Inspiration from Arts & Crafts for M&G Chelsea garden

Designer: Andy Sturgeon
Sponsor: M&G Investments

The official sponsor of the 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, M&G Investments, has commissioned award-winning landscape and garden designer Andy Sturgeon to create a show garden for their third year at the show.

Andy has been inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement to create a 'New English' design for M&G, which will celebrate traditional craftsmanship and the beauty of natural materials. The country garden planting will reference the gardens at Hidcote Manor and Sissinghurst and have a strong asymmetric quality, characteristic of the Arts and Crafts style – a series of formal, linear paths and terraces will combine with a mirrored water channel to create a succession of garden rooms.

Three striking monolithic walls and a 'floating' oak bench delineate the rooms, in a garden which is described as simple in form, without superfluous ornamentation. An 'energy wave' sculpture will be the focal point of the garden, which will weave through the garden in a free and unconstrained way.

The 'New English' style of planting that Andy has created for the M&G Garden has a harmonious woodland-edge quality to it. Clipped Ilex (Holly) will channel the eye through the garden, while clumps of billowing perennials in a palette of soft pink, white and lilac will gently soften the formal architectural edges of the garden.

"I am delighted to be designing The M&G Garden at the 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show,"  Andy said.  "I decided to create an Arts and Crafts design for The M&G Garden as the company’s values are about tradition and flair which fits in well with the Arts and Crafts theme. I also realised, while researching for an article on Arts and Crafts gardens that my own garden designs, although frequently modern, are totally reliant on the fundamental design principles and ethos of this popular movement."

Andy Sturgeon is one of the UK's top garden designers and winner of numerous awards including five Gold Medals and 'Best in Show' at RHS Chelsea. He blends strong design, natural materials and innovative planting to create bold, architectural and timeless landscapes. Lovers of the country garden and arts and crafts style of planting will want to put this garden on their list of 'must see'.

The 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, sponsored by M&G Investments, runs from 22nd to 26th May. Tickets for RHS Chelsea and other RHS Shows during 2012 can be obtained on: www.theticketfactory.com/rhs/online