Beautiful Gardens ... Buzzing with Wildlife
2008 prooved to be a very interesting year, my first show garden at the Sandringham Flower Show. This large and well-attended annual show is traditionally patronised by the Royals, now Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall. Each year previously 8 designers are chosen to create large gardens, and in 2008 a further 6 smaller courtyard gardens were on show. Mine was one of these, a space of 5m by 4m facing south with a backdrop of a large oak tree.
A whole new experience for me, involving thinking of a design, sourcing and growing plants and materials and persuading friends and family that it was a great idea and they would love to help wouldn't they?
| We had five days in which to build the garden, I have included a small selection of photographs showing the garden developing and also the completed garden and the judging. We were delighted with our Silver medal and generous comments from the judges and Prince Charles. | ||
| The Sandringham week was the hottest week of the summer and we laboured under wall to wall sunshine. The weather changed the day after we had taken the garden away! | ||
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| Day 1 - the first job was to level the site, the soil was orange - the Sandringham 'Sands' and by the end of the day we were all orange too. | ||
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Sarah and Rick demonstrating their skills | |
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At the end of day 1 | |
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Beginning to plant the garden | |
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Cheryl and Kim still planting | |
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The nectar bar and a tank of pond creatures | |
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This toad quickly made itself at home | |
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The finished garden | |
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Detail of the garden | |
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Detail of the garden | |
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Detail of the back wall | |
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Prince Charles coming over for a chat | |
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Chris Beardshaw and Alan Mason getting down to business | |
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Receiving the certificate at the award ceremony | |
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Anne with her Silver Award at the end of a very enjoyable day | |
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Debs, Lucinda, Anne, Eleanor and Cheryl | |
At the Sandringham Flower Show on 30 July 2008 Anne's Courtyard garden was awarded a Silver Medal. Click on the link for a PDF of the leaflet giving details of the garden's design and the story behind it (may take a little while to download). |
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