
- admin
- News
Ashwells Reclaimed Timber: RHS 2023 Show Gardens
Ashwells Reclaimed timber has a long and fruitful relationship with Royal Horticultural Society show-stopping event gardens and this year is no exception. As a company committed to supplying sustainable and high-quality FSC certified timber, we are thrilled to be collaborating with award-winning landscape designers and architects. Our timber will be showcased in this year’s innovative and inspiring show gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (23rd – 27th May), the RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival (4th – 9th July), and the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park (19th – 23rd July).
In this blog, we announce the gardens our timber will feature within, and share insight into the sustainability ambitions of the designers we’re collaborating with.
Read on to discover more and head over to social media (Instagram, LinkedIn) to follow each garden’s journey.
RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Designer: Alexa Ryan Mills
Garden: Sadler’s Wells East
Supplying: Reclaimed Balau Cladding from Stratford
Built by Big Fish Landscaping, this garden is inspired by Sadler’s Wells East and will reflect the new Hip Hop Theatre Academy. The garden celebrates the next generation of dancers and lovers of dance in East London. Its planting echoes the layers, patterns and shapes of dance and features characterful trees and shrubs, which cut beautiful figures among colourful perennials and annuals. We are thrilled to be supplying beautiful red FSC-certified Balau cladding to take center stage and help bring this dance inspired garden to life.
Designer: Society of Garden Designers
Garden: Trade Stand
Supplying: Reclaimed Greenheart Skimmings from Thunderer Jetty near Dagenham and the Woolwich Ferry Terminal.
We are delighted to be sponsoring the Society of Garden Designers trade stand at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The SGD is the only professional association of garden designers, and their many national and international members represent the very best in the industry. Since 1981, they have been championing excellence in garden design, and supporting members to train, work, develop and continually maintain the highest standards. We are also delighted to be supplying 300x20mm of FSC-certified Greenheart Skimmings to be used as flooring for their trade stand which is being built by the marvellous Clip Ltd.
Designer: Tom Massey
Garden: Royal Entomological Society Garden
Supplying: Reclaimed Oak Logs from JJ Davies Forestry based in Kent
We are delighted to be collaborating with Chelsea Gold medal winner Tom Massey on his Royal Entomological Society Garden inspired by the rich biodiversity found on brownfield sites, areas of wasteland that are highly beneficial to insect life. Our FSC-certified reclaimed Oak logs will become a dead tree ‘sculpture’ as timber is cut into rings and elevated on steel poles that ‘float’ over biodiverse planting. We have also supplied a standing dead tree stump to provide a future sculptural habitat to the garden. By using reclaimed Oak logs, this garden not only supports sustainable forestry practices but also contributes to the reduction of waste by using reclaimed materials.
RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival
Designer: Tom Massey
Garden: RHS Resilient Garden
Supplying: Ekki Decking for a wooden walkway reclaimed from Stratford
We are pleased to be collaborating with Tom Massey again this year by sponsoring his RHS Resilient Garden at the RHS Hampton Court Festival, built by Landscape Associates. The garden is the physical manifestation of the virtual garden detailed in Tom Massey’s book of the same title to demonstrate how our gardens and green spaces can be more adaptable in a warming climate and resilient in the face of extreme weather events such as heatwaves or heavy rain. The garden is full of biodiversity and has different areas that display various conditions – a sunny and dry front garden with plants chosen to cool the space and reduce harmful air pollution.
Designer: Inspired Earth Designs
Garden: Garden of America
Supplying: Oak Tree Trucks reclaimed from JJ Davies Forestry in Kent and Greenheart Skimmings reclaimed from Portsmouth Harbour
We are delighted to be collaborating with the award-winning Landscape Design Studio Inspired Earth Designs on their American Prairie themed garden at this years RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival. Inspired Earth Designs are a trio of garden and landscape designers who have come together to create biodiverse gardens with crisp lines and naturalistic planting. They pride themselves on their gardens having integrity and longevity as well as being functional, sustainable and above all, beautiful spaces. We are pleased to be supplying them with our reclaimed Oak tree trunks and FSC-certified Greenheart Skimmings, ensuring the timber looks aged to meet the design requirements for this beautiful garden.
RHS Flower Show Tatton Park
Designer: Camellia Hayes
Garden: Seeking Resilience Garden
Supplying: Ekki decking and Oak fenders that will be made into benches with tropical hardwood feet
Ashwells has a track record of supporting Young Garden Designers at RHS Tatton Park. In 2021 we were honored to collaborate with Freddie Strickland, who was awarded RHS Young Designer of the year, on his stunning ‘On Tropic’ garden. Freddie was inspired by Cornwall’s sub-tropical gardens for his design, which incorporated an environmentally conscious approach, replacing traditional plants with a tropical palette that thrives in our warming climate. In line with this theme, we supplied forty deck boards reclaimed from Tilbury Docks, which added immense durability and character to his garden.
Our ongoing commitment continued and last year we proudly sponsored Young Garden Designer Award finalist Alex Pettitt on his silver medal winning ‘Slow Down Breath Deep’ garden designed to provide a space for staff of an NHS specialist hospital to find sanctuary from the stress of daily work. We also supplied Alex with our FSC-certified tropical hardwood, used to create a stunning pagoda decking section in the garden.
We are thrilled to return this year and sponsor Camellia Hayes’ Seeking Resilience Garden, supplying a reclaimed timber walkway and benches which will feature in this exciting garden.
If you’re inspired, we’d love to welcome you to our timber yard to explore how reclaimed timber can add beauty and sustainability to your next garden.