Decking Inspirations at Chelsea Flower Show 2021
Decking Inspirations at Chelsea Flower Show 2021
To creatively design and new terrace at the revered Flower Show at any Chelsea takes a brave soul. Your heart is certainly on your sleeve and for all of the world to see. The wrong gap, a splinter or indeed a creaking board and that may be sufficient for the judges to mark you down.
I don’t suspect for one minute that any decking at Chelsea Flower show will be in the hundreds of square metres. It’s more likely to be in a small corner, over a bridge or a mall component in a complex garden arrangement. It’s in these tiny offerings where the most spectacular inspiration can be found.
The decking may not be straight, it may not conform to the norm’ but it will certainly amaze and give food for your future thoughts… Read on and hopefully amaze your quill for your next design.
Finnish Soul Garden – A Nordic Heritage Seaside Garden
Designed by
Built by
Sponsored by
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland
Heavyweight timbers from reclaimed Ekki make this sturdy terrace stand out. The design of the floor is juxtaposing the vertical black timber panels. This makes the floor almost disappear and give the central stage to other elements in the garden. If you examine the construction, it is bolted together. Rebated holes to express the fixings make for a very industrial look to this structure. The dimensions of the decking boards are 235 x 80mm (That’s insane… very nice though)
Destin to last for just about ever and I think there is too much timber here to consider rotting for at least 50 – 100 years or so. They’ve already been taken from the sea from over 100 years of service. The APL will be happy to see reclaiming timber in action, I’m certain about that.
Traditionally Finnish, this I am not sure of, but I do like the hard and rustic look that has been achieved…
Arit Andersons garden “The BBC One Show and RHS Garden of Hope”
Designed by
Built by
Sponsored by
BBC The One Show
It’s not decking I want to show you in this garden, it is a head-turner for sure. The timber design and application in this garden is a dream. It doesn’t look real, but I can assure you that it most certainly is.
This is timber design that far surpasses the rectilinear and the humdrum of the monosyllabic nature of straight lines. It reaches far beyond and is an inspiration to anyone wanting to use timber in a garden… I recon this organic nature could be a concept for a timber terrace… should anyone be brave enough.
Marks out of 10 for timber application… its scores well off the scale from me
Whether it’s a celebration garden or secret there wasn’t much from the world of decking. Decking has inspired Garden Designers in the past, but I am not so sure about this show. I am sure about the reclaimed and reusing though. Having spoken to Ross Conquest and his decisions about his companies use of tropical hardwoods. In short, he doesn’t use new tropical hardwoods, for him they have to be reclaimed and recycled…
That’s not the end of the show nor is it the end of the decking, there is something rather special to show you.
He also said “We’ve now made a company decision bout using tropical hardwoods. Tropical hardwoods have to be used responsibly, they have to be sustainable and ethical on all grounds. We can no longer rely on a stamp to prove what is genuine in our product hungry world.
In the Blue Diamond, Forge Garden used reclaimed English Elm, Siberian Larch, English Oak, Scandinavian pine and teak.
In the Chesneys trade stand, we used reclaimed Australian jarrah. They had to plane and bevel this gorgeous hardwood to give a contemporary finish. This revealed the old, scarred face on detail through the central bearers encased in London-stone treads and risers.
We also used some massive sections of Reclaimed 100 x 50mm Bankirai for the boardwalk.”
Gaze Burvill show off new Curved Splash Lounge
Designed by
Anna-Marie Powell
Built by
Landform Consultants Ltd
Sponsored by
Gaze Burvill for their Trade Exhibition
This is one for you to go take a look at in person, if you haven’t got tickets for Chelsea then you should. This Oak platform is leading from the front. It has quality bursting from every corner. Anna-Marie Powell is an A-lister when it comes to designing gardens… London town gardens to the stately homes and they are all world-class.
The carpenters at Gaze Burvill have expertly crafted these boards. No different from their normal standard of craftsmanship, which indecently is rather good.
It’s the design for me. It’s not a massive multi-layered terrace, it’s the inspiration. The timbers have been loved by the designer even before they were cut, they have been loved through every stage of their manufacture. Smoking, planning, rough cutting and creating their individual and perfect finishes. Loved during their installation too.
The gapping, the dimension, the accuracy and the construction. There isn’t anything more here that needs to be. It’s a very simple design but where there is simplicity there is intelligence. This must have taken hours of painstaking iteration… what a lovely problem to have.
In conclusion to the RHS Chelsea Flower show 2021, it has never been about decking, it was never intended to be. For us decking folk, it has been about inspiration. This year had quite a lot of it… It’s Chelsea and it normally does.
