A look at the 2018 RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden works, worth saving
In London, only three things can cause a traffic jam:
one is the Queen going out,
the second is the triumphant return of a winning football team,
the third isthe Chelsea Flower Showopening to the public。
Today is the third day of the flower show,
exactly which show gardens won awards?
As one of the most famous and grandest horticultural expos in the world, the Chelsea Flower Show attracts the most imaginative and creative works from around the world every year. This year's show mainly featured four garden categories:
Reading note: the article is long and has many images; the small images in the text can all be clicked to enlarge
Reading note: the article is long and has many images; the small images in the text can all be clicked to enlarge
Show Gardens
There were 10 Show Gardens in total, of which 4 won Gold, 4 won Silver-Gilt, and 2 won Bronze.
Gold
★Morgan Stanley NSPCC Garden
（The Morgan Stanley Garden for the NSPCC）
The garden also won Best Show Garden. It was sponsored by Morgan Stanley and created in cooperation with the children's charity NSPCC (the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children). Its purpose is to raise awareness of the NSPCC, and the garden design is a metaphor for the emotional changes children undergo as they experience the positive impact of the NSPCC's work.
★Welcome to Yorkshire
（Welcome to Yorkshire）
This garden is the show garden of Welcome to Yorkshire, sponsored by Welcome to Yorkshire. Along with Gold, it also won Best Garden Construction. Its inspiration comes from the Yorkshire Dales, that is, through elements such as meadows, dry stone walls and cottage gardens, it showcases the character of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
The overall color scheme includes purple, pink and white. A dry limestone wall separates the meadow from the cottage and divides its romantic cottage garden from the natural landscape. It aims to encourage the public to come to Yorkshire and experience its tranquility and beauty.
★M&GGarden
（The M&G Garden）
The M&G Garden is a romantic paradise designed for a warm and sunny climate, sponsored by M&G Investments, the largest sponsor of the Chelsea Flower Show. This garden conveys a timeless concept: a wall, a tree and a seat create an intimate and beautiful resting space.
★Wedgwood Garden
（The Wedgwood Garden）
The sponsor of this garden is the British pottery company Wedgwood. It is a garden designed specifically for women. The focal point of the garden is a lightweight pavilion that flexibly weaves among plants, stone blocks and water features, appearing to dance over a stream.
Silver-Gilt
★LGLG Eco-City Garden
（LG Eco-City Garden）
The LG Eco-City Garden was sponsored and built by LG Electronics. It represents the allocation and design of green space in urban residential apartments. It combines our growing dependence on technology with the environmental problems caused by contemporary lifestyles and the need to reduce pollution in densely populated areas.
★Lemon Tree Trust Garden
（The Lemon Tree Trust Garden）
This garden was sponsored by the charity Lemon Tree Trust. The garden is inspired by the Domiz refugee camp in Iraq and highlights the unexpected beauty hidden within the camp. The materials used in the garden are also common and typical of the refugee camp, such as concrete, rebar and shade screens inspired by traditional Islamic design. The creative wall uses everyday items such as cans and plastic bottles, an idea that came from local gardens in Domiz.
★South African Wine Estate Garden
（South African Wine Estate）
The South African Wine Estate Garden was sponsored and built by Trailfinders, the largest travel company in the UK. This show garden is inspired by a traditional South African wine estate, more precisely a wine estate in the Western Cape of South Africa. In front of an elegant and charming estate house is a romantic and beautiful garden, and beyond the garden gate lies a vineyard.
★VTB Capital Garden - Spirit of Cornwall
（VTB Capital Garden – Spirit of Cornwall）
This garden was sponsored by VTB Capital. It is a unique creative garden jointly completed by garden designers, architects, composers, sculptors and others. It emphasizes a multi-sensory experience and showcases Cornwall's unique climate through subtropical and temperate plants.
Bronze
★David Harber and Savills Garden
（The David Harber and Savills Garden）
This is a garden theater - telling stories and guiding reflection through sculpture and plants. In this garden, different levels represent the continuously evolving relationship between humans and the environment. Planting and design are a form of freedom. Herbaceous plants and perennials grow freely on a gravel surface, symbolizing the natural landscape.
★Wuhan, China Water Garden
（Wuhan Water Garden, China）
After participating in the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time in 2017 with the theme "Silk Road," China once again appeared at Chelsea this year with a water garden designed around the theme of Wuhan, the city of a hundred lakes.
The "Wuhan Water Garden" won the Bronze award in the Show Gardens category. As the most eye-catching Chinese element of this year's show, it is located in the largest golden triangle show area of the Chelsea Flower Show in London. Visitors can perfectly appreciate this distinctive garden from every angle and begin a unique journey to Wuhan, China.
