The Communication Garden

The Communication Garden, in support of Mental Health UK, is a symbolic refuge and a living, growing one. It is a place to meet, talk, listen and to highlight the importance of face to face communication for our mental well-being.

Rustic woodland planting and native trees provide a protective canopy while encouraging us to look up and beyond. The partly secluded seating area draws the visitor in along fractured pathways and provides a safe place for ideas to ebb and flow. The specimen native trees act as an emblem of mental resilience and hope.

The wooden screen allows a view to the woodland planting while still providing sanctuary. Water runs alongside areas of planting to aid fluidity in communication and provide a calming effect.

The main hard landscaping is plank porcelain paving leading out asymmetrically from the wooden screen interspersed with rectangular sections of moss to show our natural and sometimes broken lines of communication.

Taxus baccata topiary balls symbolise thoughts coming together in an orderly way and the ferns and hostas represent the other side of thought, which can be wild and unruly, reinforced with spontaneous bursts of colour from Geranium and Astrantia.