Bloom 2008
Gold Medal Winner Large Garden Category and Visitors' Choice "Inspiration from Mount Usher"
Tim Austen has been awarded a Gold Medal for the design of his large show garden at Bloom 2008.
The garden, called "Inspiration from Mount Usher," was kindly sponsored and constructed by Plants and Planters Landscape Ltd.
The garden, which took some of its design inspiration from the infamous Mount Usher gardens in County Wicklow, included a "river-like" water feature with a weir constructed from natural granite stone. A specially designed pedestrian bridge provided access across the river to the central part of the garden. In addition, a formal summerhouse from HSP Garden Buildings was placed as a focal point in the centre of the garden.
The garden incorporated 140 varieties of plants and over 4000 plants in total were used in the 10m x 20m space. The planting followed a naturalistic planting style and included a detailed woodland planting area encompassing shade and semi-shade loving plants, planting favouring sunny conditions in open areas of the garden and also waterside planting alongside the river.
A formal planting area at the front of the garden was planted with Lavender and Ornamental Onion surrounded by box hedging. This was particularly admired by visitors.
Specimen trees and shrubs formed the garden structure including a large multi-stemmed Rhododendron catabiense "Boursalt," which was in full bloom for the show, a 6m high Eucalyptus and other trees such as Purple Beech, a large Oak and Snake-Bark Maple.
The garden was voted "Visitors' Choice" by public vote at the show and received huge interest for the variety of plants on display and its naturalistic water feature.