MSGD - Great Ormond Street Hospital - Staff Roof Garden

Further information & www.andysturgeon.com

Winner: Patricia Fox MSGD - School Cottage, Allens Green, Sawbridgeworth

Further information & www.aralia.org.uk

Winner: Arabella Lennox Boyd MSGD - Maggie's Centre, Dundee

 www.arabellalennoxboyd.com

Winner: Christine Parsons MSGD - Ashgate Hospice Day Centre Garden, North Derbyshire

Further information

 www.hallamgardendesign.co.uk

Affiliation with other organisations

The Society of Garden Designers has been an affiliate organisation of the RHS since our time began nearly 30 years ago. More recently a number of our members have encouraged us to consider establishing closer co operation with other related organisations.

Over the past year we have been in discussion with BALI [British Association of Landscape Industries], APLD, [the US-based Association of Professional Landscape Designers], and GLDA [Garden and Landscape Designers Association of Ireland] with the principal aim, initially, of exchanging information about national and regional events, conferences, and posting information through our journal and websites. We have mutually agreed to set a concessionary rate for our respective members to attend each others events.

This is very exciting as this closer interaction is going to be of sound benefit for our members and, through them, for all our clients as well. We have already hosted some of BALI's regional workshops on our website and we have just sponsored a new BALI award for Excellence in Garden Design, which we were delighted to present last week at their annual awards event.

If you have any comments or want to put forward ideas of how we could make the most of these links and opportunities, please do let us know via the office: info@sgd.org.uk.

Annabel Downs
Chairman

Development of the SGD Student Competition for 2011

The SGD annual competition is at present restricted to one category only – a set of plans / drawings of a design project of a specified size and complexity. This tends to only give an opportunity to ‘final year’ students to enter and participate in the competition as they are the only students who are likely to be involved in such a suitable design project towards the end of their course – they usually enter their final course project.

We now plan to extend the scope of the competition to promote greater inclusivity for all student members at all levels and at all stages of their courses thereby encouraging their wider participation and potentially raising the standards of design and presentation skills on garden design courses.

To encourage this wider participation we envisage three new categories being created (in addition to the existing design project category which will continue in a slightly amended format)

• A Photographic category with several classes related to photographs of existing gardens, garden design work, plants in gardens and landscape views / natural scenery.
• A Creative Writing category with classes in garden visit critique, historical garden design review, essay on contemporary design trends.
• A Graphic Illustration category with classes in hand drawn and CAD drawings covering: garden concept idea / mood board, construction detailing, 3D view of a proposed garden concept

We look forward to launching this new competition in January 2010 and to the wider range of entries we hope it will encourage!

Stephen White MSGD Education & Colleges

Gardens and People: Sharing Knowledge

a new website now live

A website about gardens past and present and the people who created them; designers, gardeners, artists, architects, horticulturalists and plant collectors, was launched on November 5th 2009.

The website is not about how to grow peas, but it might have an article on the history of the pea…….

Writers who have particular knowledge and designers are invited to submit ideas and pictures for publication and should read the section ' How to Submit’ on the website.

Bella D’Arcy MSGD, the creator of the website, found herself unable to continue with practical garden design because of disability. She was wondering what to do with all her experience in community garden design and her time at home…...

IN THE LAUNCH:

• Christine Walkden, on autumn trees
• Colleen Morris, Chair of the Australian Garden History Society
• Suki Urquhart, designer, and writer of The Scottish Gardener
• Bella D’Arcy on Designing for People with Disabilities
• Peter Harrington, an artist creating art for parks and who works with adults with learning disabilities to produce mosaic work for gardens
• Designer Profile: Thomas Hoblyn
• Privett International, bespoke metal sculpture makers
• Online Debate: Is knowledge of Garden History necessary for a garden designer?
• Bella D’Arcy, chapters from her new book, ‘Gardens of Divine imitation’: a design timeline from the Renaissance to the Edwardian era via Ancient Rome

Next Project: in 2010 will be a CD of Sheila Dewey's play ‘Bumps’ about Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens

 www.gardensandpeople.co.uk

Bella D’Arcy: 01621 892737 belladarcy@gardensandpeople.co.uk