The Wedgwood Garden at RHS Chatsworth

A Record Smashing Show Garden at RHS Chatsworth 2019

The dust has finally settled and with a record-breaking sweep of awards, Jamie and the rest of the team at Butterworth Horticulture have just about come back down to earth.

Winning awards for Best Show Garden, Best in Construction and People’s Choice, alongside an RHS Gold Medal makes Jamie’s Wedgwood Garden for RHS Chatsworth a record-breaker, setting a new bar in the show garden realm.

Marking out began in May with a month to build before the show opening, but the initial planning commenced almost a year before. It’s fascinating to see how much the garden has developed from rudimental drawings and initial design concepts. The overall shape of the garden has only received very minor adjustments and the outcome was pretty true to Jamie’s original design. The placement of the copper beech domes and Cornus was determined on site, to make sure that they sat within the wider surroundings perfectly. The planting list adapted and changed during the lead up to the show, the dense border at the front of the garden initially comprised of some shadier plants, which evolved into a palette of sun-seeking ornamental grasses stippled with bright blue cornflowers and gauzy umbellifers. This idea developed into dense, luscious, vibrant herbaceous border adorned in perennials with colours inspired by Wedgwood’s Jasperware collection.

The public reception was fantastic, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time spent talking to admirers of the garden. Notable stars of the show were the Cornus kousa ‘Milkyway’, whose unusual, vibrant green flowers had many people asking after it. The purple poppy, or Papaver ‘Lauren’s Grape’, decided to expose itself on the morning of judging, much to everyone’s relief, and continued to flower throughout the show. The domes of copper beech sat humbly amongst the more vibrant, colourful perennial performers. The elegant mounds created the perfect backdrop, allowing the planting to shine, while also uniting the garden.

It of course goes without saying that the success of the garden could not have been achieved without the help of Rupert Keys and his team at Keyscapes, who worked tirelessly and to the highest of standards. The planting dressed the hard-landscaping, the latter being detrimental to the gardens success at the show.

A handsome, one-of-a-kind oak table and benches were built by joiner Mark Eveleigh, which were the embodiment of a community garden that Jamie had aspired for. In fact, when we weren’t behind the ropes handing out flyers to the public during the show, you could find the team sipping on Wedgwood tea and nibbling scones huddled under blankets around Mark’s oak table.

And lastly, thanks must be said to the volunteers who devoted their time and expertise to the installation, it really was a top show garden team!

The story doesn’t end at the flower show. Butterworth Horticulture took the garden straight to the World of Wedgwood factory in Stoke-On-Trent, where Jamie’s debut show garden has its forever home and long will it continue to delight and enchant.

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Plant List:

Annuals & Biennials:

• Ageratum ‘Blue Heaven’
• Borago officinalis
• Bupleurum perfoliatum ‘Bronze Form’
• Centaurea cyanus ‘Black Ball’
• Centaurea cyanus ‘Blue Boy’
• Cynoglossum amabile
• Cynoglossum officinale
• Daucus carota ‘Dara’
• Trachymene coerulea
• Papaver somniferum var. album
• Papaver somniferum ‘Lauren’s Grape’

Perennials:

• Alchemilla erythropoda
• Allium caeruleum
• Allium nigrum
• Allium schoenoprasum
• Anchusa ‘Loddon Royalist’
• Angelica dahurica
• Asarum europaeum
• Astrantia ‘Dark Red’
• Baptisia ‘Caspian Blue’
• Cenolophium denudatum
• Centranthus ruber ‘Albus’
• Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Garnet Schist’
• Deschampsia flexuosa
• Digitalis ferruginea ‘Milk Chocolate’
• Epimedium x rubrum
• Erigeron karvinskianus
• Fragaria vesca
• Geranium phaeum ‘Samobor’
• Geranium robertianum ‘Album’
• Geranium ‘Bill Wallis’
• Mukdenia rosii
• Nectoscordum sicilum
• Origanum ‘Herrenhausen’
• Pelargonium sidoides
• Pimpinella anisum
• Salvia ‘Kiftsgate’
• Thymus serpyllum

Ferns & Grasses:

• Asplenium scholopendulum
• Athyrium filix-femina
• Dryopteris erythrosora ‘Prolifica’
• Melica altissima ‘Alba’

Trees & Shrubs:

• Cornus kousa var. chinensis
• Corylus avellana ‘Red Majestic’
• Corylus avellana
• Fagus sylvatica ‘Atropurpurea’
• Fagus sylvatica ‘Atropurpurea’ Domes
• Taxus baccata Hedging