At a glance: An outdoor artist’s studio, set within a dramatic sculptural dunescape designed by Nigel Dunnett
This is Nigel Dunnett’s sixth garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and as ever he is looking to push boundaries. The garden is a highly sculptural space – most obviously seen in the topography of the garden with its series of sand-dune-like banks. “I wanted to give the garden a strong sense of place and attachment,’ explains Nigel referencing the long sandy beaches and sand dunes of Arbroath on the east coast of Scotland, home to contemporary arts organisation Hospitalfield Trust. This charity works to support new and emerging artists, and the whole garden is linked to artistic creativity with a studio at its centre.
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Nigel’s dunes are 1.5-2m high at their tallest and he has been working closely with sculptors Broadbent Studio (Stephen Broadbent and Peter Davidson), fine tuning the shapes and forms of wooden spines, which keep the sand in place, by creating a maquette before digitally scanning the model ready to recreate at the show.
These sandy landforms define sight lines into the garden leading to an artist studio, and a dune pool where rainwater is collected from the building and surrounding garden. Perhaps known best for his meadowy herbaceous and perennial plantings, here choices are focussed on texture and foliage rather than flowers, with a high proportion of woody subshrubs and shrubs alongside native coastal plants such as sea thrift. Marram grass is also highlighted with the idea of tougher growing conditions helping a plant’s resilience.
As Nigel says “Chelsea is a place for new ideas, for experimentation, and to take risks, and that is certainly the spirit in which we have developed our garden.”
3 Key Features of The Hospitalfield Arts Garden
- Planting in sand Reflects the current interest in using mineral materials such as sands and gravels as growing media to encourage and create highly diverse and resilient plantings.
- Artist studio Built by Scotland-based Bothy Stores, the bothy is set up as a working studio by contemporary artists Bob and Roberta Smith.
- Sculptural plants Madeiran native Geranium palmatum is suited to cooler, well-drained conditions. It forms large
mounds of fern-like foliage and bright-pink flowers held in a wide umbel-like form.
Designer Nigel Dunnett Sponsor Project Giving Back for Hospitalfield Trust Contractor Landform Consultants Plants Hortus Loci Structure Bothy Stores Sculpture Broadbent Studio (Stephen Broadbent and Peter Davidson)
Relocating to Ladyloan Primary School, Arbroath