According to British architect Laurie Chetwood and landscape designer Patrick Collins, who jointly created this garden, the design was inspired by the long water culture history of Wuhan, China's "city of a hundred lakes."
Strolling through the "Wuhan Water Garden," forests, city, aquatic plants and waterscape wrap around the entire walkway. As visitors move along the path, they are sometimes among dense treetops, sometimes walking through lush forest, and sometimes crossing transparent bridges to the city center or over lakes.
The densely vegetated forest at the rear of the garden represents Hubei Province's world heritage site - the Shennongjia primeval forest, which is also one of China's oldest primeval forests; the green zone in the middle represents the Jianghan Plain - China's famous land of fish and rice.
The rich water system in the middle represents the inseparable bond between Wuhan, the "city of a hundred lakes," and water; the various abstract sculptures surrounding the water system represent the urban architecture and high-tech resources of Wuhan nurtured by water. Such a garden city surrounded by greenery and rich in water systems perfectly interprets Wuhan's ecosystem of harmonious coexistence between people and nature, and also tells the human and geographical story of this city with a long history.
Artisan Gardens
Among this year's show gardens there were 7 Artisan Gardens in total, of which 2 won Gold, 3 won Silver-Gilt, and 2 won Silver.
Gold
★Welcome to Hospitality Garden
（Omotenashi）
This garden also won Best Artisan Garden. Its design concept is the "omotenashi" culture admired in Japan, a concept of wholehearted, sincere hospitality. The planting follows the style of Ikenobo, emphasizing the arrangement of plants and colors and their relationship with the space as a whole, thereby exploring the beauty of life and pursuing a state of harmony between heaven and humanity.
★Viking Cruises Good Life Garden
（The Viking Cruises Wellness Garden）
The Viking Cruises Good Life Garden is inspired by the concept of SPA and enjoying the good life. This garden makes people feel as if they are in nature, allowing them to relax body and mind and recover from the pressures of life.
At the center of the garden is a waterfall pool, surrounded by traditional Nordic herbs and edible plants. The uneven natural stone slabs and smooth wood combine with the plants to create a natural feeling, while the floating deck offers a practical solution for small gardens with limited space.
Silver-Gilt
★Epilepsy Garden
（The Embroidered Minds Epilepsy Garden）
Every year, May 14-20 is Epilepsy Week in the UK. This garden was sponsored by "Embroidered Minds," an organization formed by a group of writers, artists, doctors and historians to research and explore epilepsy.
Different areas of this show garden represent different states during an epileptic seizure. Before a seizure it is calm, mainly planted with green and white plants. Then comes an oak bench, and the flat path and brown plants represent the onset of a seizure.
★British Council India Garden: A Billion Dreams
This garden celebrates the 70th anniversary of the British Council in India. Its design is inspired by the hopes and dreams of young people in India, as well as the love of cricket in both the UK and India.
The main plants include the Himalayan blue poppy (Meconopsis), which was discovered in India in 1922 by a British expedition led by the legendary mountaineer George Leigh Mallory; Vanda coerulea, which was discovered by Thomas Lobb between 1848 and 1853 in the Khasi Hills of India; and the rose motif is taken from patterns that often appear in Mughal-style architecture in northern India, including the Taj Mahal.
★A Typical English Garden
（A Very English Garden）
This garden is inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement. Its main purpose is to showcase traditional craftsmanship and to show people a kind of beauty that can stand the test of time. The stone landscape is the focal point of the garden, and the hemispherical niches display the artisans' skill while also providing a backdrop for the gorgeous jewel-toned planting.
Silver
★Garden of Hope
（Laced With Hope Garden）
This garden tells the journey of a child after being diagnosed with cancer, and how Supershoes, a UK charity dedicated to helping children fight cancer, empowers children in their battle against the disease.
Through seating, planting, sculpture and ribbon-like design expression, it reveals the importance in daily life of giving care to cancer patients as they fight the disease. The sculptures represent the children and their families.
★Warner Edwards Garden
（The Warner Edwards Garden）
This garden is inspired by a waterfall farm in Northamptonshire, located on the site of a medieval terraced garden, with a beautiful garden, stepped lawns and a natural English countryside landscape.
The plants grown in the garden refer to varieties in the distillery's botanical garden, many of which are natural materials used to make gin. The water feature represents the farm's natural spring. The entire garden uses natural materials, such as Northamptonshire stone to imitate the farm's stone walls, while copperware represents distillation equipment.
Space to Grow Gardens
There were 8 Space to Grow Gardens in total, of which 4 won Gold and 4 won Silver-Gilt.
