Exhibition garden

The Riverside Retreat

Permanent Showgarden

Tim was commissioned by the National Garden Exhibition Centre in Wicklow to create a permanent garden based on his ‘Inspiration from Mount Usher’ show garden. They were particularly keen to see a version of the water feature replicated at the Centre.

The garden that Tim’s team created was adjusted to suit the space available, which was a different shape to Bloom and with a view that this is to be garden that starts small and develops with time, like any real garden space.

Tim has used a naturalistic planting style that is low maintenance requiring little effort to keep it in shape, as the ground cover plants keep the weeds down and there is no grass to cut. The water feature is constructed from local Wicklow granite and is designed to look like a natural river with a simple weir creating both visual interest and a pleasant noise as the water tumbles over it. The shape of this water feature could easily be adjusted to suit another garden space.

Special trees in the garden include a multi-stemmed Snake-bark Maple Acer rufinerve, Pin Oak Quercus palustris and a large Wedding Cake Tree Cornus controversa. Ground cover plants include Hellebores, Hosta, Primula and Rodgersia and a variety of Ferns. The planting in the garden is lush in the summer and in winter the outline of the trees is striking with the residual seed heads of grasses and perennials left in-situ at their base. The perennial plants can be given a simple hair-cut in early spring prior to new-growth.

Garden Ideas

Whilst the space allocated to the garden at this location is quite restricted the design could easily be adapted to another garden shape and size. It could also work as just one part of a larger garden space.

Tags:
garden sanctuary, natural setting, painterly design, soft planting, water and plants