Jacksons Secret Garden Party

The winner of the Jacksons Fencing annual Show Gardens Design Competition is this year built at the famous RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. The winning design ‘Jacksons Secret Garden Party’ by Jon Sims is a striking design that celebrates the urban gardening community and the diverse expression to be found amongst the people within it. It was inspired by Jon’s visit to one such community’s street party in south east London.

The show garden is made up of six smaller gardens, each one designed to express the individuality of their owner and their distinct character.

The viewer is invited to engage with each garden by viewing it from the bay of the front door of the owner’s home.  In an unusual twist the architecture of these terraced homes is ‘illustrated’ simply by coloured steel lines, delineating the shapes and creating the impression of the row of homes being there. This treatment has crept into a couple of other elements in the garden, maybe as a way of underlining that only the gardens are real?

Amongst this expression of individuality is an overall feeling of unity and collaboration.  The paved central courtyard area is set up for a celebration - what’s the occasion? Maybe the party is to celebrate 25 years of the RHS Hampton Court Place Flower Show, or maybe it is celebrating something more personal to the gardeners, who are the owners of the six gardens -  a summer street party ‘get together’ and a chance to revel in how good their gardens are looking after recent refurbishments, all their hard work, love and attention - or maybe both?

The communal garden that runs along the rear of the courtyard is where the personalities involved can share their ideas and plants, and it represents the combination of all their tastes and styles. It is dominated by a row of elegant trees (Carpinus betulus 'Fastigiata’ ) that serve as a beautiful backdrop to the whole garden.

Plant list:

Garden 1

Santolina chamaecyparissus	Rosa glauca	Anethum graveolens
Teucrium fruticans 'Azureum'	Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam'

Garden 2

Mespilus germanica

Origanum vulgare 'Aureum'

Garden 3

Cephalaria gigantea	Echinops ritro 'Veitch's Blue'	Digitalis parviflora 'Milk Chocolate'
Cercidiphyllum japonicum	Briza media 'Limouzi'

Garden 4

Stipa arundinacea	Libertia peregrinans	Geum 'Totally Tangerine'
Euphorbia amygdaloides 'Amy Purpurea'

Garden 5

Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote'	Verbena bonariensis	Rosa 'New Dawn'
Perovskia 'Blue Spire'	Calamagrostis brachytrich

Pinus sylvestris 'Watereri'	Thymus Coccineus Group	Yucca rostrata
Astelia 'Red Devil'