Out of the Blue

Context:
Show Garden_Garden Heaven 2004

Brief:
“A garden blending colour, form & texture, of natural & man-made materials, and bold planting; reflecting the power of nature and humanity combined, to transform the landscape”.

Concept:
Explores the powerful impact, for better or worse, that human creative endevour and natural forces can both bring to bear, in shaping our environment. This symbiotic, sometimes turbulent, and ever evolving relationship, is given expression through the medium of a garden. Select materials and plants, while natural in essence, are refined and manipulated, thus bending to our will. Equally, nature can reveal new scenes to us ‘out of the blue’ in her own way, symbolised dramatically in this instance, by a post earthquake steaming fissure, occuring within an otherwise harmonious landscape.

Key elements:
Striking silver granite flag and charcoal cobble paving, containing earthquake-like fissure; mirrored standing stones, mist maker, organic composite decking design, undulating soil contours, architectural specimen and luxuriant perennial planting.

Key plants:
Canopy/character/specimen
Betula utilis var. jacquemontii – West Himalayan birch
Focal/architectural
Juniperus scopulorum ‘Blue Arrow’ – Rocky Mountain juniper ‘Blue Arrow’
Phormium tenax ‘Variegatum’ – Variegated New Zealand flax
Flower/accent
Libertia peregrinans – Wandering Chilean iris
Foliage/flower/groundcover
Euphorbia polychroma – Many-coloured spurge
Hebe pinguifolia ‘Pagei’ – Hebe ‘Pagei’
Hemerocallis ‘Frans Hals’ – Daylily ‘Frans Hals’
Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ – Catmint ‘Six Hills Giant’
Texture/movement/seedhead
Carex dolichostachya ‘Kaga-nishiki’ – Gold fountain sedge