For today’s post we’re popping back to last year’s sunny Chelsea Flower Show and into one of the Space to Grow gardens. This one is sponsored by Myeloma UK and designed to raise awareness of the incurable form of blood cancer which is the second most common form of blood cancer.
The blue acrylic structure represents the role of the carer and is certainly one of the most eye catching elements of the garden - it was large, and hard not to notice. It weighed 7.5 tonnes, so now you see what I mean when I said large, and made of layers it was built by the same team as those of the 2012 Olympic cauldron.
The other thing that you’ll notice as you look more closely at the garden is that there’s no path, and this symbolises and mirrors the situations that many patients face. The boulders represent the cancerous cells and have a combined weight of 18 tonnes, so that’s a lot to fight against for this treatable, but not yet curable disease - the planting most definitely softens the space.
But there’s more to the garden than the landscaping, although that is a major element of the garden and which gives it its impact. The yew balls mirror the boulders, but provide a softer and more hopeful outlook, as does the delicate cow parsley. I think the background provides a different perspective of the outside world which I’m sure during many illnesses feels a different world away.
I’m a fan of these show gardens which do much to raise awareness for their charities, because like the garden raising awareness of epilepsy, through a simple flower show (although in reality Chelsea is far from simple!) I’ve learnt - and I’m sure others have too - more, as well as enjoying the space on a more superficial level, as I think you’ll agree the acrylic structure really is the head turner.