BBC Gardeners' World Live 2006

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Campus Designers

It's good to see so many future designers, horticultural students and landscape architects from our colleges getting involved in shows. The standards continue to rise and they design some great gardens.

So it is hardly surprising that The Best Show Garden went to 'The Plot' (Gold) designed by students from Reaseheath College. The garden focusses on building awareness of the origins of food and on healthy living for children. Well done to everyone.

Coming in and finding an RHS medal on your garden is exciting too and there was obvious joy among the students from Solihull College who were awarded Bronze for 'Time for Beer' (pictured below) a lovely garden with a circular lawn and a planting scheme reflecting the hews and colours of beer.

Students who worked on this garden are due to have exams the week after the show so they are really to be congratulated. Also the student entries do not always have the budget that other designers may have and in this case the young designers were helped by a number of companies including Hillier, who donated most of the plants and Church End Brewery.

The needs of the disabled and elderly who wish to garden but have reduced agility and mobility was the theme for the students of Nottingham Trent University. Over 40 students helped create three gardens. The students actually tried to garden in special suits designed to give them experience of what it is like to have limited mobility and agility. This obviously had a sobering effect on some of the students I spoke to who now fully appreciate that what the mind might be willing to do the body simply may not.

From that valuable perspective three gardens were designed. 'The Designers Dream Retirement' (Bronze) designed by Foundation Degree Garden Design final year students - is a dream of a coastal location with raised beds. 'By Gardeners for Gardeners' - designed by Foundation Degree Landscape and Amenity Horticulture final year students - which centred on the ethos that for keen gardeners retirement from work does not mean gardening has to cease too. 'Towards the 22nd Century' (Bronze) - B.A.(Hons) Design Development Landscape and Interiors second year students (pictured above Chris Trafford, Jon Wright and Matt Keightley BA Course Design & Development Landscape Interiors Nottingham Trent ) - featuring a futuristic view but looking towards the older generation in terms of both reduced agility and the potential environmental change by the middle of the 21st century.

City of Wolverhampton College were awarded Bronze for 'Multipli-city' (Designed by Darren Rudge and H Wood). The garden (pictured below) is an interpretation of the industrial traditions and heritage of Wolverhampton and features a gazebo fashioned from copper and reclaimed cast iron down spouts.

Gill Oliver's Sun Flower Street garden 'The Y-Fronts' (pictured below) supported by Hadlow College and CED, was the winner of one of the Four RHS Gold medals awarded at the show. Designed to grow a range of produce either too expensive to buy regularly or not readily available at supermarkets, the garden was simple and practical.

Pershore College blended Japanese and contemporary English designs to bring us 'Japonica' (Silver) designed by Sandra Tearl which certainly gives us ideas for our own front gardens.

Other colleges exhibiting included Walford College of Agriculture and The College of West Anglia.

Well done to all the students and their tutors for bringing us imaginative and interesting designs and who knows - setting the trends of tomorrow :)

Banner top 'Towards the 22nd Century' - Show Garden designed by BA (Hons) Design Development Landscape and Interiors second year students)

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