A physical manifestation of the designer’s personal experience with depression, the garden’s purpose is to increase understanding of those who are not familiar with the illness and to assure sufferers of it that they are not alone. The garden is sponsored by idverde UK and the plants were supplied by Kelways Nursery and Barcham Trees.
Q&A with the garden designer, Ian Price:
When did you first start working on the original design and how long did it take to perfect?
As the message of the garden is quite personal, the design has been floating around my head for years, with various different images about how depression and mental health feelings can be transformed into images and spaces. The latest incarnation of the Mind trap garden started properly last May, just before RHS Chelsea 2016. It was a relatively quick design process to create the main layout and features within the garden. Many of the features, such as the walls, dark pool and the feel of the planting designed themselves. The design process is personal to every garden designer and unique to every design.
What are the stand out features of this particular garden?
The four internal walls, trees, paths and rocks are hugely symbolic in terms of their number and what they represent. To the best of my knowledge, one in four people in the UK have been diagnosed with moderate to severe depression at some point in their lives.
Did the sponsor provide a detailed brief? If so, how did you interpret this within your design?
In this situation, I didn’t follow the usual procedures. I took the lead in this design as the message behind it was so important to share. I designed it, then approached Inspire Wellbeing to see if they would like to be involved, and they agreed. This support helped me to go through the rigorous RHS application process and show the adjudication panel that the garden and the message behind it was relevant and worthwhile to share. The sponsor then came on board later as they completely understood the message, liked the design that I had come up with and as a result, have not asked me to change any elements within the garden.
What is so special about having a show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show?
RHS Chelsea is the pinnacle horticultural stage for any garden designer to get the opportunity in which to showcase their skills. It has been compared to the Olympics for all those in the garden design and horticultural world. Creating a garden here was always my goal, and although it has taken many years, the dream is now being realised. It has extra meaning given the personal subject matter of the garden: my experience of poor mental health. This is my way of turning my negative experience of living with and suffering from depression into a positive experience so that others may realise that they are not on their own with their suffering.
How do you hope the public/visitors will perceive this garden?
This may be my personal story and my design, but it is a garden for everyone. This garden should help to explain to those that do suffer with depression that even when in their dark place, with the right help and hard work, they can learn to take back control of their own mental health. It is always a hope that it will be a reason to start a conversation about mental health and reduce the stigma of the illness. For those that don’t suffer, I hope that Mind Trap is able to visually explain what a sufferer may be feeling when they suffer and live with depression. People care, and because of this, along with the support that I have been given, Mind Trap is going to become a reality.
Q&A with the contractor, Conway Landscapes:
What are you looking forward to most about building this show garden?
Finishing it! This will be our 15th build of an RHS Garden so over that time we have made quite a few friends, looking forward to seeing familiar faces. All the other shows are amazing but during the build up at Chelsea, it has a certain buzz about it that can’t be explained. Seeing the public reaction to the finished garden is always great as well.
What’s going to be the biggest challenge on the build?
Apart from the back boundary walls, the only element that will be level is the water in the middle of it! So this will need a lot of concentration and meticulous planning to achieve the end result. Space to work and time constraints are always considerations needed when building a garden at Chelsea.
Are specialist contractors required for any elements?
There are a lot of heavy metalwork features in the garden. Each of these will be precisely pre-fabricated off site for a more straightforward installation on site which is important given the incredibly tight time restraints. We have an electrician working with us, as it will have a lot of lighting, so I am really looking forward to seeing the garden later in the day. Many garden designers forget about the importance of lighting, and I am really glad that Ian has made it a priority. We are doing our bit for the future of the industry by getting two young talented and experienced landscaping contractors with us to cut their ‘Chelsea teeth’ so that younger landscape contractors can learn and take on the mantel becoming the show garden builders of the future.
If you could take one thing away with you from this garden, what would it be?
Raising awareness for mental health is a big motivator for us on this project. There’s no bigger stage to do this than Chelsea, so hats off to Ian for putting his experience out there. If this garden helps someone realise they have a mental health issue or seek help as a result of it in some way, then our job is done.
Do you think the judges have enough knowledge of the complexity of construction when deciding on the medals?
They have enough drawings! They are always creeping round during the build (they think we don’t notice but you can tell them a mile off) and it is reassuring that they see the build and the effort made. I know from experience the judge with hard landscaping experience can see the effort made and they will definitely see it on this garden, because everything is just off square and at different angles. From a hard landscaping point of view it should be called “The garden with no bubble in the level”.
Nick Temple-Heald, chief executive of idverde UK, said: “We are delighted that Ian, with the support of idverde, will exhibit his and our first garden at RHS Chelsea 2017. We know how important access to high quality green space can be to individuals and to communities, so we are taking a central role in championing this message. We believe that the garden will prove an innovative and effective way of raising awareness among the public of mental health issues, as well as highlighting the therapeutic effects that parks, open space and gardens can have in helping individuals with mental health problems build resilience and recover.”
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