Much of the inspiration for today’s gardens come from the various garden shows. From March right through to July there are several shows around the UK that play host to some of the top designers and landscape contractors in the country.
Many members of the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) are involved in creating these fantastic spectacles, but do they deliver the correct message to you? The actual people looking to have your garden done.
At these shows you are very often presented with a fully matured snapshot of a garden or piece of landscape in a space ranging from 50m2 to 200m2. The plants are immaculate, the paving is spotless, and the finish is superb.
These gardens are built to the highest standard, by professional landscape gardeners at the pinnacle of their careers. However the time and effort that goes in to building these gardens shouldn’t be underestimated. For instance, a main avenue Chelsea garden is usually at least 2 years in the planning and even some of the smaller shows are at least a year.
From initial conception of the idea, time must be taken to locate a sponsor, which will then usually mean a further tweak in the design. Then you have look at materials and if there are bespoke items these have to be designed, commissioned and tested. Then and almost most importantly you must look at the planting.
Designers tend to have favourite nurseries they have worked with. There are several nurseries that specialise in growing for the shows and have various different methods of forcing or holding back material, so it will arrive in tip top condition. Even then it can go wrong, so you must have contingencies in place.
Contractors will have a bank of specialist suppliers they work with who can support in paving and other features like water and lighting.
Finally you have to make sure you have enough skilled labour to complete the project. Time scales for bigger gardens is just 3 weeks, smaller ones it drops down to 2 weeks. It is very hard intensive work, filled with highs and lows. But for those involved, there is no bigger buzz than building a show garden. Its not long before they’re hooked.
This years Chelsea Flower Show saw gardens supported by APL members that promoted Donkey Sanctuaries, Motor Neurone Disease and children’s charities and also helped you explore Dubai, Latin America, Finland, Africa, Manchester, Bridgewater and of course let’s not forget the amazing canal in Yorkshire. But whilst on point for the judges and the sponsors, do they deliver for the gardener or homeowner looking to get their garden landscaped. Or are they simply an inspirational art gallery, that is fantastic to see, but mainly unobtainable.
The feed back from visitors to APL gardens was the latter. So in response the APL devised a competition at another garden show called BBC Gardeners World Live “APL Avenue”.
APL Avenue, now in its 4th year is a series of 5 gardens in plots no bigger than 64m2 of traditional, attainable gardens that you could re create in your own home. These gardens concentrate on small back or front gardens and explore usages of the space. Be it entertaining, relaxing, veg growing and one year Up Cycling. More importantly the APL are also willing to discuss with visitors roughly how much it would cost to have the garden built.
The APL have often found that this piece of information is usually sadly lacking at other shows, and have found many people really don’t understand the cost of having a garden landscaped.
This is not a criticism, why would you? Most people don’t have their garden landscaped at all. Those who do, it’s usually just the once. Unlike a car, a kitchen or a bathroom, the internet cannot provide you with an off the shelf price for a garden. So you have nothing to gauge it against.
You can see costs of materials on the internet, so many people happily look at these and try to work out the cost of their garden by just adding up the veneer of paving, decking or artificial grass that will cover the ground. But you may be surprised to hear that almost 60% of the cost of a garden is in areas that you won’t even see.
For patios, paths or driveways the sub-bases are the most important part of the construction. If a contractor gets this wrong, then you will have a whole host of issues further down the line.
Patios and driveways rely on good foundations, for decking a well-constructed frame that is raised of the ground and has it’s posts in a sleeve to protect from the cement will cost more, but you will have a frame that will last 10-15 years. Get this wrong and it could be rotten in as little as 3.
Artificial grass should be laid almost identically to a block paved driveway. Again this ensures it will last and continue to deliver the purpose it was built for.
Even the removal of soil and waste from a garden is a very expensive action, so this is always something to bear in mind.
It was for all these reasons The APL built a garden at Ascot Flower Show called “What lies beneath”.
In the garden we explained exactly the costs and what materials lay beneath your garden installs. It was amazing to see people’s reactions as they finally understood why a garden being landscaped attracts the price it does.
The shows are a great opportunity to explain these things, but quite often the landscaper’s biggest enemy is the TV. Programmes like Ground Force, Love Your Garden and most recently Garden Rescue are excellent at promoting the garden industry, but quite often are not so good at managing people’s expectations. People see a garden built over 5 days and quite often have price tags like £10-£15k when in reality, the cost could be almost double.
So when a designer or contractor visits their prospective clients garden and gives the actual price and says it will take a minimum 4 weeks for something similar to what they have seen on the show. They nearly fall off their chairs. In our last article we discussed giving a budget as soon as you can. Its good advice. Only then will you know what you can get.
So after all that, what about those garden shows. A good thing or bad thing?
Its got to be a good thing, I mean what’s not to like?
I personally think they are an excellent way to promote this fantastic industry. They allow garden designers to explore ideas and innovations to inspire people to try in their own gardens, suggest and set trends for the world to follow and create a theatre in which contractors can push all the boundaries to be able to build them. They show people what can be achieved in a small space and provide inspiration and a visual / tactile brochure of the materials on offer to today’s landscapers. If you have never been to a garden show, then give it a go.
If you can’t make a show, then other avenues of inspiration are websites, magazines and companies’ websites. All will be packed with information and ideas of how you can transform your garden. It would obviously be remiss of me not to suggest you look at the APL website. www.landscaper.org.uk There is a lot of information there.
I am lucky enough that in my career I have been involved in building gardens at Chelsea, Hampton Court, BBCGWL, Ascot, Tatton Park and Harrogate. They can be the most exhausting, physical and stressful days ever, but at the same time some of the best. Gardening, Landscaping, Horticulture or whatever label you wish to give it is a fantastic career. Its always a pleasure to deliver dreams for people and hopefully at the APL that’s what we will continue to do.
Phil Tremayne General Manager Association of Professional Landscapers (APL)