RHS London Plant and Design Show

RHS London Plant and Design Show, February 2010

The Brief
This was a 5m wide by 7m long front garden designed to have a contemporary feel and with winter interest planting. The garden needed to be practical and sustainable.

The Garden
The garden was entitled ‘Sun Stands Still.’ Solstice comes from the Latin 'solstitium' literally meaning 'sun stands still.' In this garden the sun had stood still and touched plants with its orange glow or else cast its shadow on purplish foliage and flowers. Bright blues provided the glinting highlights. Plants in the design included orange-stemmed Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ and red-stemmed Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’, fiery red-orange leaved Nandina domestica, yellow flowered hellebores and bright green-yellow Luzula sylvatica ‘Aurea.’ The dark foliage was provided by such plants as Euphorbia ‘Blackbird,’ Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’ and Lophomyrtus ‘Black Pearl.’ Blues were Iris reticulata ‘Pixie’ and Iris histrioides ‘George.’