The Hasmead Sand and Ice Garden
RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2007

Blog (Web-diary) - Linda Bush at the Chelsea Flower Show
Royal Horticultural Society - Linda Bush at the Chelsea Flower Show
BBC @ The Chelsea Flower Show

I was awarded a Bronze medal for my first design at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2007. The garden was designed to be striking in order to draw attention to the issue of climate change. I wanted to show how drought resistant plants can be used to create different moods. As well as the traditional warm Mediterranean gravel garden on the Sand side of the garden, I used white and silvery colours and spiky textures on the Ice side to create a cool and contemporary space.

Hard landscaping The Hasmead Sand and Ice Garden highlighted two of the extremes that result from climatic change: melting glaciers and expanding deserts. The soft flowing lines of the desert details were contrasted with the jagged edges of ice. Design plan

		A focal point in the garden was a modern ‘ice’ wall covered in sharp icy-coloured Perspex pieces to represent cracked and melting ice.

On the other side, the silhouette of the rear boundary and the central wall echoed the outline of rolling sand dunes. During the day the shadow of the wall moved around the garden, advancing across the ice on the other side.

		A rill of water cascaded down the top of the wall to its base at the front of the garden. Blue coloured Perspex lined the rill to emphasise the colour of the water running away into the desert.

A series of dry-sandstone curved walls and paths swept around the garden.

		These were inspired by the walls of Nijo Castle in Kyoto, Japan - a reminder of the Kyoto protocol aimed at reducing emissions which may contribute to climate change.

The hand crafted pieces of stone vary from ‘soft sand’ shapes and colour on one side of the garden... to ‘sharp ice’ on the other side.

		Planting in the garden The plants in the Hasmead Sand and Ice Garden are suitable for a sunny, well-drained garden, sheltered from strong winds. The plants have a water-efficient character, ideal for areas which have periodic water shortages.

The plants around the ‘ice’ wall had cool, silvery colours and striking spiky textures to relate to the cold, sharp ice. For example, the Astelia chathamica 'Silver Spear' and the fleshy blue-green Euphorbia myrsinites.

		Scleranthus uniflorus, a native of New Zealand, was used as a substitute for moss that can be used in dry gardens.

The plants on the other side of the garden are suggestive of drier, hotter conditions, and the colours of the advancing desert. For example, the orange glow of Libertia peregrinans and Libertia ixioides 'Taupo Sunset' and the fountain of wispy straw-coloured flower-heads of the Stipa tenuissima.

		Architectural plants such as Nerium oleander ‘Dr Golfin’ and Stipa gigantea provided height, structure and movement.

Inspiration for the garden and its features
It seems that the weather in the UK is changing, and extreme weather patterns seem to be on the increase. No matter what the cause of this climatic change, we need to adapt to it. I designed the Hasmead Sand & Ice Garden during the early days of the hose-pipe ban around Chelsea and many parts of Southern England in 2006, and was inspired by two of my favourite gardens - the Dry Garden at RHS Hyde Hall, and Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden. Plants are used in these gardens that have adapted to survive in areas of low rainfall, proving that gardeners and designers can work with nature, rather than against her. All gardeners can introduce water-wise gardening. For example, by:

• using drought tolerant plants
• applying a mulch to lock in soil moisture, and suppress weeds
• planting in the autumn when less watering is required
  
• installing a water butt, and
  
• using grey water – for example from the bath.
  

Plant list
Please find below a list of the plants that I used. They are suitable for a sunny, well-drained garden, sheltered from strong winds. The plants have a water-efficient character, ideal for areas which have periodic water shortages.:

• Acanthus spinosus (Bear's Breeches)
• Achillea 'Moonshine' (Yarrow)
• Agave Americana variegata (Century plant)
• Armeria maritima 'Splendens' (Thrift)
• Artemisia ludoviciana 'Valerie Finnis' (Mountian wormwood)
• Artemisia schmidtiana 'Nana' (Satiny Wormwood)
• Astelia chathamica 'Silver Spear' (Silver spear)
• Eragrostis curvula (African love grass)
• Euphorbia cyparissias Fens Ruby (Cypress spurge)
• Euphorbia myrsinites (Myrtle spurge)
• Festuca glauca 'Blauglut' (Blue fescue)
• Festuca glauca 'Golden Toupée' (Chartreuse Fescue)
• Foeniculum vulgare 'Rubrum' (Bronze Fennel)
• Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus (Day lily)
• Hemerocallis 'Stella de Oro' (Day lily)
• Libertia ixioides 'Taupo Sunset' (New Zealand iris)
• Libertia peregrinans (New Zealand iris)
• Libertia peregrinans 'Gold Leaf' (New Zealand iris)
• Nepeta faassenii Six Hills Giant (Catmint)
• Nerium oleander (Rose bay)
• Olea europaea var. 'Frangivento' (Olive)
• Phormium 'Alison Blackman' (New Zealand flax)
• Phormium tenax Purpureum (New Zealand flax)
• Pittosporum Tobira variegatum (Japanese pittosporum)
• Salvia officinalis 'Purpurascens' (Purple sage)
• Salvia x sylvestris 'Schneehugel' (Snow hill wood sage)
• Scleranthus uniflorus (Scleranthus)
• Sedum telephium subsp. ruprechtii (Stonecrop)
• Stachys byzantina 'Silver Carpet' (Lambs ears)
• Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass)
• Stipa gigantea (Golden oats)
• Yucca gloriosa (Spanish dagger)