Ruth Willmott’s garden was one of the gems of the Fresh Gardens category at
this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Designed for the charity, Breakthrough
Breast Cancer, the garden was in part a tribute to Ruth’s sister-in-law who died
of the disease in March 2014. That personal involvement perhaps gave the
garden its power, with a simple, intensely feminine design which captured the
attention of onlookers. A Portland stone pathway in the shape of a DNA double
helix wound through the lush pink and white planting and past pools of dark
water rippling every ten minutes to represent breast cancer diagnoses. In a
reference to its use in cancer treatment, the garden was framed by yew hedging,
with another vista cut through it across the planting at the back. Structure was
given by slender white columns of Betula utilis var. jacquemontii above a soft
understorey of umbellifers, astrantias, grasses, geums and hesperis. These
contrasted with sharp spires of pale lupins and digitalis, and bright pink Paeonia
lactiflora ‘Nymphe’. The mutation of cancer genes was subtly invoked by the
use of pink forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica ‘Rosylva’). This was a graceful,
thought-provoking garden, which gave immense pleasure.
Vanessa Berridge, 14.7.15
Fecha del proyecto: julio 2015