Chelsea Flower Show 2011 – It’s not just a shed

Did you notice that most of the show-gardens, large and small have a building of some sort in them?

The gardens are created in just three weeks and a building of some sort helps to give an impression of permanence, a feeling that the garden is well established.

I love this garden, it ticks all the boxes for me, beautiful proportions, fabulous planting and top green credentials. Hard to believe that the buiding was once a shipping container …. just not too sure about it’s colour?

A building helps to create a scene that you can imagine yourself in, sitting and relaxing to read a book, enjoying a drink with friends or working in an office that looks out onto beautiful surroundings.

Designers also use the building to re-inforce the style of the garden, the materials used in the building will reflect the type of plants and hard-landscape materials, so that all the elements are used together to create a story.

The tree house garden perfectly reflects the informal, rural nature of this garden.

One of the gardens few large show-gardens that didn’t have a building was Cleve Wests design for The Daily Telegraph.  The volume and height usually given by a building is provided by the huge sculpted columns, it was awarded the coveted ‘Best in Show’.

Which building is your favourite?

Jill

images: Jill Anderson