There’s only three months to go until our show garden is judged in the final of the APL Avenue Show Garden Competition at BBC Gardeners’ World Live. We caught up with our busy garden designer, Jamie Langlands, to find out what inspired his winning design and how preparation for the show is going.
Congratulations on being selected as one of only five winners in the competition. How does it feel?
There’s only three months to go until our show garden is judged in the final of the APL Avenue Show Garden Competition at BBC Gardeners’ World Live. We caught up with our busy garden designer, Jamie Langlands, to find out what inspired his winning design and how preparation for the show is going.
The five gardens in the final all look very different. What was the competition brief?
“The brief was very loose, which was wonderful. The space we had to fill was 6 x 7.5 meters, and we could design either a front or back garden. The only real criteria was that it had to be eco/nature friendly. As part of our proposal we had to describe the client, provide finished graphics and a planting plan. I was confident that the design would be something that the public and the judges would love, so I’m very excited that we now get to build it.”
Why did you enter the competition?
“We wanted to capitalise on our competition success last year where we achieved a silver at the ‘The RHS Malvern Spring Festival’ and a gold in the Best in Show at the ‘Blenheim Flower Show’. We haven’t entered this competition before, but knew it would be a fantastic opportunity to push Pro Gardens forward. I spend most of my time designing gardens for other people, so doing a show garden gives me an opportunity to design one of my own.”
What inspired your design for the APL Avenue Show Garden Competition?
“One word – nostalgia. I have incredibly fond memories of playing in my granddad’s garden as a child. For any child a garden is a place full of wonder and adventure – somewhere to explore and lose yourself. I wanted to create a garden where a child could do this, but equally a space where an adult can step away from the stresses of adult life and remember what it is like to be a child. It’s a place that adults and children can enjoy together and separately.”
What is the garden’s connection with CLIC Sargent?
“The charity does incredible work providing tailored support to young cancer patients and their families. We want to help raise awareness and funds for them, and this is a fantastic opportunity to do that. We’re calling it the CLIC Sargent Garden and the charity’s representatives will be at the show talking about some of the work that they do.”
What can visitors to your show garden expect to see?
“It’s going to have a lot of character and feel like a very real and very loved garden. It will look mature and that’s one of our biggest challenges – creating something that was built and planted in two weeks, that looks established. We’ll create that authenticity by including birds nests in the trees, and features such as moss growing on plants and grass sprouting between the pathing stones.”
How is the preparation for building it going?
“We’ve set ourselves a massive challenge by designing a mature garden. Every spare minute is spent trying to find established plants that we can use, and sourcing reclaimed material to build the playhouse and table. Everything in the garden is going to be locally sourced and reclaimed, which will give it the authenticity we’re looking for, but the process is very time consuming.”
Are you looking forward to the show and the final competition?
“I can’t wait, but there’s lots of work to be done before then. We are given two weeks to build the garden, then the day before the show opens the judges will visit and score the final five designs. That’s the scary bit. There’s a years worth of work and a lot of hard work and resource gone into this, so keep your fingers crossed!”
If you’d like to visit the Pro Gardens CLIC Sargent Garden at the BBC Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC, then visit the website for details. And don’t forget to come and say hello to the Pro Gardens team!