Gold
★Urban Rain Garden
（Urban Flow Garden）
The garden also won Best Space to Grow. It mainly reflects the relationship between water pollution and the environment, and its sponsor is Thames Water. Bold design features, colorful planting and a practical outdoor living space can all be achieved in this small urban rain garden.
★New West End Garden
（New West End Garden）
The New West End Garden is a modern interpretation of London's West End square gardens and architecture. This public garden is located in the heart of the West End and is lush all year round. It uses many smart ecological technologies that benefit the environment, including an energy harvesting system for residents, workers and visitors, and is also equipped with innovative Pavegen floor tiles that can convert people's walking kinetic energy into electricity and data.
★PearlfisherGarden
（The Pearlfisher Garden）
Pearlfisher is a world-leading brand packaging design company. The Pearlfisher Garden is meant to display the beauty of the ocean as a huge underwater garden. The garden consists of a series of water tanks containing marine plants, corals and fish.
The Pearlfisher Garden cooperates with Plastic Oceans to emphasize the irreparable impact of plastic waste on our precious ecosystem and calls for action by brands, businesses and designers to design and produce sustainable product packaging.
★SeedlipGarden
（The Seedlip Garden）
The sponsor of this show garden is Seedlip, the world's first non-alcoholic distilled spirits brand. This brand's spirits are made from natural plants such as peas, licorice and mint, and contain no sugar or any artificial flavors or colors.
The Seedlip Garden is meant to showcase the humble plant in the garden - the pea - and to commemorate three people connected with peas. The plants, design forms, colors and other multi-sensory elements in the garden are all related to peas, such as the circular path, the circular elements on the backdrop wall, and the use of pea shoot and pea pod elements on the walls and paving, strongly conveying that this garden praises this most beloved vegetable from every angle.
Silver-Gilt
★Skin Deep Garden
（Skin Deep Garden）
Skin Deep is a concept garden created for a long-established British skincare company. Concrete blocks are used to represent people with various skin conditions we encounter, and different plant shapes and textures subtly reflect different skin conditions. Skin is the window through which we display our innate inheritance; our surface skin can reflect the story of our lives and show people our joys, stresses and worries.
★Garden for People Living with HIV: Life Cannot Be Confined
（The CHERUB HIV garden: A Life Without Walls）
This garden was conceived by Professor John Frater of the University of Oxford and collaborators at Cherub, and was sponsored and built by Cherub. Cherub is a UK biomedical research center jointly established by five UK universities to collaborate on eradicating the HIV reservoir, aiming to find a cure for HIV.
★Myeloma UK Garden
（The Myeloma UK Garden）
The Myeloma UK Garden was inspired by Peter King, a UK myeloma supporter, whose wife Gill and younger brother Graham died in 2016 after a short battle with myeloma.
The sculpted human figures blowing seeds and plants onto the fertile soil on the ground represent new treatments and also symbolize hope and growth. There is no clear path in the garden, intended to reflect the incurable reality now faced by many myeloma patients.
★Silent PoolGin Garden
（The Silent Pool Gin Garden）
This garden is inspired by the Silent Pool Distillery in the Surrey Hills. The garden uses many copper items for distillation and brewing, and the central water feature represents the water source used to make gin. For planting, it uses 24 kinds of plants needed to make gin, such as iris and rose, and through the clever combination of blue, white and green plants, it creates a quiet atmosphere. The combination of hard landscaping and soft plants provides a relaxing space for urban life.
Feature Gardens
This year's Chelsea Flower Show also featured some special displays and 2 Feature Gardens, a three-dimensional greening display by the Royal Horticultural Society, abbreviated RHS, drawing inspiration from English cottage gardens and perfectly combining planting design with floral art.
★RHSGarden of Wellbeing
（RHS Feel Good Garden）
This garden commemorates the 70th anniversary of the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and was built by the RHS in cooperation with the NHS. It mainly aims to express that gardens and gardening have a positive impact on our mental and emotional health. As a modern "therapeutic" garden, every inch of its space has been carefully designed. Rustic plants paired with rather novel stone create a relaxed, nature-close atmosphere, filling visitors with pleasure as they stroll through it, and thereby feeling the positive effect of gardens and gardening on mental and emotional health.
★Weston Garden
（The Weston Garden）
The Weston Garden was built to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Garfield Weston Foundation. It is a romantic, enclosed private garden. The garden is entered through four different entrances, allowing it to be appreciated from different angles. Recycling is a feature of this garden, and some of the plants were used at previous flower shows.
After enjoying this year's award-winning works at the Chelsea Flower Show,
one cannot help but marvel at how advanced overseas garden-making concepts are.
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Images in this article from: Internet Text editing: fffloral
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