Known as the James Bond of the gardening world, Chris Beardshaw mixes daredevil stunts with horticulture in his TV series The Flying Gardener, but it was his expertise that was needed at the recent Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

The Growing Schools Garden – funded by the Department for Education & Skills and managed by Learning through Landscapes; won not only a Gold Award but also the coveted Tudor Rose Award for best show garden at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2007.

Stones³ were chosen by Chris Beardshaw who first came to know about the metal gabions 18 months ago and was so impressed that he named them within his must buy gardening products within his column of the Daily Mail.

40 600x600x600mm and 20 750x750x750 mm gabions from the company’s landscape range were chosen by designer Chris Beardshaw for use within the garden.

The garden was distinctive because of the active and creative participation of the young people of all ages from more than 30 schools themselves. As well as providing inspiration, they have designed and made many of the garden’s features and grown some of its plants. The design foundations are based on the principle that learning in the broadest sense is the result of a complex blend of life modules. The diversity of modules results in the garden displaying an eclectic blend of habitats and environments where the children from the participating schools have expressed their relationships with these spaces in a creative and original way.

The garden at 20x30m will be one of the largest show gardens this year and incorporated areas of meadow, woodland, arid and wetland, a fruit and vegetable garden, which formed the individual areas in which to showcase each of the schools projects as well as offering a cob study centre, amphitheatre, poetry and story telling area, recycling centre, climbing wall, and willow woven ‘green man.

Many of the garden features are from recycled materials demonstrating how schools can re-use materials in functional, innovative and attractive ways.

The garden will now be moved to Birmingham Botanical Gardens to be used as a long-term resource to train and advise teachers on exciting, new ideas and a realistic vision of what can be achieved in and beyond the school grounds.

Metal gabions have been historically associated with motorway embankments, but thanks to Stones³ they are now available in smaller sizes targeting the domestic garden and landscape market as can be seen by visiting the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

When we think of gardens we tend to think of rural spaces and rose-filled stately homes, but Matt James’ heart has always belonged to the city and he reveals an underground network of green urban spaces simply crying out for a makeover – and a little of the Matt magic.

For further information call Stones³ on Tel: 0845 230 0013 or visit http://www.stones3.co.uk/.