Nelson man helps grow garden success

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AUTHENTIC: Landscape designer James Wheatley and his team's Growing Tastes Allotment Garden, complete with weeds and clumps of grass, won the Tudor Rose award for the best show garden at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in England.

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Nelson landscape designer James Wheatley has made his mark at the world's largest garden show, helping to win a top award and making history in the process.

Mr Wheatley teamed up with his father, Jon, and two others to create a stunning allotment garden at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in Surrey this month.

The judges were so impressed that Winchester Growers' Growing Tastes Allotment Garden not only won a gold medal, but was awarded the Tudor Rose award for best show garden.

It was the first time an allotment garden has won best show garden at Hampton Court, the largest of the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) garden shows."It was a fabulous achievement," Mr Wheatley said.

"It's far removed from the style of gardens I create here [contemporary], so it was interesting.

"I'm very proud of being able to come back to Nelson and bring a little bit of that back, and inspired to create fantastic gardens for the future."

Mr Wheatley owned a landscape design business in Britain before moving in 2001 to Nelson, where he runs his company, Landform Landscape Services.

His old business is still run by his family, and he and his father built a silver guild-winning garden for last year's Hampton Court show. That led to a direct commission from the RHS to create an allotment for this year's show, Mr Wheatley said.

Their garden, which covered more than 500 square metres, featured fruit and vegetables, including "cabbages the size of beach balls", a flower garden, a chicken run, and a colourful children's garden. Mr Wheatley was on site for two weeks, working up to 14-hour days helping to create it. The attention to detail was so great Mr Wheatley even added clumps of long grass and weeds to make the garden look authentic.

The allotment garden was right on trend.

"One thing I noticed over there is a massive renaissance, or push, for gardens to garden in.

"There's a lot more emphasis on growing your own vegetables, your own flowers and spending time in your garden for relaxation."

RHS head of shows Bob Sweet praised the authentic touches, such as the compost heap that looked like it had been there for years, telling Britain's Telegraph newspaper "the garden's so good you just want to own it".

For Mr Wheatley, being able to share the success with his father made it even more special and an experience to be "treasured".

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