Savils Garden – by Philip Nixon and Marcus Barnett

Savills Going for Gold Again with Designers Philip Nixon and Marcus Barnett at 2007 Chelsea Flower Show

Designers Philip Nixon and Marcus Barnett are to collaborate yet again on a show garden for Savills at the 2007 Chelsea Flower Show. Last year’s RHS Gold Medal for their modernist inspired garden means that the pressure is on for a repeat performance in 2007. Upon hearing of Savills acceptance for their show garden design, Ian Stewart, Head of Savills London Region said “I am delighted to be working with Philip and Marcus again and am confident that their innovative design for 2007 will reflect the values of the Savills brand and our commitment to quality at every level”

Inspiration for The Savills Garden for Chelsea Flower Show 2007 has been drawn from the rolling countryside of south central England and is loosely based on waterways and the landscape through which they flow. The garden for Chelsea is a personal and abstracted interpretation of the essence of such landscapes, a place of retreat within the much larger garden of a country house.

Barnett and Nixon hold true to their geometric modernist style with this new garden, it is a quietly modern garden sporting clean lines and simplicity of form. Ideas of a river will be used as a bisection of the landscape, a journey through which leads to a place of refuge. The effect will be to create a sense of familiarity and association with the surrounding countryside.

The Savills Garden for 2007 will be geometrically elegant and will seek to create harmony and balance through a juxtaposition of repeating elements in both hard and soft landscaping with loose and relaxed planting evocative of that found in a natural and wild landscape.

Philip Nixon and Marcus Barnett’s attention to detail is apparent in their immaculate planting plans on all of their Chelsea Flower Show gardens to date, and this year’s design for Savills is no exception. This signature perfectionism is applied to all the other materials in the garden from the Louis Poulsen lighting to the beautiful warm iroko wood selected for the seating benches and bridges across the garden – the effect is modern simplicity personified.

The pathways are of an Italian stone called ‘pietra serena’ and have a chiselled finish in a light basalt grey tone. This striking stone has been sourced from Stone Age in London who work with architects, designers, landscape gardeners and individuals who recognise the benefit that
natural stone can bring to bespoke projects such as this Chelsea Flower Show Garden.

The different areas of the garden are connected by a series of four bridges, made from stained iroko with metal edging. Each of the bridges measure approximately seven and a half metres long and are one metre wide. Beneath each bridge flows a series of waterways representing pools along a natural river course. Each pool is one and a half metres wide but the lengths vary.

A rippling, eddying effect is achieved by a complex series of jets expertly installed by Fair Water from West Sussex.

The furniture on the garden is designed by Philip Nixon and made by cabinet maker Jeremy Long from Brighton. A pair of sofas, two chairs and matching coffee tables have been crafted from iroko wood, upholstered in a light natural coloured fabric and dressed with cube shaped cushions that echo the strong geometric angles of the garden. The overall feel is modern, architectural, geometric and modular. The warm tones of the iroko have a softening and warming effect as the wood continues from the bench seats up on to the garden walls.

‘Art’ in the garden takes the unusual form of flint panelling set into the rendered walls, made by Brickcraft. The flint panels, larger trees and dark water pools are up-lit to highlight the key features of the garden.

Designers Philip Nixon and Marcus Barnett’s geometric signature style will be to the fore for their 2007 garden but with a sense of harmony and balance achieved via the juxtaposition of repeating elements in both hard and soft landscaping with loose and relaxed planting evocative of that found in a naturally wild landscape.

There is an emphasis on grasses such as Festuca mairei, Luzula nivea and Stipa species with colour dotted throughout the planting, evocative of a real wild flower meadow. Moisture-loving perennials such as Petasites hybridus and Darmera peltata have been chosen for their leaf form and structure. The overall effect of the planting will be verdant.

Petasites, commonly referred to as Butterbur are part of the daisy family Asteraceae. They are mostly quite robust plants with thick, creeping underground rhizomes and large rhubarb-like leaves during the growing season. The short spikes of flowers are produced just before these leaves in Spring, emerging with only a few elongated basal bracts and are usually green, flesh coloured or dull white. Philip and Marcus have selected Petasides hybridus for its structure and stature.

Daisies like Doronicum excelsum ‘Harpur Crewe’ will be dotted through the planting. This plant in particular is not often seen but is a great daisy which provides early summer interest much as the more fashionable Rudbeckia’s do in the late summer garden. Other plants dotted through the design include Geranium phaeum and Aquilegia species.

Another key plant on this garden is Ligularia ‘Gregynog Gold’, which is a wonderful yellow-orange, bold flower with large leathery, toothed, heart-shaped, basal leaves. New leaves emerge purplish-red but turn to brownish-green. Blooming from July to August, Ligularia ‘Gregynog Gold’ has a plant height of 1.8 metres and a spread of 60-80 centimetres. The designers will be planting Ligularia ‘Gregynog Gold’ in its optimum position of light shade in a damp well-drained woodland styled area.

Damp condition loving trees such as Populus nigra ‘Italica’ (Lombardy Poplar) and Salix alba will give height and structure to the planting. The salix are pollarded, small, mature specimens with trunks standing two feet tall and sporting big headed branches with a total height of close to 2 metres. Populus nigra ‘Italica’ is a very narrow columnar tree with a rapid growth rate. Chosen for its summer and autumn foliage and red catkins these trees add interest and provide natural screening in the garden.

Although happy in a wide range of soil conditions, the poplars, being moisture hungry, are often cultivated in river landscapes in the UK and the rest of Europe and are being used here to evoke that landscape. The salix like full sun to part shade; thrive in wet conditions and grow in a wide range of soil. Perhaps the most outstanding feature of these plants are the rich egg-yolk coloured stems providing excellent winter colour.

Philip and Marcus share a passion for Rodgersia pinnata’s outstanding ornamental bronze foliage and spires of rose to red flowers, perfect for subtle dots of colour in this gloriously simple modern garden.