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George Harrison tribute garden at Chelsea Flower Show
Alex Stephens, Evening Standard12.05.08
George Harrison was a regular at Chelsea Flower Show, where he could be seen touring the gardens, notebook in hand.
Now, six and a half years after his death from lung cancer, the former Beatle is to have a garden at the show in his memory.
Designed by his widow Olivia, the plot will recall Harrison's life, from his birth in Liverpool in 1943 to his post-Beatle life in Henley, through the medium of plants and trees.
In an interview with Radio Times, she tells how her husband's love of horticulture inspired her own passion for gardening.
Speaking at Friar Park, the couple's Victorian neo-Gothic home, Mrs Harrison said: "George showed me the creativity and fun that was involved.
"One day, for example, we looked out of the window and decided everything in the garden was too green, so we went on a colour binge, buying lots of brightly coloured flowers.
"In terms of landscape design, he liked the idea of Capability Brown, so we started calling him Capability George.
"He thought that everyone, as a matter of course, should have themselves regularly overwhelmed by nature. He used to say that all unused buildings should be knocked down and gardens put in their place.
"The way nature played tricks amused him, too. Once he planted lots of this pinky coloured weed on one side of the lake only for it all to spring up on the other side. 'It's jumped,' he laughed.
"Without a doubt, George never felt more at peace than when he was gardening. He loved the gardens here and always said you felt closest to God when you were in the garden. Some days when he was working in the recording studio, he'd look out of the window and say, with a shake of his head, 'We're not getting much gardening done today. ' Every time I go out there, I think he'll just pop out from behind a shrub, like he used to." The Chelsea garden, entitled, From Life To Life after a line in the Beatles' song It's All Too Much, has four distinct parts, each representing a phase in Harrison's life.
It was designed in conjunction with family friend and garden designer Yvonne Innes, a Chelsea goldmedal winner and wife of musician Neil Innes. It is sponsored by Harrison's own Material World Charitable Foundation.
His widow said: "Each year we used to go to Chelsea and George would take copious notes and come home with a list of plants he wanted to buy.
"My hope is that this project will be a tribute to the horticultural side of his personality that relatively few people know about [and] ... help inspire other gardeners."
• The show is at Royal Hospital, Chelsea, from 20-24 May (8am-8pm).The Tuesday and Wednesday are for RHS members only.
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The garden was designed by Yvonne Innes alone as my own feature in the Suffolk magazine and East Anglian Daily Times explains. Although Olivia's name is down as co-designer (and of course if it had not been for her sponsorship it would not have happened) it is all Yvonne's work and she has moved heaven and earth to bring it together.
- Marion Welham, Beccles, Suffolk
George's love of gardening always inspired me. I have one of his favourite trees in my garden, a maple and have called it George. He has pride of place by our garden table.
He bumped into Martin Sissons, the newsreader & an old school friend, at the Hampton Court garden show not long before he died. Martin asked him what he would like to be remembered for, George replied, "as a gardener who played a bit of music." Sums him up really, modest, humble and a bit of a laugh...
- Simon M, Tring, UK
I drove 4 hours to Cleveland, Ohio, to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to meet Olivia Harrison when she was promoting the reissue of the Bangla Desh CD. We were told that as part of the promotion, she would be signing for the attendees. She was not interested in meeting the "fans" but she did talk extensively with the "high rollers" at the event. Several of us stood in line to get an autograph and she totally ignored us and just walked away. We were really bummed but, oh, well, I guess. Too bad I don't have a better memory. I wish her luck with her gardens. I am still a George and Beatles fan.
- Susan, Toledo, Ohio, USA
