Flood Tide

Show garden, Suffolk Show 2006

Design

Construction Team

Plot size 6m x 6m

Geoff Brace, Owl Design

Geoff Brace, Jim Cooper, Nick Warriner

“There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” – William Shakespeare

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The Dream

· Holidays by the sea
· Shingle beaches, creeks and inlets
· Big skies, endless summer
· Messing about in boats
· Voyages of discovery
· Children’s games
· Smugglers and pirates
· Treasure

The gravel of this garden reflects our natural beaches and shingle spits. The shallow pool mirrors the lagoons found behind the high water mark on many of our beaches.

Plants form drifts in the shingle. Their colours evoke the wash of water on the flood tide – greens, blues, greys and white. At the top of the tide, silver and gold plants represent our good fortune and our riches.

The boat drawn up on the beach brings us to a safe landing place to enjoy our dreams.

The Reality

East Anglia has the lowest average rainfall in the UK and climate change may make our summers even drier in the future. Selecting drought tolerant plants and retaining moisture with mulches, a low maintenance garden works with the conditions we have. Once established, the garden does not require watering. Mainly evergreen planting ensures year round interest and inspiration. Enjoy!

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Key planting

Artemesia 'Powis Castle'	Lavandula stoechas
Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Overdam’	Linarea purpurea
Convolvulus cneorum	Nepeta ‘Walkers Low’
Coreopsis grandiflora ‘Early Sunrise’	Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’
Eleagnus angustifolia	Pseudosasa japonica
Erisymum ‘Bowles Mauve’	Rosmarinus officinalis
Erisymum ‘Stars and Stripes’	Rosmarinus officinalis prostratus
Eryngium giganteum	Salvia nemorosa ‘Adrian’
Eucalptyptus pauciflora niphophila	Salvia nemorosa ‘Ostfriesland
Fargesia nitida	Salvia officinalis ‘Ictarena’
Fargesia murieliae	Salvia officinalis’Purpurea’
Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’	Sanguisorba obtusa
Helictotrichon sempervirens	Santolina chamaecyparissus
Lavandula ‘Munstead’	Thymus ‘Aureus’

Acknowledgements

Thank you to our sponsors CEMEX Aggregates for their help with this garden.

Thanks also to:

Priory Plants for the herbaceous plants
Jim Cooper for his carpentry and building.
Nick Warriner of Greenscape for help with landscaping.
David Nightingale of 3A Roofing for help with transport.
John Barry of Hall Farm, Stratford St Mary for lending his boat

	Cemex Aggregates, Colchester	01206 862222
Priory Plants 1 Covey Cottages, Hintlesham, Ipswich IP8 3NY		01473 652656
Greenscape 37 Wacker Field Road, Rendlesham, IP12 2U		01394 460741
Jim Cooper Carpentry, 3 North Hill Gardens, Ipswich, IP4 2QR		01473 601060
3A Roofing Ltd. The Laurels, Copdock, Ipswich IP8 3JF		07889 680616