Designer creates final garden for Chelsea Flower Show

A multi-award winning garden designer created his tenth and final garden for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Tom Hoblyn, who lives in Bardwell, Suffolk, designed a sensory garden for the end-of-life charity, Hospice UK called Garden of Compassion.

"I jumped at the chance at doing this," said Hoblyn, who has also designed gardens for children's hospices Haven House, in Woodford Green, east London and The Nook, near Norwich.

"There's a desperate shortage of gardens in hospices; they play a vital role in creating a positive atmosphere for end-of-life care."

Hoblyn said it was important to create a design for the show that "grounds people in nature, and to activate all the senses".

"Smell, sight, sound, touch is particularly important in a hospice garden," he added.

The garden was inspired by Mediterranean themes, which allowed him to use very bright colours as well as heavily scented flowers, such as the Spanish broom, Spartium junceum.

"The fact you're using a lot of Mediterranean plants means you attract a lot of insects, so you get a lot of noise too," he said.

While many gardeners may have been mourning the lack of rain this spring, Hoblyn's dry and hot garden has not.

"This is my 10th garden for Chelsea, and it's never been without rain before, so this is an absolute blessing, this is great," he said.

Explaining why this was his final Chelsea garden, he said he had spent 18 months on the Garden of Compassion.

"It's a lot, and I do have real work I should be doing," he said.

"It's also time, we need more young people in horticulture, we need to make way [for them]."

He added he would now like to devote some time to mentoring young people for Chelsea.

The designer has been involved with pieces at the London horticultural show for the past 25 years, winning many accolades.

"We've done well, but it's not just me - I just surround myself with the best people," he said.

Looking back, he said his highlights included winning the People's Choice award at Chelsea in 2012, again for a Mediterranean garden.

"To get People's Choice is so rewarding, it's not just based on judges, but the people's views," he said.

Hoblyn's garden was funded by Project Giving Back.

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