Planting detail – Allium ‘Globemaster’, Lychnis ‘White Robin’
I was delighted to be approached to design the award-winning ‘One Hundred Years of Remembrance’ show garden at Gardening Scotland 2017. The garden was commissioned by Glen Art in partnership with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and the Wilfred Owen Association, and marked both the centenary of the CWGC and the arrival of Wilfred Owen at Edinburgh’s Craiglockhart Hospital in June 1917.
General view of the garden
The garden was awarded a Silver medal, followed by the Bakker.com ‘I Dig It Award’ People’s Choice for Best Show Garden.
Wilfred Owen bust by Anthony Padgett
Wilfred Owen came to Edinburgh in June 1917 suffering from shell-shock, now recognised as post-traumatic stress disorder. His time at Craiglockhart with Siegfried Sassoon was highly influential on his poetry. Owen returned to France in August 1918, and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery in October before his death in action at Ors, France in November 1918. He is buried in Ors Communal Cemetery in France, cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Glen Art works with veterans diagnosed with PTSD, and the garden was constructed by some of the veterans along with CWGC staff and contractors. Click here for more information on the work of Glen Art.
Detail of reclaimed Portland statue from Portsmouth Naval Memorial
In the centenary year of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, it seemed only right to showcase the work of CWGC craftsmen past and present in the form of the Portland statue of the unknown sailor reclaimed from Portsmouth Naval Memorial, and in the paving, cut and laid by Scottish staff onsite.
The garden received a lot of media coverage including newspapers, BBC Scotland radio, BBC Reporting Scotland, Beechgrove Garden, STV, and this piece for Forces News.
Low view from bench
This is an original design by Robert M Ross. If you have an idea or a project you’d like to discuss, get in touch.
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