Beautiful Borders winners announced at B...
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The Landscape Service, Furzey Gardens and Kingston Maurward College scoop top Awards at the BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair at Beaulieu  BBC TV gardening presenter, Frances Tophill, has presented awards to design teams and horticulture students behind some show-stopping gardens and displays at the BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair at Beaulieu today.Winner of the Spring Fair’s Best Showcase Garden and a Platinum Award was Nordic Retreat by The Landscape Service, based in Southampton. Designed by Luke Mills, the stylish, minimalist garden is designed to offer a calming space to relax, unwind and rejuvenate, providing temporary respite from the urban environment. It features neutral colours, planting features to create dappled shade, and natural hard landscaping materials.Best Beautiful Border and Platinum Award winner was ‘Not all those who wander are lost’ by Furzey Gardens and Minstead Trust who provide training and work experience for people with learning disabilities. The Border was inspired by a poem from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, and features plants grown at Furzey Gardens, a stepping stone path, and a grand chair carved from the trunk of an old Elm tree.The Beautiful Borders competition is a highlight at all BBC Gardeners’ World Events and is designed to provide achievable inspiration for smaller gardens and tricky spaces. Entrants take on the challenge of packing compact 9m2 plots with imaginative planting and creative design features. This year’s theme is ‘My Garden Escape’. Spring Fair award assessors for the Beautiful Borders were Ian Hodgson, editor of Garden News, and acclaimed Hampshire garden designers, Anita Foy from Anita Foy Garden Design, and Richard Barnard from Kings Oak Landscapes.  The Spring Fair’s first ever inter-horticultural college competition was won by students from Kingston Maurward College in Dorset. The college team won Best College Garden and a Platinum Award for A Wardian Garden, a design inspired by the college’s Victorian heritage. Colleges were tasked with designing budget-friendly gardens with a Victorian Garden theme. All the college teams were mentored by award-winning garden designer, Cherry Carmen.Show Assessor Richard Barnard said: “It’s great to have the colleges here at the Spring Fair. The quality of work is excellent and these brilliant students are the future of horticulture.”Reviewing all Award entries at the Spring Fair, BBC TV gardening presenter Frances Tophill, said: “I’m hugely impressed with the talent involved and the hard work that has gone into creating these wonderful gardens and displays, with every award richly deserved. I have no doubt that they will inspire thousands of people over the Spring Fair weekend to try something new or different in their garden, veg patch or window box. Whether you’re new to gardening or a green-fingered expert, it’s a great time of year to make garden plans for the summer ahead. The BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair really is the perfect place for ideas to blossom and grow.”  READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE /*! elementor - v3.15.0 - 20-08-2023 */ .elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=".svg"]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block} /*! elementor-pro - v3.15.0 - 09-08-2023 */ @charset "UTF-8";.entry-content blockquote.elementor-blockquote:not(.alignright):not(.alignleft),.entry-summary blockquote.elementor-blockquote{margin-right:0;margin-left:0}.elementor-widget-blockquote blockquote{margin:0;padding:0;outline:0;font-size:100%;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;quotes:none;border:0;font-style:normal;color:#3f444b}.elementor-widget-blockquote blockquote .e-q-footer:after,.elementor-widget-blockquote blockquote .e-q-footer:before,.elementor-widget-blockquote blockquote:after,.elementor-widget-blockquote 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.elementor-blockquote__tweet-button:before{right:auto;left:-.8em;border-right-color:#1da1f2;border-left-color:transparent}.elementor-blockquote--button-skin-bubble.elementor-blockquote--align-left .elementor-blockquote__tweet-button:hover:before{border-right-color:#0967a0}.elementor-blockquote--button-skin-bubble.elementor-blockquote--align-right .elementor-blockquote__tweet-button:before{left:auto;right:-.8em;border-right-color:transparent;border-left-color:#1da1f2}.elementor-blockquote--button-skin-bubble.elementor-blockquote--align-right .elementor-blockquote__tweet-button:hover:before{border-left-color:#0967a0}.elementor-blockquote--skin-boxed .elementor-blockquote{background-color:#f9fafa;padding:30px}.elementor-blockquote--skin-border .elementor-blockquote{border-color:#f9fafa;border-left:7px #f9fafa;border-style:solid;padding-left:20px}.elementor-blockquote--skin-quotation .elementor-blockquote:before{content:"“";font-size:100px;color:#f9fafa;font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif;font-weight:900;line-height:1;display:block;height:.6em}.elementor-blockquote--skin-quotation .elementor-blockquote__content{margin-top:15px}.elementor-blockquote--align-left .elementor-blockquote__content{text-align:left}.elementor-blockquote--align-left .elementor-blockquote .e-q-footer{flex-direction:row}.elementor-blockquote--align-right .elementor-blockquote__content{text-align:right}.elementor-blockquote--align-right .elementor-blockquote .e-q-footer{flex-direction:row-reverse}.elementor-blockquote--align-center .elementor-blockquote{text-align:center}.elementor-blockquote--align-center .elementor-blockquote .e-q-footer,.elementor-blockquote--align-center .elementor-blockquote__author{display:block}.elementor-blockquote--align-center .elementor-blockquote__tweet-button{margin-right:auto;margin-left:auto} The Nordic Retreat is our first show garden so I couldn’t be happier to have won this award. Inspired by my Nordic heritage, I wanted the garden to have a therapeutic effect, providing calm and respite from busy life. It’s been a real team effort by gardeners, landscapers, suppliers and sponsors, and I’m over the moon. Luke Mills, Director of The Landscape Service We are delighted for all the people that we support that have worked so hard to create this garden. It has created a real sense of purpose and shows what people with learning disabilities can achieve when they have support and encouragement. Andrew Bentley, Estates Manager at Minstead Trust This garden has brought students together from across the college’s horticultural courses. They’ve done the research, sourced materials and built the garden, all with the support of our tutors. It’s just incredible to have won. Alison Firth, a Level 3 Horticulture student and designer at Kingston Maurward College
Pantone Colour of the Year – Add a...
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Pantone Colour of the Year - Very Peri! The bets are off! Pantone has named its highly anticipated Colour of the Year for 2022. This is an annual trend forecast by the colour giant that determines which colour is set to appear all over our homes and gardens in the following year.This year, the Colour of the Year is, Very Peri! Considered the ‘happiest and warmest of all the blue hues’, Pantone describes Very Peri as a ‘dynamic periwinkle-blue hue with vivifying violet-red undertones’, which makes it perfect for a calming garden designed for thoughtfulness, personal inventiveness and creative thinking – the inspiration behind the colour. In terms of picking out plants for your garden in 2022’s trendiest hue, there is so much to choose from.Here are 8 examples of plants found at #BBCGWLive 2021 that cover the spectrum and would give your garden the Very Peri seal of approval!  Featured: Blue Cupidone/Catanche caerule The bright blue, cornflower-like blooms of cupid’s dart, Catananche caerulea, appear continuously from early to late summer, peaking in midsummer. Grow Catananche caerulea in full sun in well-drained soil, such as a mixed herbaceous border or gravel garden.  Featured: Woodland Sage/Salvia nemorosaPerennial sages look wonderful in ornamental borders, producing summer-long displays of spiky, nectar-rich flowers. For best results grow Salvia ‘Caradonna’ in a sunny, sheltered spot in well-drained soil. Deadhead spent blooms regularly to encourage flowers into mid-autumn. Mulch annually with well-rotted manure, or garden compost. Featured: Garden Dahlia/Dahlia pinnata Summer wouldn’t be summer without dahlias. Their beautiful flowers come in almost every colour imaginable, from pale pastels to hot, vibrant shades. They come in a range of flower shapes, from small tight balls to lily-like blooms the size of dinner plates. Dahlias require a fertile, moist but well-drained soil, and a sunny, sheltered spot. Featured: Anise hyssop/Agastache foeniculum Anise hyssop, Agastache foeniculum, has aromatic leaves and colourful flower spikes beloved of bees and other pollinators. Its fragrant leaves can be dried and used to make a delicious tea. Grow agastache in moist but well-drained soil in full sun. Featured: Bellflower beardtongue/ Penstemon campanulatusPenstemons are valuable garden plants, grown for their long-flowering season and popularity with beesGrow penstemons in moist but well-drained soil in full sun to partial shade. Mulch annually with well-rotted manure or leaf mould, and feed weekly in summer.  