The Communication Garden

In more detail

• Multi-stemmed trees throw shade for plantings of ferns, hostas, astilbes, brunneras and delphiniums which, even when not in flower, provide rich foliage interest
• Paving is a big part of this garden's character – textural compacted gravel is juxtaposed against smooth paving planks interspersed with fingers of Soleirolia soleirolii, or mind-your-own business

About the garden

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

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, made of Sussex-grown sweet chestnut, allows a view to the woodland planting while still offering sanctuary. Water sits alongside areas of planting providing a calming effect.

The main hard landscaping is plank 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 ordered and more rigid thoughts. The ferns and hostas represent a mindset that is less inhibited and more relaxed and is reinforced with spontaneous bursts of colour from astrantias and hardy geraniums.