Growing For Gold

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Ealing gardeners wow the judges at Hampton Court Flower Show

Ealing Today brought news of garden designers Sim Flemons and John Warland beating off stiff competition to appear at Hampton Court. Now they've struck gold for their design – The Fallen – in the Conceptual Garden category.

Sim and his co-designer John met whilst both studying Garden Design at Capel Manor College in Gunnersbury Park and have been working together on the project since 2006.

Sim worked in the legal profession before changing career in 2003 to pursue his passion for gardening. After gaining a Diploma in Garden Design set up his own garden design, build and maintenance business Piece of Green in 2006 www.pieceofgreen.co.uk.

Following a period of travel and work abroad, co-designer John, retrained for an RHS General Certificate in Horticulture and a City and Guilds in Garden Design at Capel. Subsequently, John set up a small design and maintenance business based in London and the Home Counties.

More than one in five native wildflower species in the British Isles is considered nationally threatened. The Fallen represents a cemetery of plants that are now extinct within the British Isles and each headstone bears the name of a lost species.

Sim described the concept: "In building this garden we hope to produce a tranquil and reflective atmosphere in which to ponder the fate of wild flowers in Britain and the causal factors for their decline.

"Habitat loss because of the increase in residential land use, air pollution and climate change are all having a huge impact. We need to re-evaluate our relationship with nature, and soon."

 

July 8, 2007