THE TELEGRAPH ANNOUNCES SARAH PRICE AS ITS GARDEN DESIGNER FOR THE 2012 RHS CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW

The Telegraph Garden for the 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show will be designed by renowned landscape and garden designer Sarah Price. This will be Price’s first full-size show garden at Chelsea Flower Show, although she has previously won silver medals in 2007 & 2008 for smaller garden designs.

Previous accolades include a gold medal in the Conceptual Show Garden Category at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show in 2006. Price is also the co-designer of the 2012 Gardens at the Olympic Park in east London and remains at the core of the team planning the post-Games legacy design and maintenance of the gardens.

For the last three consecutive years (2009, 2010 & 2011) The Telegraph’s garden has been awarded the top prize of Best Show Garden by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) judges. In the 98 years that Chelsea Flower Show has exhibited on the Royal Hospital site, 2011 was the first time that a sponsor had won Best Show Garden three years consecutively.

The design for this year’s garden is intended to evoke the beauty and romance of wild places within the British landscape. Perennials, rushes, grasses and meadow flowers grow around an intricate pattern of pools in Chilmark limestone. The copper detailing draws its inspiration from the mineral rich upland streams and rills of north Wales and Dartmoor. A stepping-stone walkway leads across an expanse of water to a simple seating area on a group of boulders.

At the rear of the garden a glade of tall, graceful, multi-stemmed birch trees frames the scene.

Drifts of grasses and rushes, such as Deschampsia cespitosa and Juncus species create a background to emergent perennials and exquisite wildflowers.

Different growing conditions provide for changes in the planting’s character and texture, increasing visual interest. The bog and marginal plants such as our native flag iris, Iris pseudacorus, meadow sweet, Filipendula ulmaria and the sensitive fern, Onoclea sensibilis grow in and around the pool. The planting includes many European meadow species such as the globe flower, Trollius europaeus, Valerian, Valeriana officinalis and species of Dactylorhiza orchid. Multi-stemmed birch, Betula pendula are under-planted with a predominantly green tapestry of shade tolerant plants.

Sarah Price said: “‘I’m looking forward to creating a really beautiful garden, one that evokes the romance and wildness of my favourite British landscapes. The Telegraph has an impressive record of success at Chelsea Flower Show and I’m following in the footsteps of three extremely talented designers. I hope my design will prove just as successful.”

Joanna Fortnam, Gardening Editor, The Daily Telegraph said: “Sarah Price is one of Britain’s most exciting and sought-after young garden designers, so I’m thrilled she’s designing this year’s Telegraph garden. We’ve watched Sarah emerge from a promising art student to a first-rate garden designer with major projects, including a key role in designing this year’s Olympic gardens, on her horizon and we’re happy to be a part of her burgeoning career. I’m sure her unique and distinctly British approach to this year’s garden design will make a big impression at Chelsea Flower Show.”

The Telegraph Garden will once again occupy a prime site on the Main Avenue at the 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show (MA20).