Follow the progress of our ‘adopted’ Chelsea Garden

© Hockney – Garrowby Hill Vale of York

Final Designs, Fine Tuning & Fine Art

Chelsea might be four months away but the garden, “Yorkshire through the Eyes of an Artist“, is already taking shape.

This is very different work for me. When I am not involved in Chelsea I am working on an urban design exercise for a town centre expansion in Middlesbrough and a landscape masterplan and urban design framework for an employment zone in Skipton! Chelsea requires a different mindset entirely.

It’s no less stressful though, the expectation is high from us and our sponsor, Welcome to Yorkshire. Last year we won the People’s Choice award and a silver medal. Not bad for a first entry to Chelsea, but now we want gold.

This year we move from an edible theme to an artistic one. The garden intends to celebrate Yorkshire’s art and landscape through the eyes of an artist. It takes inspiration from the great Yorkshire artists and those who found their inspiration in Yorkshire – Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney, Andy Goldsworthy and J M W Turner. The end result is intended to set a scene of Yorkshire, to be a reflection rather than a faithful reproduction.

The design has been submitted and agreed by the RHS, but we are in the process of fine tuning it at the moment. To my surprise those tweaks have involved discussions with Professors of Fine Art here in Leeds. We want the garden to be authentic so we have made a couple of changes to the original design on his advice. Like I said, creating a Chelsea garden requires a different mindset. If that is the mind of a fine art professor then so be it.

In terms of the planting, we have placed our order with Orchard House in North Yorkshire and we shall be making regular visits to the nursery.

We are at an exciting stage now – when we start to see the garden lifting off the page and becoming a physical reality. The irony is we are experiencing a reverse journey of the famous Yorkshire artists we are drawing inspiration from; creating a landscape from something first formed on a page.

© Kate Dundas, Landscape Architect at Gillespies

Rhubarb & Custard Garden, Chelsea Flower Show 2010.

Frame mock up for this years Chelsea Show garden