Published at 13:15, Friday, 27 May 2011

A GREEN-FINGERED couple have helped to create an award-winning garden at a world-famous flower show.

Specialist ornamental grasses grown by David Aitken and Pauline Preston, who own Wildly Rural at Kirksanton, near Millom, feature in garden designer Heather Appleton’s silver medal-winning garden at this week’s Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show.

The renowned landscape design architects supplied grasses for the show-stopping Chilstone Garden.

Grasses such as luzula, calamagrostis and helictotrichon appear throughout the urban garden, which includes a folly, an everlasting ice sculpture and a garden path made of turquoise deep-pile carpet.

Ms Appleton’s exhibit, a collaboration with stonework producers Chilstone and landscaping company Twig, has appeared on the BBC with TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh.

The award-winning horticulturists have also worked with the likes of celebrity gardener Diarmuid Gavin on his past Chelsea show gardens.

Ms Appleton visited the Wildly Rural nursery in February to source the grasses and Mr Aitken was in Chelsea last week to help set up for the prestigious show.

He said: “It’s fantastic, Chelsea is the top show in the country, if not the world. Heather has done an exceptional job. She is a great designer and we are really happy. We were delighted to be approached by Heather to help bring her design to life. It’s not our first time at Chelsea, but we love the challenges that our participation in these show gardens always creates. All the work we do is innovative so when we saw Heather’s ideas for the garden, we couldn’t wait to get involved.”

Ms Appleton, of North Yorkshire, said: “I love grasses, they are my favourite plants and they are brilliant in show gardens because everyone wants to reach out and touch them so they are very interactive. I contacted Pauline and David because I knew exactly what I would be able to get from them – and what you get is simply stunning. They grow the most fantastic plants – every one of them is of an impeccable show quality.”

The couple will also be supplying plants to four gardens at Holker Garden Festival next week, including one created by Paul Richards, the North West co-ordinator of the Society of Garden Designers.

They are also involved in the creation of a football-themed garden at the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park in July and will be working with Heather Appleton again at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show the same month.

Mr Aitken said grasses can give a softening effect and more natural look to a show garden, and judges are also looking for how sustainable a garden is.

Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk