As a stroke survivor herself, Miria Harris focused her show garden design on how it could support the recovery process. “What a lot of survivors find difficult is cluttered, busy environments. And gardens can be quite busy,” she explains. “So the use of colour is a grounding element; something that will support movement through the garden, soft wayfinding and a calming experience.”
She has used complementary colours in blocks in her scheme, including pink, orange, yellow, purple and green, with flowers such as wallflowers, honesty and bronze fennel.
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There are different routes through the garden, with accessible, interconnected pathways, which meet at a series of resting places with seats by emerging furniture designer Olivia Gonsalves. “It’s a contoured landscape, emblematic of recovery, which has its ups and downs. You can stop and sit, take a breath and just be in the garden. It’s a peaceful space to connect with nature and experience the incredible wellbeing that comes with that connection.”
Among the key features of the garden are the sculptural, twisted Pinus sylvestris and Pinus mugo trees. “These trees have been exposed to harsh elements, but stayed where they are, and that is symbolic of resilience and the message that you can move forward from this trauma. I didn’t want any strong architectural elements in the garden, so instead it’s the trees that frame different views.”
Miria is most excited, and apprehensive, about her pond with puddled clay base. “It’s going to be a challenge. None of the plants are in plastic baskets; they’re going on to shelves within the formed pond. We’re going to be very muddy for the build up!”
5 key elements
1. Characterful trees Miria found her knarled pine trees in a field of old, rejected and previously ill trees that had been nursed back to health at nursery Deepdale Trees.
2. Liner-less pond The puddled clay pond, which is a risky choice for Chelsea, will have a base packed hard with machinery, and kept clear with the aid of flocculants.
3. Colour-block planting Inspired by Gertrude Jekyll’s use and theories on colour. Miria has planted the garden in blocks of complementary colours to help ease a stroke survivor’s navigation of the space.
4. The bridge A metaphor for the mental, physical and emotional connections that have to be rebuilt after a stroke. Drainage gaps in the design ensure surface water runs off into the stream below.
5. Sustainable materials The garden is cement free and features hempblocks for the lime-rendered walls, hemp-and-waste-composite paving and corrugated Hempfibre panels to clad boundaries. Recycled materials are used for the seating, substrate and foundations.
• Find out more about Miria’s garden in her Talking Gardens podcast episode, available from 19 May.
Designer Miria Harris. Sponsor Project Giving Back for the Stroke Association. Theme A tranquil, sensory space for those recovering from stroke. Contractor Landform Consultants. Plants Kelways; Deepdale Trees. After the show The garden will relocate to the Stroke Unit at Chapel Allerton Hospital in Leeds. Contact miriaharris.com
