A duo from Salisbury won platinum award for best garden and the best beautiful border award at the BBC Gardener’s World Spring Fair last weekend.
Friends Laura Hall and Andrew Williamson met through their study of garden design at Sparsholt College, near Winchester.
The fair took place in Beaulieu between Friday, May 3 and Sunday, May 5 and the Journal spoke with Laura, 45, about their success in the competition.
With a design background, having worked as a visual merchandiser in retail and now as a garden designer in her business “Laura Hall Garden Design,” Laura has a passion for creating beautiful outside spaces.
Laura said: “Working with different people, working outside, I just love plants!”
The competition involved Laura and Andrew making a show garden in two and a half days. Their garden, which they named “Together” included two seats made from sustainable wood, a crushed concrete pathway, feeding stations for wildlife and a “calming” colour palate of all plants and materials.
The duo were asked to represent the Southampton centre charity “Maggie’s,” a cancer care charity that provides care and support in centres across the UK.
Their garden was the first to be judged, at 3pm, by six judges, and they had to wait until 7pm to find out the results.
READ MORE: Dogstival aiming to cut its CO2 emissions in half in 2024
Laura said: “It was way more intense than we were expecting. The more we waited, we lost confidence. We were blown away really – it just exceeded our expectations even though we worked so hard for months.
“It has really paid off getting platinum - and the icing on the cake getting beautiful border.”
Laura and Andrew were in a group of 17 gardens in total to judge. The pair were delighted to meet Gardener’s World presenters Francis Tophill and Adam Frost at the show.
Laura added: “Thank you to all our friends and those who contributed toward our garden. A lot of plants were borrowed from Hillier Nurseries and George Beckett Nurseries.
“It has been brilliant as it’s for charity, people are so generous.”
They also used local tradesmen for materials used in their garden, for items such as bird feeders.
To find out more about the BBC Gardener’s World Spring Fair go to bbcgardenersworldlive.com/spring-fair/
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here