* I was invited to this year’s Gardeners’ World Live preview and provided with a pair of tickets for the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.
The theme for this year’s Beautiful Borders was “Once Upon a Time” and it’s one that the garden designers really embraced, in fact I don’t think it’s been more evident what the theme has been from a wander around the garden. Perhaps that’s because we all love stories, and love to retell them and I definitely think that’s part of it.
It was great to chat with Jan O’Brien about this garden and how it came about by reflecting of fifty years of lived experiences, with chapters still unfolding, and how it became the an invitation to tell her story, and the importance to her of its support for MND awareness. There’s so much more that I could say about this, but instead I’ll share a link to Jan’s SubStack so you can read her words for yourself.
But just looking at my photos of the garden you can see how much love, thought and hard work has gone into it and it’s clear to see that it’s inspired by sewing and textiles - the planted sewing machine and workbox were definitely eye catchers.
As we were talking and Jan explained the journey and inspiration for the garden, and how that everything there held meaning, I suddenly saw that the uprights throughout the gardens were in fact large scale needles and my mind was once again blown at the level of detail she’d incorporated into a garden which is small, and yet full of space.
It really was a beautiful garden, and Jan was equally as generous with her time so it was great to cheer her on when she was awarded Platinum for this garden, which she wanted to give people hope. I think it gave people just that, with a huge dollop of joy too.
* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for once again inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was another great show! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to this year’s show throughout the year - I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.