At the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show, there is so much to see and celebrate whether it be bespoke gardens or luxurious garden furniture. This year was extremely special for us as we were delighted to have our Romance teak Bench and Contour Curved Bench feature in Rachel Platt’s Covid Recovery Garden which achieved multiple awards including Best Construction and the People's Choice Award. This garden was created for long sufferers of Covid-19 to rest, relax, and remember the turmoil the world had to endure these past few years.
Rich with hidden meanings and ingenious symbolism, this garden is designed to highlight consequential changes that Covid has had upon all of us. Primarily, the design and shape of the garden is inspired by the medical caduceus emblem which originated from the staff of Hermes who is the messenger between gods and humans and guide to the underworld in Greek mythology. This symbol features the wings of Hermes which sit above the staff that is encased with two snake-like shapes. It may seem odd that there are snakes within the emblem, however it is suggested that the Greeks viewed snakes as a sacred being due to their use in healing rituals to pay respect to Asclepius, the God of medicine.
With this, Rachel has dissected parts of the emblem and created a design that incorporates these significant details throughout the garden. The representation of the snake is displayed using porcelain paths that also demonstrate the absorption of oxygen within the lungs due to their Verdigris finish. Furthermore, the rain garden is a great addition that features a steel rill to emulate the staff which lies opposite the transparent circular arbour that depicts the top of the staff.
Included within the garden lie messages of support and remembrance that are carefully written on a metallic tree structure that hangs at the end of the third steel rill. This ornament hangs over another sculpture that imitates the structure of the Covid-19 protein anatomy to demonstrate the healing and triumph of all the survivors. The intricate attention to detail that Rachel displays with the design of this garden proves why she has had such accredited success from all the visitors and judges at the RHS Tatton Park show.
To gain a more in-depth vision of the garden, I interviewed Rachel to discuss the inspiration and creativity that enriches her ideas, as well as her personal interest for garden design.
1. What was the spark that made you start creating this garden?
"This Christmas just gone, I had an email I took as a sign that I had to enter this year. I brainstormed a couple of ideas, one being long-covid recovery as I had suffered from this myself. Furthermore, no previous show gardens had touched on the topic."
2. What made you get into garden design and why?
"I studied human geography at university with my speciality in the interaction between landscape and culture. After graduating, I wanted to combine my love of design with academia so undertook a post-grad in garden design with the Oxford college of garden design."
3. There is a lot of symbolism within the garden e.g., the caduceus shape, protein anatomy etc. How did you plan and research to incorporate these hidden messages?
"The idea started by breaking down the geometry of the caduceus, figuring out its core components and translating that into a footprint. After that, I filled the design with material choices and ideas which related to the theme and gave the space theatre."
4. What project are you working on next? (if you can share with us)!
"I am currently in talks to do a stand for a trade event in the next couple of months."
Thank you to Rachel for creating such a magnificent and important garden space for all Covid suffers and front-line staff to remember those who were lost and are still suffering, and we are extremely proud to have been a part of it!
Click here to discover more of Rachel’s work, and visit our showroom at Yew Tree Farm in Wootton Wawen to view our range of teak benches for your own garden area!
Garden designer: Rachel Platt
Images by Kat Weatherill: https://www.katweatherill.com/
