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Tatton Park diary
Is it art or horticulture?
Garden Design students at the University are regularly asked to consider whether gardens are art.
In 2010, for the second year running we were put to the test, turning our theory into practice at the RHS Show at Tatton Park.
See pictures of the 2009 garden at the RHS Show Tatton Park website
Read Peter Styles' and Nicola Sweeting's diary of the garden build below...
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2010 Tatton Park Diary: 15 & 16 July
The wind and rain are creating difficulties on site today. The materials and equipment that we aren’t currently using are weighted and tied down in case the storm gets worse. We are concerned about the wind damaging the plants (particularly the Agapanthus) so we move them to a sheltered corner against a fence and surround them with wooden posts to keep them in place.
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2010 Tatton Park Diary: 12 & 13 July
Well, it’s raining...so it must be Tatton build week. The ‘Kaleidoscope’ build is starting on the Tatton site, while the ‘Inspiration and Me’ construction continues at the Northop workshop. The wall sections that have already been made are propped against trees behind the garden site so that we can paint them white. The eight white panels surrounding the trees already make an intriguing installation and we soon attract a crowd.....of sheep.
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2010 Tatton Park Diary: 6 July 2010
Work continues in the workshop at the Northop campus with the walls for Peter’s garden now taking shape. The plan is to get as much construction done as we can to create the gardens in kit form, then we will move them in pieces to the Tatton site on Monday. This of course means making sure that the pieces fit into the van! The RHS will be removing turf from each site and then Peter and Sally will be able to mark out their gardens before the rest of us join them to start the build.
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20-21 July 2009
Monday was the last push to get the show garden finished. The gardens either side of us were complete – but to be fair to us, they were simpler with much less planting. The water feature (a rill) needed lowering, and this would mean removing it and digging down further. As we were short of help we sent Tania off with her best smile to get help – it didn’t take her long, and soon Tania and her new assistants had removed the mdf box that was supporting the liner. But, disaster! The box had collapsed with all the rain. Fortunately, after initial panic, the remedy was quite simple.
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15 July 2009
It is pouring with rain when we get to the site today, but the weather soon clears up and it turns into another hot and sunny day. The base of the tree is already in, as are the black mountains. We bubble wrap the mountains to protect them while we work on the rest of the garden. The main job for today is putting together the tree – the Spirit of Glyndŵr. Of course nothing is simple and the tree doesn’t go together easily. Adjustments have to be made and even once we’re satisfied that it has fitted together correctly, we’re still not completely happy with the shape.
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17-18 July 2009
It’s raining. In fact it’s pouring. Planting begins today and we are joined by the ladies from the Welsh College Summer Gardening group: Jackie, Myfanwy, Judith and Judith. They set to work on turning the bedding plants into the Glyndwr stripes. It’s not easy. The stripes are different lengths and widths, some stripes taper, some widen. We decide to start at both ends with two people planting at either end. I have the planting plan and convert the measurements in the plan to measurements for stripes on the ground with the aid of some knitting needles and string.
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7 July 2009
If you think that creating a show garden is glamorous, think again. Today we are scraping the loose bark from the dead tree that is to take the starring role as the spirit of Glyndŵr. It’s filthy work and seems to take forever. We’ve taken the tree apart for ease of transportation, but now we are trying to reassemble it it doesn’t seem to fit together – there’s a gap, and at the moment we don’t know how to resolve the problem. Peter suggests packing the gap in some way. I’m not so sure. We need the tree to appear seamless and I’m not convinced the paint will cover the repair. It should just fit together.
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1 July 2009
With the arrival of the bedding plants, the team are hard at work potting up in one of the college’s glasshouses. It’s extremely hot in there today and some shade has been provided for the plants, but not the poor team, and everyone is exhausted by the end of the day. It’s lovely to see the beginnings of the Glyndŵr colours appearing as the plants begin to flower, but initial delight turns to a common anxiety for the creators of show gardens: the plants must be at their optimum flowering point as the judges arrive, and we still have two weeks to judging.
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15th July 2010
