A year on from a historic triumph at the Chelsea Flower Show, another group of Australians is going for gardening glory in the UK.
An Australian team headed by Wes Fleming claimed the prestigious Chelsea show’s top prize for the first time in 2013 and acclaimed landscape designer Jim Fogarty wants to do the nation proud again this year.
He’s heading up a team presenting the Essence of Australia garden at another prestigious London event, the 2014 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.
Presented by the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, the garden will “celebrate Australian flora and contemporary design”, as seen at the award-winning 15-hectare Australian Garden in Cranbourne, Victoria.
IMAGE: Jim Fogarty, landscape designer for the Essence of Australia which will be part of the 2014 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. (Courtesy: Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne)
Mr Fogarty, who also presented a garden at the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show, hopes the display will encourage people to learn more about Australian nature.
“It’s not an easy thing to represent a country in a garden,” Mr Fogarty said.
“But we want to paint that living picture so people who have never been can get some sense of what it’s like to visit Australia and experience the beauty of it.”
Hampton Court is the largest flower show in the world.
This year’s event runs from July 8-13. – AAP
TOP IMAGE: Waratah flower (Telopea speciosissima) – the floral emblem of New South Wales, Australia. (By David Lade, Shutterstock.com)
