Work has started on the Show Gardens

Work started on the two show gardens this week.  prior to this we had a team of gardeners in to lift all the plants that were in the gardens - some will be recycled and used in either these gardens, or some of the other gardens, or will be sold on the open day, with the proceeds going to charity.

I always find that one of the hardest things, as everything had started growing and looking good and I feel mean digging them all up, but it is a comfort to know we've saved most of the plants.

It's strange to see the gardens laid bare - just brown earth and emptiness - they've been here for 3 years now, so it's a big change.

The Transparent fencing was dismantled first on the old Paradise garden, which was great, as it opened the space up. Next James and Ian set about disassembling the water feature and taking apart the old wall. Looked pretty gruesome, at this stage I can't wait for them to get rid of it all!

Today was our first day of rain, let's hope it doesn't go like two years ago, when it rained day after day and we squelched around in the soaking conditions, wondering if we'd ever get the work done in time....

But here you can see despite the rain things in Paradise are looking much clearer and at last the wall has gone forever!  It's all much clearer and James and Ian have really started thinking about building up, with the un-grooved Jakwall timbers that will be the perimeter of the garden.  Good to think building rather than demolishing is happening now.  Poor old Phormium is looking a bit lonely, let's hope they move him soon.

Meanwhile in other parts of the gardens, we cleared out most of the old plants from the living wall in Within the Weave, as the plants were looking decidedly grotty and tired, and the lavenders had yet again gone crispy!  We discovered there were a nasty lot of vine weevils that had taken up residence in there, so it's just as well we had a clear out. I decided I wanted to get some colours going on, so we've replanted with a selection of Alpines and other stuff.  Here's how it's looking, hopefully it will fill out and there will be a bit less black of the living wall case and more flowery stuff as time goes on.

And we had taken out the front low Box hedge, I'm pretty sure it had Box blight and I felt it was time to open this out a bit in there, so we've planted some Sedums and other low clumpy Alpines, all of them are silvery whites and grey-ey green foliage, so I think this will look great when it spreads and clumps together.

Here it is a day or so later, looks pretty good already.

And of course, one good thing you can say about having a rainy day is it's done the living wall and the Sedums good, they've appreciated the water.

The Winners...

As promised we have now announced the winners of the 5th Annual Jacksons Show Gardens Design Competition, you can see full details of the winners, their designs and news about the opening event on Saturday 31st May by going to the show gardens home page.

Throughout the coming weeks we will be hoping to upload pics of the progress that is being made with the gardens build.

Show gardens and other news

Hi Everyone

We are hoping to be able to reveal the winners of this years show gardens design competition tomorrow (fingers crossed)

As usual it's taken ages from the deadline to sort it all out and to email everyone that entered the competition feedback on their designs. So before that here's some newsy bits:

Now into its fifth year, this project has graced the Kent HQ of Jacksons with amazing displays of up to the minute examples of designer show gardens, aimed at providing visitors with inspiration for their own projects and bringing a little of the glamorous world of Chelsea and Hampton Court flower shows to this little corner of East Kent.

The connection with the prestigious RHS shows has taken root (pardon the pun) with two of the first years competition winners: Heather Appleton and Matthew Childs scooping gold medals at the big shows in the years after creating their first show gardens at Jacksons. 

I am delighted to hear that this year at Chelsea it is rumoured there will be even more ex-Jacksons show gardens winners exhibiting their design skills, when Heather and Matthew are joined by one of the 2011 winners, Helen Elks Smith. Her garden ‘The City Of London Corporation Oak Processionary Moth Garden’ aims to raise awareness of OPM with landowners and the general public, and underline the need and importance for co-ordinated treatment, infestations of the pest have proved impossible to eradicate in some areas of West and South-West London.

It’s an interesting choice of inspiration for a show garden and having seen some of the plans it’s definitely one to look out for if you watch the TV programmes on Chelsea or if you are lucky enough to visit the show. 

And, I’m happy to say there’s another connection to Jacksons at the Chelsea Flower Show this year; our Venetian panels and the lovely new Retreat shelter will be starring in Chris Webb’s Sculpture garden, designed by Liz Brewer. It will be hard to miss right near the entrance to the Grand Pavillion!

We launched our Retreat shelter last year, and it was developed from an initial idea of a garden structure in The Sanctuary by Joanne Winn, one of the winning show garden designs last year.

It was certainly well received and I’m pleased to say that it now gets to kick its heels up at the RHS Chelsea flower show in May. This will be a space where visitors are warmly invited to freely touch and explore his work.  The sculptures are thoughtfully positioned in a beautiful garden setting themed to complement the work.  Chris will be working on the completion of a large stone carving during the show in his ‘pop-up’ workshop. Our Retreat will lend itself perfectly to a ‘sheltering’ role in the garden.

So on to this year and the Jacksons show gardens design competition, the opening is planned for the 31^st May at Jacksons HQ at Stowting and the two new winning designs will be revealed, with the other five gardens having been livened up for the new season. 

The two gardens making way for new young blood are Helen Elks Smith’s Chill Out garden:

and the lovely Paradise garden by Mary Ann le May. 

 It will be sad to see them go, but exciting all the same to see what’s new. So to tip our hats at them, here they are on this page to enjoy for the last time.  We’ll miss the wonderful colour of the Paradise’s planting and the great relaxing vibe when imagining chilling out in the hammock!

For more info on the show gardens go to:

www.jacksons-fencing.co.uk/showgardens

Judging has begun...

Hi Everyone

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who sent in designs for the Jacksons show gardens competition.

The deadline has gone by now and we are in the process of starting the very difficult task of sorting through everyone's work, and as in previous years the amount and quality of submissions is rather overwhelming.

As we have other parties involved this year, the process will take a little longer to come to the decision as to who has won, and as Easter is looming large on he horizon I think we will most probably not make an announcement until after the bank holiday, at least.

I wish you all a lovely Easter break and hope the weather improves for everyone - hard to believe last year we were in our gardens having barbies in a heatwave.

Louise

ref the Float garden

ref the Float garden...

I love the fence but If it is looking tired, can we give it a face lift by painting it? White would be what I have in mind.

The Venetian fencing in the garden is approximately 3-4 years old now and I really wouldn’t consider it to be looking tired, when you consider Jacksons fences last in excess of 25 years.  I would only consider staining, (not painting the fence, once you go down that route you are making a rod for your own back, and would have to consider repainting every couple of years!), and only really doing that in unusual circumstances.  I think you need to think about the company’s ethos, ref quality, guarantees and timber.  WE love our wood  ;-)  I’m not averse to cleaning with a pressure washer if it looks a bit dull.but even this I wouldn't really consider as necessary.

Having read the brief, I'm aware that you want to keep most of the structure. However, would it be possible to remove any of the decking to the left of the A 'Zone' on your computer plan? 

Yes anything is worth considering, it will be very interesting to see what you and the others come up with.

types of timber used by Jacksons...

and this...

Hi please can you clarify? Are there any particular wood products that you supply that are sourced in the UK? For example hazel or chestnut poles or hurdles etc?
Thanks.

WE only supply softwoods which are pressure treated and guaranteed for 25 years, some of which are native grown, but in the main they are from Europe.

 Definitely no hard woods, definitely not hurdles and a tiny exception is the chestnut site fencing that is cleft chestnut in a roll.

If anyone's interest Jacksons have just published the Definitive Guide to Timber Treatment.  This is in response to a lot of confusion surrounding the subject of timber treatment in some of the farming press.  We decided to set the record straight, so our customers can read in full the lengths we go to to ensure our timber is treated correctly and how this allows us to offer our unique 25 year guarantee.

click for a link to news story and a downloadable pdf.

Here is a query I have received recently, that may be helpful:

Just a quick question regarding the float garden plan - it would appear from the photos of the garden that there is a small area of planting (currently artificial grass) under the Sorbus in the corner at the back of the garden. However this is not apparent on the plans where it appears to be all decking? 

Sorry yes there is a small area that isn't deck, that is not mentioned as being another area of artificial grass on the plan.

Please see this pic, with my scribbles on it!  Just in case you can't read my scrawl, the dimensions are 178cm wide by 58cm deep.