{"id":6535,"date":"2022-09-18T10:29:09","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T09:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/?p=6535"},"modified":"2022-09-18T10:30:53","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T09:30:53","slug":"the-new-gardens-at-rhs-hilltop-wisley-by-ann-marie-powell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/?p=6535","title":{"rendered":"The New Gardens at RHS Hilltop Wisley, by Ann-Marie Powell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ann-Marie Powell pictured at the launch of the \u00a32million public fundraising appeal to build the National Centre for Horticultural Science and Learning at RHS Garden Wisley – 2nd May 2018. Credit:RHS and Oliver Dixon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We were delighted to welcome Gold Medal winning designer Ann-Marie Powell to Grayshott Gardeners this month, to tell us all about the design and build of two of the new gardens at RHS Hilltop, Wisley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journey started way back in 2017, when the RHS \u201ctweeted\u201d an advert for garden designers to submit proposals for three new gardens which were to surround their new laboratory building at Hilltop \u2013 which was to be the \u201cHome of Gardening Science\u201d.\u00a0 Ann-Marie and her team rose to the challenge and bid for two of these gardens \u2013 the Wildlife Garden and the World Food Garden.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t have long to search for inspiration \u2013 a two week window is all that was allowed.\u00a0 Luckily Ann-Marie is a voracious researcher and found inspiration in the library \u2013 the exoskeleton of a bee\u2019s wing seemed perfectly fitting for a wildlife garden, whilst the World Food Garden layout was based on the vascular system of a monocot plant (get those botany books out \ud83d\ude09).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The bids were successful and a long round of presentations followed, along with more detailed plans, plant selection and value engineering (a synonym for \u201ckeeping the costs down\u201d).\u00a0 The building at Hilltop went up, and all was ready for the gardens to be created by March 2020. \u00a0And we all know what happened then\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Covid lockdowns meant that site visits were limited and facetime views of progress were the only way forward.  Material shortages, rising prices and limited access all proved very challenging, so it seemed something of a miracle when the gardens were ready to open as planned in April 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ann-Marie explained how important it was for the new gardens to be inspiring, and to be able to engage a whole new audience \u2013 all income brackets, ages, ethnicities and levels of experience.  They were about showcasing horticulture, and had to have a WOW factor \u2013 but they also needed to be provide ideas that were achievable in the average garden, balcony or windowsill.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wildlife Garden amplifies nature, but is not rewilding.\u00a0 It includes all the elements that are crucial for wildlife \u2013 water, plenty of accessible nectar and pollen available over a long season and plenty of places to hide and nest. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The World Food Garden is divided into 3 areas \u2013 one for herbs and edible flowers, a \u201cgood to grow\u201d section showcasing vegetables that beginners can have success with, and finally the World Food maze which showcases the wide range of more unusual edibles that we can grow in our climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gardens are a triumph, and are fast becoming the go-to destination at Wisley.\u00a0 It was a privilege to be taken behind the scenes \u2013 I think we will all look at the gardens from a slightly different perspective next time we visit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We were delighted to welcome Gold Medal winning designer Ann-Marie Powell to Grayshott Gardeners this month, to tell us all about the design and build of two of the new gardens at RHS Hilltop, Wisley. The journey started way back in 2017, when the RHS \u201ctweeted\u201d an advert for garden designers to submit proposals for … Continue reading The New Gardens at RHS Hilltop Wisley, by Ann-Marie Powell<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-club-lectures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6535"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6545,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6535\/revisions\/6545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grayshottgardeners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}