Garden Design students and graduates from Capel Manor, scooped four silver medals for their designs at the Royal Horticultural Society’s London Plant and Design show. 

The RHS show invited visitors on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th February to view a street of display front gardens and balcony designs, showing how neglected spaces can be redesigned to suit a range of lifestyles and to demonstrate ideas to brighten up even the smallest of urban spaces. 

Three teams of students from Capel Manor’s centre in Regent’s Park, all currently in their second year of the Level 3 Garden Design Diploma course, were selected to build three of the six balcony displays from a competition they entered at the end of last year.  Criteria for the designs were that the displays had a low carbon footprint, materials used had to be sourced within 25 miles of the show venue (the Royal Horticultural Halls in Vincent Square, London) and plants had to have been grown within the 25-mile area. 

Fiona Law with her diaplay In Fire and Ice

Students Brenda Donnelly a nurse from Dulwich and teacher Fiona Law from Clapham produced a balcony display called ‘In Fire and Ice’, incorporating silver foliage with plants of flame colours that provided striking planting combinations.  Plants were chosen for their ability to adapt to dry conditions and for their suitability for use in containers on a sunny balcony.  The pair used salvage from Victorian London for the plant containers including ceramic Belfast sinks from a Stockwell school, terracotta chimney pots from a Clapham mansion block and cast iron rain water hoppers from a Chelsea house. 

Fiona said, “I was really delighted to get a silver medal especially as we hadn’t had any anticipation of that.  It is a joy to dream up a design, but challenging and stressful to execute it.  The success in the show validates the training I have received at Capel Manor and shows I have skills that I could use to build a business as a garden designer.” 

Brenda said “I really enjoyed the whole process it was great fun with lots of opportunities to learn and develop.  The show also provided an excellent opportunity to network with experts in the industry.”

Plastic Fanatstic display by Kathy Vivian

‘Plastic Fantastic’ was another of the medal winning balcony displays which incorporated evergreen, partial-shade loving plants for year round interest, with containers made from plastic bins and boxes covered in CDs, and laundry baskets woven with plastic bags.   This design was by career changer Kathy Vivian who has had a love of gardening and plants since childhood.  She said, “I’m thrilled to have been awarded the silver medal as I felt it was a privilege simply to have the opportunity to take part in the show.  Preparing for the competition has taught me how difficult it can be to find plants grown in the local area and the amount of work involved in staging even a small balcony garden at an RHS show.”

Urban Recycler by Charlotte Wess

Kathy had help with constructing elements of her display from fellow student Sarah Ball, who also assisted Charlotte Wess, designer of the third balcony display.  The theme for practising garden designer Charlotte’s display was ‘Urban Recycler’, and incorporated innovative plant containers made from recycled bicycle tyres and obelisks made from bicycle wheels.  Both Kathy and Charlotte sourced their recycled materials from an array of outlets that included items from charity shops and donations from bicycle repair stores.       

Proud Charlotte commented, “It was certainly a good experience to take part in the show but it was pretty hard work. I’m glad the judges seemed to appreciate the thought and invention that had gone into our designs.”

April Cameron, Head of School for Garden Design at Capel Manor said,
“It was great to see the imaginative approach the students adopted to create sustainably planted balconies with a low carbon footprint.  I am very proud of their achievements, particularly as they are still in training.” 

Mary Morrison with her bird themed garden

Former student Mary Morrison and graduate of Capel Manor’s National Certificate in Garden Design course also won a silver medal, for her ‘bird themed’ front garden display.  Mary’s stylish design was based on a ‘bird motif’, the planting created a habitat to encourage birds into the space.  April Cameron said, “Mary’s front garden was really well thought through and the standard of finish she achieved is a real tribute to the quality of her design work and implementation.” 

Chief Executive of Capel Manor College, Stephen Dowbiggin said, “Capel Manor is the Garden Design equivalent of the London School of Fashion. These students will go on to be the leaders and innovators in garden design and they will expand the horticultural sector by demonstrating how plants and design can be used in innovative ways to empower people to unleash the potential of their gardens and enhance their quality of life.”  

“This RHS initiative really excited us because it moves away from impractical show gardens which can just about survive for a week at Chelsea or Hampton Court to the challenge of designing real sustainable gardens that demonstrate exactly what everyone can achieve and should be encouraged to aspire to in their own gardens”, he said.

Images by John Harris