Meadowscape - Hampton Court 2002

The Marney Hall Consultancy got a Silver-Gilt for its Potter’s Retreat, a garden which include a lovely corner of cornfield annuals such as field poppy and cornflower. Potter Stuart Marsden completed the feel of the garden with his work, inspired by the natural world.

Hampton Court 2002

Despite changing fashions, Hampton Court Palace Flower Show was proof that meadows are still magic.

Areas of meadow featured in the Gold Award-winning Hillier Landscapes estuary show garden and others at the giant exhibition, and wild flowers were sprinkled throughout plantings and on many trade stands.

The Hillier Landscapes estuary garden – part of the massive Seaside Pavilion – perennial grasses and wild flowers had been used as a lawn for the stone cottage centrepiece. While many designers would have tucked the meadow away, this scheme by Sarah Eberle had it right under the front windows. It was a rough-pasture mix - mostly of fescues, plantain, clover and vetch – but within the naturalistic setting which included a boat, quay and tidal mudflats, looked completely at home.

Another Gold Award winner, the Squires Landscape and Woburn Hill Nursery ‘dream garden,’ designer Paul Stone had wound a pathway beneath a bridge, creating the perfect setting for ferns.

Among Meadowscape’s favourite gardens was the Oak garden – a mix of corrugated galvanised iron, steel window frames and glass, with planting inspired by the flora of the Regent’s Canal in London. Rush had been used extensively, and designer Candida Cook included some plants well-chewed by caterpillars. The effect was unique among the many exhibits