The creative recycling of a garden after the Chelsea Flower Show

Way back in May the Wilson McWilliam Studio exhibited a highly acclaimed garden at the Chelsea Flower Show which won a silver-gilt medal. I became very familiar with this garden as I followed it’s progress and wrote a weekly blog post over 10 weeks as it was developed for Chelsea.

                                                                                  

But the story of this garden doesn’t end there, Cityscapes have arranged for the garden to be re-invented through a process of creative recycling.

 

The latest in a series of five remixed versions of the garden is by garden designer Matthew Childs, and is concerned with the preciousness of natural resources suchas water. The design suggests that burst pipes have erupted into the courtyard of the Oxo Tower Wharf next to the River Thames, bursting out from the paving are giant water-pipes with plants cascading from the top of them.

 

As well as highlighting how a show garden has the potential to be re-invented and live on, it also draws attention to the RHS Horticulture Matters careers campaign for 2013 which aims to encourage more young people into the industry.

 

Construction of all the gardens is by Gardenlink, with assistance and maintenance from St Mungo’s charity initiative Putting Down Roots, which provides valuable, horticultural training for the homeless.

This is the schedule of whats happening to the garden:

Remix Garden 1: 1 – 18 August – Jon Sims
Remix Garden 2: 21 August – 8 September – Anoushka Feiler
Remix Garden 3: 11  – 29 September – Matthew Childs
Remix Garden 4: 2  – 20 October – Daniel Lobb 
Remix Garden 5: 22– 23 October – Studio Wilson McWilliam

You’ll see that the final version is byAndrew Wilson and Gavin McWilliam the designers of the original garden, you’ll be able to see this at The RHS Shades of Autumn Show at Wesitminster in London. After this, the materials and plants will be donated to a community project.

You can see the weekly blog I wrote about the progress of the original garden here.

If you’re in London try and get to see at least one version, the gardens at the Oxo Tower Wharf courtyard are free to see.

Jill