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Q & A with Dave Green

Designer Dave Green talks about his design for the RHS Garden of Royal Reflection and Celebration

Tell us about the garden you have created

The RHS wanted to do a display to commemorate the late Queen and also to celebrate the new King. Visitors will be able to sit on the curved bench, surrounded by the pink and white flowers, associated with the Queen’s preferences. This area is for contemplation, to remember the late Queen and feel calm and serene. From there, they look out towards the front of the garden where the King’s preferred planting is, in a way, looking out into the future. There was quite a distinction between the colour palette and the plants that the Queen preferred and the preferences of the King. It creates the two separate halves of the garden quite nicely.
 

How did you make your plant choices?

The head gardener from Sandringham Estate sent me a list of trees, shrubs and

perennials that have either been planted in the estate, or have come up in discussions with the King and the late Queen in the past. We used that list as a basis for the garden. We also worked with some suppliers to the royal household, for example, the clematis from Raymond Evison and roses from David Austin.
 

Can you tell us about some of the key plants in the garden?

Camassia are very important because at King Charles’s residence at Highgrove, these are planted en masse in the meadow that’s just next to the house. There’s a path through the meadow and there are thousands of camassias on either side, framing the view to the house. We’re using two varieties in the garden. There are also a lot of trees and shrubs in the garden, which were picked because they’re grown at Sandringham. We have a tall conical Magnolia ‘Heaven Scent’ at the front of the garden, it’s very nicely scented when in flower. Just behind the magnolia is a Cornus kousa, a Chinese shrub with white flowers in the spring. We tried to choose plants that are right for the season. There were some plants, such as Hydrangea macrophylla, which is not in flower at the moment, so we picked Hydrangea quercifolia and Hydrangea paniculata ‘Early Harry’, which flower early, so we’ve used varieties that are appropriate for the show.
 

How important is the royal connection to RHS Chelsea?

The show was so well supported by the Queen, and the King is very interested in conservation, ecology and the environment and I think the show ties in very well with those interests. Hopefully it’s the start of another long lasting relationship.
 

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