UK: Stonewall Garden wins gold at RHS flower show
An LGBT-themed garden designed to support charity Stonewall has won gold at this year’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.
The garden, entitled ‘The Stonewall Garden: Breaking Down the Walls of Pride’, is described as the show’s first display with an overt LGBT theme.
Stonewall’s Director of Fundraising, Catherine Bosworth, said in a press release: “At Stonewall we’re always keen to get involved with new events and projects. This is definitely a first for Stonewall and it’s inspiring to see people wanting to support our work in different ways.
“The Stonewall Garden will be seen by thousands of people this week – many of whom won’t have been engaged with our work before. We hope it can be a great way to raise awareness of the need to stamp out prejudice and homophobia.”
The designer of the garden, Amanda Miller, said: “We were so excited to be able to support Stonewall and their work. The fact that we received a Gold award for the garden is such an incredible honour.
“We’ve worked so hard to bring this concept to life and we hope that the thousands of visitors will enjoy the work and be inspired to get involved and support Stonewall.”
Her website describes the thoughts behind the design: “This year’s design for the conceptual garden category represents a journey from the constraints of old-fashioned beliefs and people blinded by pride to a life of freedom.
“The journey is highlighted by breaking through the walls of pride that segregate two communities. It begins at the rear of the garden in a dark environment of suppressed planting and ends in a free, thriving and colourful landscape.”
The shattered walls represent breaking down the boundaries to freedom and happiness. Gorgeous detail! #PrideGarden pic.twitter.com/dzqYIQrrqZ
— The RHS (@The_RHS) July 9, 2014
“We intentionally used unusual plant combinations in the garden to emphasise the fact that people should be able to live free and proud of who they are, wherever they live,” her website continues.
The website of the RHS, which sponsors the show, adds: “The garden is inspired by the designer’s own personal experiences and the difficulties she faced growing up in a small country town in Australia as a young gay person.”
The colour of Gay Pride, purple, is in beautiful abundance at @stonewalluk 's #PrideGarden. Gorgeous! pic.twitter.com/jnfrN9eYUK— The RHS (@The_RHS) July 9, 2014
The Stonewall Garden is one of the ‘conceptual gardens’, a category unique to this flower show. This year’s conceptual theme was the seven deadly sins.
