Lindum Wins Bronze Medal At RHS Chelsea 2012
‘Out of the Blue’, a joint collaboration between award-winning landscape artist Alan Gardner and leading turf specialist Lindum, has won a bronze medal at the RHS Chelsea 2012. The garden is part of the brand new ‘Fresh Gardens’ category at Chelsea which encourages innovative design and use of materials.
L to R: Stephen Fell, Managing Director, Lindum; Alan Gardner;
Roger Moore, Contracts Manager, Lindum
Stephen Fell, Managing Director, Lindum, said, “I’m absolutely thrilled that we have won a bronze medal for ‘Out of the Blue’, our first joint collaboration with a leading landscape designer at RHS Chelsea. Our range of turf products, and particularly our wildflower turf, has proved a hit both with this garden and with the other three award-winning gardens that we supplied to.”
Landscape artist Alan Gardner said, “I was very excited this morning to discover that we’d won a medal for our garden, which has been a real labour of love. I feel massively relieved – and exhausted – now that the garden is finished and the medals have been awarded, and I’m now looking forward to welcoming the thousands of visitors who come to our garden this week.”
In addition to ‘Out of the Blue’, Lindum supplied a range of turf to other award-winning gardens at Chelsea 2012:
- Tracy Foster’s ‘The Brontës’ Yorkshire Garden’, sponsored by Welcome to Yorkshire, won a gold medal (Artisan Gardens category)
- Nigel Dunnett and The Landscape Agency’s ‘RBC Blue Water Garden’ won a silver gilt (Show Garden)
- Vicky Harris’ ‘Naturally Dry’ garden, inspired by William Wordsworth, won a silver medal (Artisan Gardens category).
About ‘Out of the Blue’
A semi-intensive roof garden displayed on the ground, ‘Out of the Blue’ comprises three mounds of different drought-tolerant planting set against a decked area with occasional seating. Biodiversity and sustainability are key drivers in the garden’s design. A striking ‘zig zag’ structure created from bright blue polypropylene string bisects the mounds, creating shadows, alternative perspectives and shade.
Planting details
The planting in the garden comprises three mounds. The planting for each is outlined below:
- Lindum Low Maintenance Grass comprises an established mixture of slow-growing and drought-tolerant grasses with low maintenance requirements, growing in a felt mat. The grass incorporates Crested Hairgrass with Hard Fescue and Creeping Red Fescue.
- The Lindum Wildflower and Herb Mat contains a vibrant mixture of wildflowers, herbs, perennials and sedums designed to promote biodiversity and to flourish in dry conditions. It creates an excellent habitat for pollinators such as bumblebees, and also for butterflies, birds and invertebrates. The mixture includes Oxeye Daisy, Lady’s Bedstraw, Cat’s Ear and Yellow Camomile, three sedum varieties and herbs such as Wild Marjoram and Thyme, and flowering perennials such as Dianthus.
- A matrix of drought tolerant grasses and larger perennials.
These are designed to flourish in dry conditions and so are ideal on a roof or in a dry garden.
Sustainability and Biodiversity
‘Out of the Blue’ is a roof garden which has been designed to bring greenery into an urban space which would otherwise be barren. Green roofs are proven to reduce air pollution, reduce the urban ‘heat island’ effect and the whole garden has been designed with biodiversity and sustainability in mind. The plant mixtures used create a diverse habitat for bees, butterflies, invertebrates and birds.
The Lindum Low Maintenance Grass and the Lindum Wildflower and Herb Mats are grown in biodegradable felt made from recycled British textiles. Growing substrates are made from recycled soils and green waste compost and do not include peat.
About Alan Gardner
Alan Gardner was born into the urban jungle of Birmingham. At the age of fifteen he was inspired to take up gardening when he was bought a cactus. From then on he filled his parents’ back garden with bedding plants and greenhouses and started using the plants he had grown at show gardens.
Alan started off working for the Birmingham Parks Department, marking out running tracks and pitches. His confidence in designing unique outdoor spaces, often on a grand scale, was influenced by his time spent there. His career developed through landscaping to developing startlingly original approaches to landscape design, where flowing turf installations contrast sharply with dramatic man-made constructions. Installations have ranged from huge grass amphitheatres to spiral mounds and he has created 32 award-winning RHS show gardens including gold and silver medals at Tatton Park and a bronze at Chelsea in 2007 for ‘Perspectum’. His highly original approach to shaping landscapes, combined with his head-turning appearance result in Alan attracting widespread media attention, including featuring in a major BBC series on the RHS.
About Lindum
Lindum has been growing specialist turf for more than 25 years and has brought innovative grass, wildflower and other products to a range of new and unusual applications in landscape architecture, green roofs and garden design. Lindum has supplied wildflowers, green roof planting and turf to RHS Show gardens for more than ten years.
‘Out of the Blue’ is Lindum’s first joint collaboration with a garden designer whereby they are providing the technical expertise and roof garden planting.