Patricia Fox from Aralia Garden Design is creating the first ‘Rooftop’ inspired Show Garden at this years RHS Chelsea Flower Show!
Patricia Fox, award winning garden designer, is yet again creating an innovative, never seen before garden at this years’ Chelsea Flower Show. In 2009, Patricia succeeded in getting people talking about her Courtyard Garden ‘Freshly Prepped’, which featured the shows first ever salad wall taking the term ‘Kitchen Garden’ to the extreme!
Patricia’s first major Show Garden at is again something that hasn’t been seen before. ‘Rooftop Workplace of Tomorrow’ (in association with Walworth Garden Farm, and sponsored by RBS), is the shows first ever ‘Rooftop’ Inspired major show garden. This space is an extension of the working office utilising unused urban rooftop space, turning it into a place of beauty. It is an inspiring, relaxing and yet thought provoking environment, in the midst of a concrete jungle. ‘Rooftop Workplace of Tomorrow’ allows technology to meet tranquillity. It will feature modern technologies such as an LED Sports screen outputting calming & relaxing sounds & visuals, alongside wi-fi, laptops and tablets throughout the garden. An office doesn’t need to be inside, nor does it need to have four walls. This is how our workplaces could look in tomorrow’s world – or so we wish!
To ensure that workers are kept refreshed and hydrated, there will be a herbal tea bar where its users can pick their own herbs of choice from the ‘Herb Wall’ to make a revitalising herbal tea. There will be an abundance of flavours to choose from such as lemon, ginger, pineapple and even chocolate mint!
The planting in the garden will be very textural, structured yet beautifully delicate. The planting scheme is a mix of green and silver blue foliage, with simple white flowering plants such as Yarrow (Achillea Millefolioum) Rocket Candytuft (Iberis Amara) and White Campion (Silene Latiflora). The planting is understated, so that it offers a calm, tranquil environment for the user to work in and to enjoy. Its main focal plant will be a stunning Pleached Field Maple (Acer Campestre) to give some stature to the garden, a beautiful alternative to Pleached Hornbeams (Carpinus) commonly seen at Chelsea. A dazzling white Birch (Betula Jaquemontii) will provide subtle shade for it’s users to relax on the chic bench beneath, and the glistening white bark will be complimented by the white flora throughout the garden. A querky Maple (Acer Globosum) has been selected to provide a natural ‘umbrella’ for the floating workstation. Buxus cubes, Thymus balls and buxus hedging will provide the necessary structure throughout the garden, mimicking the ‘rounded square’ I-Pod inspired shape, which is used consistently throughout the garden.
All the furniture featured in the garden will be manufactured using brand new ‘up-cycled’ plastic materials, showing for the first time at Chelsea. Included will be Thomas Bramwell’s modern take of the egg chair, their brand new and quirky hanging ‘C’ shaped chairs which will be hung from a modern white metal pergola, as well as ultra chic bespoke ‘star’ sofa & chairs. Patricia loves to use eco friendly materials wherever possible, and bamboo decking is used extensively in addition to ‘Richlite’ for all the surfaces – a brand new material produced from compressed paper & resin.
Aralia hope to inspire anyone to ‘green up’ their rooftop spaces, or any piece of outdoor space for that matter whether it’s commercial or domestic, to turn it into an inspiring, beautiful yet functional space filled with lush planting to help sustain the environment.
Patricia Fox says:
“I’m personally so excited about this garden, we are so lucky to be able to showcase our garden design talents at such a prestigious show. We’re thrilled to be neighbours along side leading garden designers such as Diarmuid Gavin and Joe Swift, and really look forward to hearing what the public have to say about our novel rooftop concept”.
If you would like to get in touch with Patricia Fox and the team at Aralia Garden Design to chat about your up-coming project, please call 01279 721461, email info@aralia.org.uk.
