This year the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show will be celebrating William Shakespeare’s plays and have selected six of his most popular comedies as a theme to represent through the design of the garden.

One of the gardens has been designed by Capel Manor College student Michelle Duxbury, who is studying for a National Diploma in Horticulture.

Michelle Duxbury has been inspired by Shakespeare’s comic tale of love and money in creating this design. The garden’s setting is a Venetian canal enclosed by a boardwalk of weathered pilings.

Three large wooden vessels float like gondolas amidst dark, reflective pools and a swirling sea of grasses. Filled with lush flowers and foliage in shades of gold, silver and lead, the vessels depict the caskets from which Portia’s suitors must choose in order to win her hand.

High above the garden, like washing lines spanning a Venetian canal, three tall striped props support drapes of muslin, each one inscribed with Shakespeare’s words of guidance to all would-be suitors.

The garden is being built by Capel Manor College students from Enfield, Gunnersbury Park and Regent’s Park.