Contemporary Meadow Strikes Gold and Best in show

A wild flower meadow used (for the first time) in a minimalist, contemporary fashion has contributed towards an RHS Gold Medal and 'Best in Show' award for Paul Titcombe's "An Urban Retreat" at BBC Gardener's World Live.

The only small show garden to receive Gold, "An Urban Retreat" met the multi medal winning designer's brief to create a calming city space for a young professional couple or individual that was modern yet included several different kinds of planting.

The 'meadow' a five by one metre strip of Lindum Wildflower (a mixture of native wild flowers and non invasive grasses growing in re-cycled felt), augmented by native Wild Peppermint, Campion and Wild Thyme supplied by British Wild Flower Plants (BWFPs) was laid beneath Beech columns and bordered on one side by a granite, pebble and slate path.

"You usually see a meadow in a naturalistic rustic setting but I wanted to put it into a much more contemporary situation and show that it would work well out of context," explains the designer. The predominant 'green' of the meadow and beech area was extended by a one metre square cube of Box planted the other side of the path and contrasted with areas of mixed perennials and cultivated grasses.

MDs of both companies, Stephen Fell of Lindum Turf and Linda Laxton of BWFPs said they were delighted to see their products used in such an innovative and imaginative way. "This garden shows that wild flowers and meadow planting is not just confined to 'wild' designs but can be very effective in a contemporary situation," Linda commented.

For further information contact Lindum Turf at Tel: 01904 448675 website: www.turf.co.uk and British Wild Flower Plants on Tel: 01603 716615 website: www.wildflowers.co.uk