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Bargain gardens as Chelsea show designer prunes costs
Ruth Bloomfield17 Apr 2009
THE organisers of the Chelsea Flower Show have asked one of Britain's leading designers to create "recession-friendly" displays.
Sarah Eberle - holder of eight Royal Horticultural Society gold medals - has been given a budget of only £15,000 to build three City gardens.
She has been foraging in scrapyards and borrowing plants to complete the showpieces, which will compete in the urban gardens category at the show.
"I have got a maximum budget of £5,000 for each one, and that includes all the materials and labour," she said. "I would think a small garden at the show would usually cost around £50,000 - the large gardens can cost £200,000 to £300,000, so it is quite a big drop."
One of her best bargains to date is a set of rusty steel grids found at a local scrapyard for £10 each. Ms Eberle is filling them with coloured sands, gravels and crushed CDs to make an abstract hard surface area for the Overdrawn Artist's Garden. Planting includes fruit and vegetables to cut food bills.
Her Off-Shore Garden has a rainwater storage system and tank which collects excess water from the roof and allows the garden to become completely flooded into a huge water feature. The Banker's Garden is designed around the theme of a Monopoly board.
"I have had to resort to begging, borrowing, and stopping just short of stealing," said Ms Eberle, who has a Hampshire-based landscaping business.
"It is fun because you really have to use your imagination. I have been able to borrow some of my plants, but if that is not an option, then I would recommend holding a garden party, inviting everybody over and asking them to buy a plant or bring a cutting from their garden. Car boot sales are another good source."
Show organisers said they decided to commission Ms Eberle to "provide some light relief", as well as demonstrating "how to create entertaining, environmentally-responsible gardens on a low budget".
Bob Sweet, RHS shows organiser, said: "Chelsea is the showcase of the horticultural world and highlights topical issues affecting us today.
"The gardens are a superb way to highlight some great ideas to recycle and reuse materials in the garden and demonstrate what can be achieved on a low budget."
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show runs from 19 to 23 May. Day tickets for 19 May have sold out.
Reader views (3)
Last year at least thirty gardens were either moved in their entirety or extensively recycled after the show and over the years many have been moved to hospitals and schools. We also work with a charity that takes away materials from Chelsea, which local London communities can apply to use.
Recycling is a key theme at Chelsea this year, so we’re pleased that the show will also help inspire recycling in gardens at home!
- Alex Baulkwill, Rhs Chelsea Flower Show Manager, London, UK, 17/04/2009 17:35
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Perhaps one of the competitors could "donate" some unsold plants to Jacqui Smith for the garden in her "second" home, as currently tax payers are being made pay for her plants and garden furniture.
- R.F., Yorks, UK, 17/04/2009 15:42
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Chelsea has always struck me as a sinfully wasteful exercise. At the end of the show the garden plants and flowers are disposed of by selling them to the visitors-unsold plants are thrown into huge bins. It's a crying shame. Why not ask the competitors to design a garden in a school, hospital, hospice or other public place? That way the garden remains to be enjoyed by others rather than ripped up and thrown in a skip.
- Michael Porter, Barnes, 17/04/2009 10:38
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