Chelsea Flower Show: People's Choice Awards - winners announced
The public vote for the best Show Garden, Artisan Garden and Fresh Garden has been revealed.
By Olivia Heath
RHS / Neil Hepworth
Chris Beardshaw has won the BBC / RHS People's Choice Award for his Morgan Stanley Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.
As the world's most prestigious gardening event nears to an end for another year, the final awards, as voted for by the public, was the last accolade to be revealed.
On BBC's RHS Chelsea Flower Show programme, hosts Sophie Raworth and Joe Swift revealed the happy news to Chris, as RHS' director general Sue Biggs handed him the award for his Show Garden.
'I am so pleased for you, you deserve this so much. It's a beautiful garden,' Sue told Chris.
'It's always a joy producing a garden at Chelsea and you come and do what you can and you do what you believe in,' Chris said following his win. 'This was always a garden about the primary school who are getting the building here and the communities who are the recipients of this project.
'Thank you very much to all the gardeners who voted for us and saw the beauty and integrity right through. I love using plants. I love the fact that when you combine plants and choreograph plants and you orchestrate them in a way that just touches people's emotions, and that's what I love doing. It's unashamedly a gardeners' and a plantsman's garden.'
Chris' win comes just days after his garden was awarded a Silver-Gilt medal - a decision that caused some controversy. DIY SOS host Nick Knowles had called it an 'utterly ridiculous' decision, while many others on social media questioned why Chris' efforts had fallen short of a Gold medal.
One of the judges, James Alexander-Sinclair, said at the time: 'I think there was a problem with a couple of anomalies in the construction and we thought the plants were just a little bit too densely placed, but this is Chelsea, this is everybody at the top of their game.
'The whole point is that we do nitpick. We are looking for perfection and you have to look very hard to find that because these gardens are really, really good – all of them are brilliant.'
Inspired by the fractal geometry and patterns found in nature, music, art and communities, The Morgan Stanley Garden features an oak and limestone loggia with a sculptural piece set into the limestone block wall, as well as familiar garden plants including fennel and lupins, wonderful plant combinations and a curved path through packed flower borders.
After the show, this entire garden will be donated to Groundwork, where the charity will redesign and repurpose the garden to benefit three community and educational schemes in East London.
Take a look at the remaining People's Choice Awards below:
The People's Choice Award for Best Artisan Garden
WINNER: World Horse Welfare Garden
Designed by Adam Woolcott and Jonathan Smith, built by Conway Landscapes and sponsored by World Horse Welfare.
This garden highlights the plight of abandoned and neglected 'invisible horses' around the world. Inspired by the work of charity World Horse Welfare, which is celebrating a 90-year legacy of helping horses, it tells the story of a horse rescued from a small, abandoned and derelict stable in a dark corner of the garden. He has been nursed back to health by the charity and now, under the charity's care, lives in a bright, open meadow where he can thrive and eventually be rehomed.
RHS / Tim Sandall
The People's Choice Award for Best Fresh Garden
WINNER: Breast Cancer Now Garden: Through the Microscope
Designed by Ruth Willmott, built by The Outdoor Room and sponsored by Group of donors in aid of Breast Cancer Now.
This garden draws inspiration from breast cancer researchers working in the lab, in particular looking through their microscopes in their quest to stop breast cancer taking more lives. Designed as a small space for research scientists, it shows a future where all cells viewed through a microscope are healthy. Jagged rocks at the front of the garden depict breast cancer, while the three vertical circles represent microscope lenses.
RHS / Sarah Cuttle
Recap the Chelsea Flower Show here. Find a full winner's list of Gold, Silver-Gilt, Silver and Bronze medals here, and the results of the Best Show Garden, Artisan Garden and Fresh Garden as voted for by the judges.
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Olivia Heath Executive Digital Editor, House Beautiful UK Olivia Heath is the Executive Digital Editor at House Beautiful UK where she's busy uncovering tomorrow's biggest home trends, all whilst delivering stylish room inspiration, small space solutions, easy garden ideas and house tours of the hottest properties on the market.
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