Shot! The Touching the Senses Garden
My favourite garden at the 2023 RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival was a pocket-size gem from Jodie Chan
The RHS bill their Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival as being the biggest flower show in the world. It may well be in terms of physical size, but, in truth, it’s a pale imitation of the RHS’s premier event held at Chelsea a couple of months prior.
Despite the extra space, there are fewer show gardens and those that are there are much smaller and much less impressive. That said, not that long ago, Hampton was where the most innovative and experimental gardens could be found. Nowadays, most look like they’re just low budget versions of what you’d see at Chelsea.
Speaking of low budgets, in recent years Hampton has introduced a number of more affordable, entry-level garden categories, most notably the Allotment Gardens. This year, they’ve gone even smaller with the launch of the Sensory Pocket Planting gardens, ten pocket-sized plots located directly in front of the Floral Marquee.
To be honest, given their dimunative size, I would’ve probably walked right past them, while heading into the Floral Marquee. However, when I got there on press day, no one was allowed in as judging was taking place. I don’t recall that ever happening before, and don’t understand why the RHS would countenance that and deny entry to the small number of press and invited guests at the show.
As luck would have it, having been turned away, I found myself standing next to something that really caught my eye.
It was the Touching the Senses Garden by Jodie Chan. Now calling any of these Sensory Pockets ‘a garden’ is somewhat stretching the definition of the word. What they would better be described as being is a small kidney-shaped flower bed.
With so little space to impress, you’d assume every inch of the plot has to be used to maximum effect. Indeed, most of the other Sensory Pockets were stuffed to the gunnels. Jodie’s though was different. She realised the benefits of the adage less is more and kept things minimal.
The focus of her plot were four spheres formed from different varieties of succulents. Although not unique, using succulents in this way was an inspired idea and the spheres were certainly eyecatching.
Creating three-dimensional shapes out of plants is of course usually confined to topiary or flower arranging. In the Great Pavilion at Chelsea we’re used to seeing flowers like chrysanthemums displayed on large domes, with two different varieties packed tightly together to form colourful patterns. So whilst the concept may not have been original, doing it with succulents, as a feature of a garden display, was.
Now succulents have been enjoying somewhat of a prominence lately. Cornish growers, Surreal Succulents, have won gold medals for their impressive displays at Chelsea and last year one of their hybrids, Semponium Destiny, even won RHS Plant of the Year. And whilst we’ve seen succulents on various show gardens before, usually one’s with a desert or South American theme, it’s highly unusual to see them feature prominently on a Main Avenue show garden.
That changed earlier this year, when Sarah Price created one of the most beautiful and memorable gardens Chelsea had ever seen. Whilst her gold-medal-winning Nurture Landscapes garden’s main focus was on showcasing Benton irises, playing a key supporting role in her painterly planting were a wonderful selection of succulents.
Furthermore, the same muted colour scheme of Sarah’s show garden was echoed in Jodie’s planting. The predominantly pale green tones of most succulents, were accented with varieties with pink leaves and others, like the dramatic Sempervivum Dippy Dame, with its vibrant maroon and green rosettes.
Speaking with Jodie, she said it took her around six weeks to create the four spheres, using in excess of 600 individual plants. Each of the eighteen varieties of Sempervivum and ten varieties of Echeveria, were artfully chosen to compliment the look and colour of the plant it was placed next to.
The spheres themselves were also carefully positioned within the narrow bed and surrounded by a swirling sea of Stipa tenuissima, a soft grass also known as Angel Hair. Not only did this set the spheres off nicely, but it created movement around them as the slightest breeze caused the blonde foliage to billow. Together with the exposed sand base, it evoked a coastal dune.
To add further visual interest, Jodie planted a few pops of colour in the form of bright yellow balls of Craspedia Globosa aka Golden Drumsticks and the rose-purple and green allium Sphaerocephalon.
I’ve no idea why the RHS chose not to judge the Sensory Pockets category, which meant none of the designers got to find out how they rated against the others. If it were down to me, I would’ve given a gold to Touching the Senses.
Not only did Jodie create my most memorable garden at Hampton, but she did so without the financial aid of a sponsor. Indeed, she’s even had to arrange a GoFundMe to help her replant it at HeadsUp, a Wells-based charity helping those with mental health issues.
It goes to show a garden doesn’t need to tell a story or have to have a narrative in order for it to impress, providing it has visual impact and includes something a little bit different. If this garden is anything to go by, given a bigger budget and a larger plot, I sense Jodie Shah has what it takes to create a truly innovative show garden.
Thinking about how I could have improved on her debut, beyond it being scaled up to provide more impact, I would have liked to see one of the spheres on a slow revolve, which would add even more to the visual dynamic. Incorporating a concealed wind machine, so that the grass would move continuously, would also add a theatrical touch.
Behind the shot: All these images were taken either with the iPhone 14 Pro or the Olympus OM-D E-M1 using the M Zuiko 75mm lens. The first few hours of press day were sunny, however, by the afternoon — when I took these — it was overcast and rainy. Being such a small plot, there were only so many interesting compositions that you could find. Photographed at Hampton Court Palace on 3 July 2023.
About the author: Based in Sussex-by-the-Sea, on England’s south coast, Gary is a creative writer and image-maker. He specialises in creating out of the ordinary portraits of musicians and people with interesting faces, as well as photographing some of the world’s finest flowers and gardens, not forgetting an array of automotive exotica.
On the writing side, he has used his research skills to author deep dives into some noteworthy songs beginning with Bryan Ferry’s ‘These Foolish Things’ ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials, ‘Real Wild Child’ by Ivan and ‘All The Young Dudes’ by Mott the Hoople.
He has also written a biography of Robert Palmer and the stories behind Whitesnake’s blatant Led Zep rip-off, ‘Still Of The Night’, Harry Styles’ anthem to positivity, ‘Treat People With Kindness’ and the little known Queen track ‘Cool Cat.’
Most recently, Gary has penned the fascinating story behind George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four.’ as well as ‘Believe It Or Not’ a look into the rise of fake news.
All these can be found here on Medium, along with his reviews of gigs and events and chats with musicians including the likes of Royal Blood, Joe Satriani and Wolf Alice.
