GoLandscape's show garden awarded Gold at RHS Hampton

The British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) and the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) ‘Best of Both Worlds’ show garden, built by a team of 23 students under the watchful eye of GoLandscape Ambassadors, has been awarded a prestigious Gold medal at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2018.

Judges were left suitably impressed by the garden, designed by BALI Registered Designer Rosemary Coldstream MBALI MSGD of Rosemary Coldstream Garden Design, which has been divided into two halves, one traditional and one contemporary, demonstrating different skills, materials and techniques and including a variety of both hard and soft landscaping elements.

The garden, which measures over 100sqm, features a large variety of plants including types of agapanthus, buxus sempervirens, pachysandra, astrantia, geranium, lavandula, salvia and thalictrum. The garden also displays a row of pleached Carpinus, a Cretan terracotta water feature and a sunken cedar bench surrounding a luxury granite paved fire pit.

The garden was jointly sponsored by BALI and the RHS to promote GoLandscape, a national industry careers initiative launched by BALI earlier this year following a successful pilot phase. BALI’s Education Officer Stephen Ensell, who has led the project, commented ‘By involving students and apprentices in the construction of the garden, including laying paving and planting over 1,000 species, we are providing them with a platform from which to demonstrate their skills in front of the wider landscape industry. I can think of no better way of promoting the opportunities available in our industry than by showcasing a garden of this size to the thousands of visitors expected over the next few days.’