Featured: Anise hyssop/Agastache foeniculum Agastaches are scented perennials from North America, China and Japan, where they grow in poor, dry ground. They’re perfect for growing in gravel or Mediterranean-style gardens, and may also be grown in containers on a sunny patio.For best results, grow Agastache ‘Blue Boa’ in full sun, in well-drained soil.  Featured:  Catmit/Nepeta faasseniiCatmints add a lovely, soft, floppy, gentle touch to cottage gardens. Nepeta gigantea ‘Six Hills Giant’ has grey-green foliage, which is covered all summer in masses of short spikes of lavender-like flowers which attract lots of beesLight, well-drained soil is the key to success. After the first burst of flowers, shear over the growth to get a second crop of leaves and flowers. Featured: Lobelia / Lobelia speciosa Lobelia speciosa flowers are  a popular garden plant that particularly attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. Grow in deep, fertile, reliably moist soil in full sun or partial shade. Feed with a balanced liquid fertilizer every two weeks until mid-summer and a low nitrogen fertilizer from then on.  /*! elementor - v3.15.0 - 20-08-2023 */ .elementor-widget-divider{--divider-border-style:none;--divider-border-width:1px;--divider-color:#0c0d0e;--divider-icon-size:20px;--divider-element-spacing:10px;--divider-pattern-height:24px;--divider-pattern-size:20px;--divider-pattern-url:none;--divider-pattern-repeat:repeat-x}.elementor-widget-divider .elementor-divider{display:flex}.elementor-widget-divider .elementor-divider__text{font-size:15px;line-height:1;max-width:95%}.elementor-widget-divider .elementor-divider__element{margin:0 var(--divider-element-spacing);flex-shrink:0}.elementor-widget-divider .elementor-icon{font-size:var(--divider-icon-size)}.elementor-widget-divider .elementor-divider-separator{display:flex;margin:0;direction:ltr}.elementor-widget-divider--view-line_icon .elementor-divider-separator,.elementor-widget-divider--view-line_text .elementor-divider-separator{align-items:center}.elementor-widget-divider--view-line_icon .elementor-divider-separator:after,.elementor-widget-divider--view-line_icon .elementor-divider-separator:before,.elementor-widget-divider--view-line_text .elementor-divider-separator:after,.elementor-widget-divider--view-line_text .elementor-divider-separator:before{display:block;content:"";border-bottom:0;flex-grow:1;border-top:var(--divider-border-width) var(--divider-border-style) var(--divider-color)}.elementor-widget-divider--element-align-left .elementor-divider .elementor-divider-separator>.elementor-divider__svg:first-of-type{flex-grow:0;flex-shrink:100}.elementor-widget-divider--element-align-left .elementor-divider-separator:before{content:none}.elementor-widget-divider--element-align-left .elementor-divider__element{margin-left:0}.elementor-widget-divider--element-align-right .elementor-divider .elementor-divider-separator>.elementor-divider__svg:last-of-type{flex-grow:0;flex-shrink:100}.elementor-widget-divider--element-align-right .elementor-divider-separator:after{content:none}.elementor-widget-divider--element-align-right .elementor-divider__element{margin-right:0}.elementor-widget-divider:not(.elementor-widget-divider--view-line_text):not(.elementor-widget-divider--view-line_icon) .elementor-divider-separator{border-top:var(--divider-border-width) var(--divider-border-style) var(--divider-color)}.elementor-widget-divider--separator-type-pattern{--divider-border-style:none}.elementor-widget-divider--separator-type-pattern.elementor-widget-divider--view-line .elementor-divider-separator,.elementor-widget-divider--separator-type-pattern:not(.elementor-widget-divider--view-line) .elementor-divider-separator:after,.elementor-widget-divider--separator-type-pattern:not(.elementor-widget-divider--view-line) .elementor-divider-separator:before,.elementor-widget-divider--separator-type-pattern:not([class*=elementor-widget-divider--view]) .elementor-divider-separator{width:100%;min-height:var(--divider-pattern-height);-webkit-mask-size:var(--divider-pattern-size) 100%;mask-size:var(--divider-pattern-size) 100%;-webkit-mask-repeat:var(--divider-pattern-repeat);mask-repeat:var(--divider-pattern-repeat);background-color:var(--divider-color);-webkit-mask-image:var(--divider-pattern-url);mask-image:var(--divider-pattern-url)}.elementor-widget-divider--no-spacing{--divider-pattern-size:auto}.elementor-widget-divider--bg-round{--divider-pattern-repeat:round}.rtl .elementor-widget-divider .elementor-divider__text{direction:rtl}.e-con-inner>.elementor-widget-divider,.e-con>.elementor-widget-divider{width:var(--container-widget-width,100%);--flex-grow:var(--container-widget-flex-grow)} Find even more spring gardening inspiration at BBC Gardeners' World Spring Fair BOOK TICKETS Interested in bringing a Beautiful Border to the Fair? 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