M&G Title Sponsors of RHS Chelsea Flower Show

 

M&G Investments, title sponsor of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show has commissioned award-winning garden designer Sarah Price to create ‘The M&G Garden’ for next year.

The design for ‘The M&G Garden’ 2018 is a romanticised haven which expands on an idea that a wall, tree and seat can create a quiet and intimate place of repose. Taking inspiration from the Mediterranean, the garden will celebrate the beauty and simplicity of the region’s unique landscape through the use of modest and sustainable raw materials and a vibrant planting palette.

To bring this story to life, Sarah will use Mediterranean flora and raw materials dug directly out of the earth - red aggregates, clay and terracotta - to provide a sense of warmth and richness. Textured, rammed earth walls and stacked tiles will frame the spaces, creating contrast and intrigue. The unfolding views offer tantalising glimpses of twisted wisteria stems, graceful Lagerstroemia trees, scented thyme carpets and in the heart of the garden, the rugged form of two mature pomegranate trees.

Colour is unexpected and dazzling. The use of intricate, layered planting creates an almost pointillist vision when viewed from afar. A clashing cacophony of deep pinks, lilacs and yellow flowers are held together by swards of grasses. Gravel scree plantings of Asphodelus, Dianthus and delicate poppies interweave informal pathways surrounded by low tapestries of ground hugging, scented herbs and the silvery tones of sub shrubs.

Sarah Price, garden designer says:

“I am delighted to be working with M&G Investments and Crocus to bring this garden to life. Designing for M&G has been a hugely enjoyable experience and I will be working with an exceptional team to realise our ambitious ideas. The garden will be a romanticised haven that will celebrate the expressive and sensual language of colour and texture, light and shadow. I will be experimenting with an incredibly tactile palette of materials and an exciting range of plants, all of which originate from Mediterranean climates. The garden will be entirely imaginary; it's a space that I would love to have for myself”

Price was the co-designer of the 2012 Gardens at the Olympic Park in east London and planting consultant for the post-Games legacy design. Sarah designed the Daily Telegraph Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2012 and was awarded a gold medal. Her previous gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2007 and 2008 were awarded silver medals and in 2006 she won a gold medal at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show. This year she will be working with Crocus, winners of 25 Gold Medals at Chelsea and 9 Best in Show awards in the last 12 years.

Anne Richards, Chief Executive of M&G Investments says:

“2018 marks our ninth year as title sponsor of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and once again we are delighted to partner with the RHS to support the very best that horticulture has to offer. Our continued partnership has enabled us to make an important and lasting contribution to the horticultural world, supporting gardening enthusiasts and inspiring the next generation to preserve our environment for the future. With ‘The M&G Garden’, we try to show what can be achieved when you bring imagination, dedication and conviction together with long experience and world class expertise: and this year what is emerging is something truly very special. Sarah’s design will provide a beautiful and contemplative space for everyone to enjoy and be inspired by.”

 

 2018 is M&G’s ninth year as the title sponsor of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. M&G Investments has been helping people to prosper by putting their investments to work since 1931.

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show runs from 22-26 May 2018.

Twitter: @M&GGarden

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Sarah Price – Biography

Sarah Price has rapidly established herself as one of the most prominent and sought-after garden designers in Britain. Drawing on a prior training in fine art and a life-long love of wild and natural environments, her gardens have an immersive quality and are often described as ‘painterly’.

Her practice is unusual for its breadth and scope of work. Sarah co-designed the 2012 Gardens at London’s Olympic Park and was a planting consultant for LDA Design on the post-Games legacy design. Price continues to work on a number of large public planting schemes as well as private projects. These include new community gardens and an exciting 'play' landscape designed in collaboration with MUMA for Cambridge University; an “Art Garden” at Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery sponsored by Jo Malone; and a garden inspired by the New Forest for a new Maggie’s Centre in Southampton designed by architects AL_A.

Price's designs have collected numerous awards, most notably at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2012, where her Daily Telegraph Garden received a Gold Medal. Sarah writes for Gardens Illustrated, House and Garden and The Telegraph and was awarded Garden Columnist of year at the GMG (Garden Media Guild) 2016 awards.

Sarah is a visiting lecturer in planting design at the Department of Landscape at Sheffield University and has recently lectured at the New York Botanical Gardens and the Royal Academy, and The Royal Geographical Society in London.

She graduated with a First class BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University in 2002 and from 2002 – 2003 worked for a year as a full time gardener at Hampton Court Palace, London.