Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show 2007

QVC have chosen bright young star, Sarah Price, to design their 'Bejewelled Garden' for Chelsea.

This enchanted city garden will wow visitors by the dazzling array of gemstone inspired plants set in an informal soft planting with the emphasis on colour and texture.

Emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds are among the precious stones reflected in brilliant, colourful flowers and plants that create a striking and vibrant city garden.

Price has created a tranquil yet effervescent atmosphere in her garden for QVC. Key to the planting is the shimmering copper swathes of Carex buchananii, against which a soft green backdrop of fennel and the strappy foliage of Camassia leichtlinii are offset. Further plants that punctuate this rusty drift of grass with splashes of gemstone vibrancy, include midnight coloured iris, amber foxgloves and plum coloured ‘thistles’ and aquilegia. These colours are balanced by the soft blues and aubergine hue of purple leaved cow parsley - Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’, spires of Salvia nemorosa and Verbascum phoeniceum ‘Violetta’.

The QVC Bejewelled garden is framed by two multi-stemmed Amelanchier lamarckii, which are pruned to create three-dimensional, vertical accents within the space. In contrast, ground patterns of recessed water pools form dynamic, abstract gestures that define the garden. These fragmented water rills add a subtle sense of drama to the design composition, introducing a sense of movement and a play of surface reflection and colour. The intricate, crystal-like formations of the water rills draw attention to patterns beneath the water’s surface, enhancing a feeling of tranquillity within this bejewelled garden.

With a background in fine art and a passion for gardening from childhood, Sarah Price was destined to become a landscape designer. At only 26 years old Sarah boasts an impressive CV that includes both first class qualifications, awards and practical experience.

Having worked under top designers, including Cleve West – assisting Cleve with the Gold Medal winning SAGA Insurance Garden at last year’s RHS Chelsea – she has now begun winning awards in her own right. In 2006 she received a Gold Medal for her Conceptual Garden ‘Difference & Repetition’ at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show.

Sarah is currently restoring a 3-acre Victorian walled garden in Wales, which she inherited from her grandmother – a task she has to fit in between her other landscaping projects.

The QVC Bejewelled Garden certainly promises to ‘dazzle’ and we wish Sarah well with her preparations.