Robert Myers first showed at Chelsea in 2003 and was awarded a gold medal for his efforts. Since then he has designed a string of successful Main Avenue gardens and this year he’s back with a garden for Brewin Dolphin, which has a pretty successful record at Chelsea itself, culminating in the top award last year. We asked Robert how he proposes to maintain this success.
How do you hope visitors will be inspired by your garden?
We’ve used native plants and their cultivars in quite a sumptuous way, and the message I’d like to get across is that using native plants doesn’t have to mean looking like a wild and woolly nature reserve! Native plants can be used in a more formal, elegant way. The clipped cushions of box we’ve used through the garden are quite sculptural and the field maple really suits being used for pleached hedging. Native planting can be really ornamental – we’ve got lots of colourful flowers in the plan as well as scent. It’s just making people think slightly differently about what to expect from native planting and how we can best use it in our own gardens.
Are there elements that visitors can usefully reproduce at home?
I think it’s really important that Chelsea gardens have features that can translate into real gardens. The wall is really unusual but also interesting and quite simple to recreate. It’s a steel frame into which are set panels of marine ply, which have been sculpted with a repeating relief – the light catches the pattern and adds an extra level of interest. Similarly with the canopy that oversails the dining area – it’s a steel structure with timber slats attached to it, but we’ve cut out notches in the timber, which again plays with the patterns of light and shade below. There’s a lot that can be done to enhance a garden by thinking about materials differently.
Robert, we have to mention that Brewin Dolphin landed Best Show Garden last year, does this create extra pressure?
Cleve West’s garden was magnificent, but we are trying not to think about that. There’s always pressure isn’t there? But there’s no point in second-guessing the judging; all one can do is one’s best to produce a wonderful garden that we can all be proud of.
Tell us about Brewin Dolphin’s brief and how you tackled it?
Sometimes briefs can be very specific but this time it was more about capturing the spirit of the company. Brewin Dolphin is a British company, so we reflected that in the use of native plants. Their ethos is about personal interaction and conviviality, but also security, so it’s a garden where people can meet and mingle and be entertained, but it also gives a sense of contained enclosure.
It’s actually Brewin Dolphin’s fourth consecutive year at Chelsea, what do you think they gain from sponsoring a Chelsea garden?
I think they gain a lot – first of all of course it’s being beamed round the world into people’s homes so the exposure is pretty good! But also I think they feel it’s a nice link with their clients, many of whom are passionate about gardening and whom Brewing Dolphin really enjoy seeing at the show. There’s also an association with the pursuit of excellence, which is what Chelsea is all about and that means they really enjoy being part of the world’s premier garden show.
