We had the fantastic opportunity in 2023 to design and build our first show garden at the BBC gardener’s world live show.
The process started in autumn 2022 with the design, mood boards etc, we found out we had been successful just after Christmas. The garden was called Subaqua, because it was a garden about introducing subterranean ponds into a fairly standard sized domestic garden. We used metal grids to cover the ponds so that no functional space was lost to them and played with the water transitioning from three different levels.
The garden featured a garden room/office, which was built from sips and installed on ground screws, with shou sugi cladding, a small solar and battery system and a green roof.
It was an exciting garden for us because we got to be our own client and push the norm of gardens a little. There was water under a large decked area directly outside the building, which flowed through a roll and overflowed into another roll which ran alongside the path all the way to the end of the garden. We had aquatic planting in the water some of which grew through the grids, particularly in the rills, but underneath the main deck we had lilly pads, perfectly highlighted in the shade.
https://www.envirobuild.com/blog/gardeners-world-live-garden-guide
https://thechattygardener.com/featured/in-the-heat-at-bbc-gardeners-world-live-2023/
https://www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk/10-best-ideas-your-garden-bbc-gardeners-world-live-2023/
https://www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com/ideas-for-water-in-your-garden-2/
https://bosworth.life/blog/1/25/gardeners-world-live-2023-subaqua
