This serene garden was designed by Tom Stuart-Smith for Laurent-perrier in 2008.  Tom will be designing the 2010 show garden as well.

Designed as a contemplative space with a dreamy and slightly surreal character, it is a garden based on the idea of juxtaposing opposites. The layout of the garden is made by overlaying a number of separate patterns. A grove of 30-year-old hornbeams pruned to appear like rounded ‘clouds’ seem to float above a criss-crossing net of Flemish brick paths.

An undulating tapestry of predominantly green herbaceous plants including 

Rodgersia

, 

Molinia

, 

Epimedium

, 

Asarum

, 

Hosta

 ‘Devon Green’ and 

Astrantia 

is designed to calm, with an emphasis on form and texture, rather than colour. Zinc tanks brimming with water (and appearing to overflow) are placed throughout the garden and offer a visual link to the large zinc-panelled rear wall. Its beautiful patina and cool blue-grey color providing the perfect backdrop to the contemplative setting.

The garden was in part a reaction against the traditional ‘Chelsea garden’ with its eye-catching features and assumptions about how people will experience a space. It was also about atmosphere and mood, setting an intentional contrast between the alluring beauty of the exterior with its white peonies, and the more melancholic middle part of the garden.

Tom Stuart-Smith on his garden....