Hope Begins at Home Garden

By Nigel Boardman and Stephen Gelly. For a second consecutive year, Boardman, Gelly & Co is working with Combat Stress to highlight and support the work that it undertakes to help ex-servicemen and women suffering from psychological injuries.

This year's garden describes the relationship between Combat Stress and the veterans during their specialist treatment and healing.

It is a story of hope and nurture within a calm, safe and therapeutic environment: the story of their psychological and physical journey home.

There is a place to rest, an area to grow and flourish, and somewhere to commune and converse.

The hens and their house represent community, growth and reward and the planting is deliberately colourful and varied with fruits, vegetables and flowers. A ripening fruit tree at the heart of the garden binds all the elements together.

Some of the plants have been grown and cared for by veterans at the charity's Surrey treatment centre.

The timber sleepers that form the front fence are carved with a list of the conflicts since World War I.

Now in its 90th anniversary year, Combat Stress has supported more than 100,000 psychologically wounded veterans.

Plants list

(Correct at time of going to print. We believe Nigel & Steven may have changed some plants last minute)

Structural planting
Carex oshimenis
Fatsia japonica
Lavandula hidcote
Malus domestica boskoop rouge
Miscanthus sinensis zebrinus
Perovskia atriplicifolia
Photinia fraseri Red Robbin
Phyllostachys nigra
Pittosporum tenuifolium
Pittosporum tobira
Viburnum davidii

Vegetables
Cabbage
Celery
Chillies
Cucumbers
Lettuce
Marrows
Onions
Peas
Potatoes
Runner Beans
Tomatoes

Perennials
Achillea
Alchemilla
Angelica
Astilbe (pink & white)
Astrantia
Bronze fennel
Digitalis
Geraniums (pinks, whites, blues)
Gillienia
Hemerocallis
Inula
Lamium
Liatris
Limonium
Nepeta
Polygonatum
Rudbeckia
Scabiosa
Sisyrichium

Herbs
Basil
Chives
Mint
Parsley
Sage
Thyme