BBC Gardener’s World Live

Above: Revelation – Derby College, Mike Baldwin

BBC Gardeners’ World Live has announced the winners of its prestigious Show Garden awards at the NEC, with two gardens scooping Platinum Awards, the highest available at the Show.

Assessors awarded Designer Alexandra Froggatt Platinum, the top honour for her creation, ‘The Watchmakers Garden’. The garden pays homage to Birmingham, the Show’s host city, by recreating a garden typical of a historic Jewellery Quarter craftsman’s back yard from the 19^th century. The build was also named as ‘Best Show Garden’.

Alex’s Watchmaker’s Garden features heritage vegetables in a kitchen garden traditional of the era, as well as cottage garden flowers, naturalistic grasses and rustic paths and fences. The interactive watchmaker’s workshop features artefacts sourced from working jewellers in the district, and even from the city’s iconic St Paul’s Church, which is nestled in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter.

Worcestershire-based landscapers DesignIt, with designer Lucy Bravington, also picked up a Platinum Award for their ‘High Line’ Show Garden in APL Avenue.  Lucy’s design was based on an elevated New York City park, and mixed naturalistic trees with industrial steel elements. The garden also won ‘Best Construction’. Those achieving the top spots were presented with golden Niwaki spades, at the awards presentation on Wednesday 12 June.

Elsewhere in the show, both teams battling it out for the Young Landscapers Award, sponsored by Marshalls, achieved Gold Awards, with talented Warwickshire duo Matthew Wood and Sam Gordon narrowly winning the title.

There were other Gold winners across the competition including Gadd Brothers in APL Avenue and ‘Here We go Round the Mulberry Bush’, the Showcase Garden by Hana Leonard. The Home Solutions by John Lewis Garden, supported by The APL, also received a Gold Award.

Alexandra Froggatt, winner of Best Show Garden, said: “There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing all your hard work and hours being recognised in such a way. I’m thrilled at how the Show Garden has turned out, as it was an ambitious design. But with the help of my team, my family and the Jewellery Quarter BID, which has supplied the artefacts, we’ve created something really special and I can’t wait to see the visitors exploring and enjoying it.”

Bob Sweet, Horticultural Director at BBC Gardeners’ World Live, said: “The conditions which the designers and landscapers have had to work in this week have really tested their skills. The finished gardens are an inspiration, finished to a very high standard and full of incredible ideas that visitors will be able to recreate at home.”

BBC Gardeners’ World Live runs from Thursday 13 – Sunday 16 June. For information, visit www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com