Sarah Price has chosen her favourite *Iris* “Benton Olive” as a key plant within the space.

A Compelling Vision

Often there are spaces that evoke more than a simple astonishment usually occurring through their visual impact. Some stand out by their colour, some by their shapes, others by their quiet confidence and subtle perfection. Landscape as we know them are often made by many though decades of lived lives, leaving traces of pure being within them, like the energies that settle when we as humans tend to these spaces.

Many words have described this sense of place, of belonging, of being — yet rarely are these atmospheres and intangible traits perceivable without slowing down, tuning in and becoming aware of them.
Yes, we may value a garden for more than its sense and often are measuring their quality by visual traits and personal preferences, that constantly shifting, evolving, yet finding their roots in our upbringings. Sometimes there are spaces that persuade in an instant with a certain lovability that is tangible to many. It is not just the design or the selection of plants, but the land itself that seems to speak — whispering through the hands that weave their craft into the space.

A collaborative creation, providing individuals marks that tether the understanding and emotions of a landscape together:

*Rosa mutabilis* playfully drapes itself on straw-bale walls covered in reclaimed canvas painted with linseed pigments. The *Atriplex hortsenis* adds a deep layer of contrast to the dazzling *Iris* “Benton Olive”

Nestling between the Rose is the astonishing *Aeonium arboretum* “Zwartkop”

Nature-Driven Values

The love for the natural derived land and its abundance of inherent resources is omnipresent in the garden that Sarah Price, Rachel Seaton-Lucas and their team has created this show-season. Inspired by the enthralling atmosphere during a visit to “Benton End”, where artist Cedric Morris has become famous for providing a space for like-minded souls, as well as his exceptional plant breeding, resulting in many beloved botanical treasures, including his iconic varieties of “Benton Irises”, Sarah set out to create a space that honoured Cedric’s eye for hues, textures and botanical knowledge whilst staying true to her own artistic voice and expression.

With a trained eye for carefully considered details that are informed by an artistic perspective that guided the spell-binding vision, Sarah enabled the imagined space to become a tangible reality through the many hands and minds that were involved, leaving their own personal traces within her unique vision. Historic techniques in craftsmanship were transformed into contemporary design choices leading to a modern approach and appreciation of often-lost skillsets. It was the expertise and understanding of reclaimed materials that Ben Bosence, as a conservation expert, brought into the process that later informed the choices carried out by his team at the design practice: Local Works. Their knowledge of re-imagining materials and transforming them into low-impact structures, allowed the sustainable approach, that Sarah values in her practise, to be carried out, further allowing the process to be fluid and open-ended as reclaimed and found materials are often irregular and need careful consideration during their discovery or process of transformation.

Initially, the idea of monitoring carbon-emissions and using pre-existing data regarding architecture to ensure a low-carbon delivery of the garden quickly shifted with the realisation, that there is little to no reference data available when it comes to landscape-design. However Sarah and her team continued to follow their value-driven design creating a transport corridor between the Chelsea show-ground and Crocus, the nursery where the plants were grown and different materials for the garden were handmade. Any other reclaimed features were found along this corridor to provide the least-impact vision they set out to achieved. Sarah openly discusses the limitations that exists such as the use of diesel-fuelled lorries and trees that are on loan from overseas, that otherwise would not have been able to be sourced.

Above: Reclaimed wood is holding up the hops-woven cordage tied carefully together by bramble-twine.
Below: Handmade vessels sit on stacked brick columns providing moments of quietness in the space.

Strands of hops tied into ropes, reimagined waste-aggregate bricks, straw-bale walls covered in reclaimed canvas to be painted with plant-pigments made of linseed and hand-shaped vessels, all crafted with local resources, are only a few of the considered elements that bridge the philosophies of eco-conscious design and an earth honouring beauty that extends beyond previous imagination.

It is a compelling aesthetic that derives from the essence of nature-based decisions combined with an extraordinary artistic eye for details referenced for example in the shadows that are painted onto the gradient walls by the plants, the hues of pine bark reflected in the reinvented bricks or the bramble-twine used to tie the ropes, even in the placement of brick-stacked columns that add a loose yet impactful height to the space featuring their hand-crafted vessels made from waste-aggregate and rubble.

Fine-Art Planting

An accumulation of ingenuity, craft, skill and artistic vision showcases the importance of collaboration and co-creation, stemming form a low-carbon approach, that also highlights the beauty that can come from a close relationship to the local landscape, further reflecting the naturalness in the layered, semi-abandoned planting with its hues and textures referring back to Sarah Price’s impressions of “Benton End”. Besides a selection of of Cedric’s Irises such as Sarah’s favourite called “Benton Olive”, loose and playful shrubs like Elaeagnus angustifolia and Rosa mutabilis mingle with grasses and geophytes such as the mixture of Deschampsia sp., Allium tripedale, Nectaroscordum siculum subsp. bulgaricum, or the succulents used in the hand-crafted vessel like Aeonium arboreum “Zwartkop” mixing with Euphorbia myrsinites or the impactful Cotyledon “Cedric Morris” only to name a few. Foeniculum vulgare “Purpurea” adds a dash of texture to the crushed gravel surfaces, picking up the dark stems of Angelica archangelica.

Above: *Iris*”Benton Deidre” compliments the dark *Aeonium arboretum* “Zwartkop” and plays off the blue hues of *Cotyledon* “Cedric Morris”
Below: Shadows on the handprinted walls mimic the placement of the apricot coloured Iris.

It is the perceived effortlessness in the planting that reflects her skills in creating outstanding vistas, tied in by the hues and textures that seem to fluidly melt into each other, creating moments of wilderness throughout the space without leaving the hand of the gardener unseen.

Not simply the garden itself, but the approach to collaborative, land-informed design, leaves an impact — both in a future-led ethos and the seemingly intangible soul. It shifts the ways gardens are made and thought of, not just in the context of the gardening shows but the applied values that drive garden-making with current challenges, transforming them into opportunities for new perspectives, practises and concepts.

Sarah’s space paves the way for the expansion of earth-honouring perspectives and sets a standard for future gardens to come: both sustainably and aesthetically.

Dive Deeper:
Find out more about Sarah Price: https://www.sarahpricelandscapes.com/
and “Benton End” former residence of Cedric Morris currently being revived by the Gardenmuseum.

Plants were supplied by Crocus as well as lend from Benton End.
The garden was sponsored by the “Nurture Group” dedicating their skills and crafts towards corporate and private landscape-maintenance.

All images taken by Sebastian Conrad for inquiries contact Sebastian via: sebastian@hautejardin.com

A huge thank you to Sarah and Rachel for inviting me into the space and sharing the process and a slice of your imagination.