For her debut garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021 , designer Sara Edwards is exploring and challenging schematic ideas of container horticulture and thinking BIG - with her IBC Pocket Forest Garden .
Sara Edwards play the No.30 Design Studio in Herefordshire , which was launched in 2019 following her success at RHS Malvern Spring Festival , when she won an RHS Gold Medal and Best in class ‘ Green Living Space Garden ’ for her repurposed shipping Container Garden – ‘ Defiance ’ .
The IBC Pocket Forest Garden has been inspired by Sara ’s love of the verdantly establish , towering balconies of Milan ’s ‘ Bosco Verticale ’ designed by Boeri Studio . Sara was also tempt by the planting methodological analysis of Nipponese plant scientist and flora ecologist Akira Miyawaki , which was instrumental in creating the conception of ‘ midget wood ’ in little urban spaces .
At just 4 x 3 meters , Sara ’s IBC Pocket Forest Garden exhibit how even in the smallest of blank , it is possible to create an urban pocket - sized forest , through creatively upcycling and re - purposing promptly available , Intermediate Bulk Containers ( IBC ) . IBC , like pallets and shipping container , are all part of orbicular trading economy , but many more arrive in the country than ever leave , create a surplus to requirement , which are unadulterated for adapting in the trend of upcycling and reuse .
Repurposing plastic containersSara who consider Art & Design and has a First - class BA ( Hons ) in 3D Furniture Design and Making , smartly repurposed the large plastic containers to create deep but summary , planting beds , which provide enough volume to concord a lavishly tiered planting scheme of trees , shrub and terra firma covering .
Sara has even repurposed the steel bases of the containers , to produce a stylish , urban steel bench on which to seat and enjoy the garden .
Sara ’s Pocket Forest planting has big trees including Betula pendula , Sorbus aucuparia , Crataegus Malus Everest . She has a middle storey of shrubs including Cornus sanquinea , and Viburnum opulus . There is an underplanting and groundcover from a host of textured perennial include ferns Dryopteris erythrosora ‘ Brilliance and filix - mas and grasses with Hakonechloa Macra , Carex testacea Prairie Fire , Asplenium scholopendrium and Brunnera macrophylla .
Wildlife pondSara has also adapted one of the container to make a modern-day take on a wildlife pool , which features a collecting of happen upon aquatic plants , including Caltha plaustris , Scirpus cernuus , Carex riparia and Typha gracilis .
The result is a striking , lilliputian woodland garden that is both sustainable and come-at-able for those with even the smallest of outdoor infinite . The IBC Pocket Forest Garden ply a haven for wildlife and a sanctuary in which to sit down and be immersed in nature .
gloss Sara ( right ) said , “ It is marvelous to be capable to create my first garden for RHS Chelsea Flower Show . Due to the changes this year , I ’ve only had a couple of months to create the Garden , so I want to think big and agitate boundaries and to plan a garden which challenge the usual minor space container planting . ”
She remain , “ I wanted to play with scale and therefore the plantation owner , trees and shrub are all very large and when you pose in the garden , it is totally immersive and feels as though you are sitting in a tiny glade , with minute paths that overhang with arm . It is experimental and playful . I really hope the approximation is something multitude can try for themselves . ”
