Irene School of Garden Design

How to garden like you mean it…

How to garden like you mean it

How to garden like you mean itHow to garden like you mean it… This year the Plantland Show Gardens at Plantland Cornwall Hill, took on a whole new format. Students of the Irene School of Garden Design was faced with one of their toughest challenges yet. Students were given a “shopping basket” of plants and hard materials and had to design around a non-visual theme. The theme was UPCYCLING, currently a trend in almost all fields of design, where old objects, materials or even waste is used in a new way to exploit its beauty and give them a new lease on life.

How to garden like you mean itAll the students took quite diverse views towards the theme, and had very different interpretations of what that can mean. Everyone worked themselves to the limits to finish this spectacular annual event for the public to enjoy, and the result is difficult to put into words, with hundreds of ideas that visitors can take home, and do themselves.

How to garden like you mean itThe winning garden was called Echo Eco, and was a spectacular display of how small spaces can not only look amazing, but also mean something to ecology and be purposeful to us. This outdoor kitchen style garden was dripping with ideas on how to recycle floor surfaces, build a vegetable wall and invite the necessary insect to pollinate fruits to a specially designed insect hotel.

How to garden like you mean itSome of the other ideas were just as interesting, from taking something out its ordinary habitat like a mannequin, and working it to a beautiful garden sculpture. On the rocks was a trendy, and admittedly a very “Hipster” garden that recycled old school furniture and cable wheels for a small patio on the rocks where one can just relax after a hard day at the office.

How to garden like you mean itThe School would like to extend a very special thank you for all the hard work and oodles of visual pleasure that the class of 2015 displayed for our enjoyment. Visit our website frequently over the coming months to see just how they have done it and how to take some of these designer ideas into your own garden.