Chelsea Flower Show 2011

As a garden designer, there is a temptation and sometimes even a tendency to place all your emphasis on the design of spaces. When I visited the Chelsea Flower Show in 2008, I was completely blown away by how much care and importance was placed on plants; their selection, placement, variety, significance and beauty. My design for the Trailfinder's Australian Garden presented by Fleming's Nursery at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2011 emphasises the importance of plant selection and design in the landscape, celebrating the discoveries made by Sir Joseph Banks on his voyage on the HMB Endeavour in 1768.

The garden might be described as an 'English' garden, but it is interspersed with plant species indigenous to the areas visited on that 1st voyage by Captain James Cook and Sir Joseph Banks such as Madeira, Rio de Janeiro, Tierra del Fuego, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, Java and home by way of the Cape of Good Hope. The garden is designed to take you on a journey that is influenced by both past and recent journeys of discovery.

You can read about the journey to Chelsea in 2011 here on my blog, or learn more about our experiences at Chelsea in 2008 and Chelsea in 2010.