Visiting RHS Bridgewater

Last month, our whole team went to RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford to see the new gardens designed by legendary garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith, who specialises in creating gardens that combine naturalism and modernity.

Bridgewater is the pinnacle of planting design and it was brilliant to see what they have done there, what species of plants they have used and how they have arranged them.

As landscape architects, we have a unique opportunity in projects to push for a progressive and bold planting approach that ties into our wider philosophy of connecting people to nature, bio-diversity and climate change.

Having Bridgewater on the doorstep is a fantastic resource that can help increase our knowledge in a very visual way. We plan to return in the depths of winter to see how it looks compared to the summer.

Here’s what others in the Land Studio team thought:

Hamzah said: “Seeing the planting beds at Bridgewater and how dense they were opened my eyes to the different ways I could utilise space within beds.”

Sian said: “I was interested by the transition from formal to informal at Bridgewater through the use of the Chinese Streamside Garden. I liked the influence of another culture in achieving a sense of the ‘natural’ landscape, as this is often approached in a very traditional British manner in UK gardens.”

Matthew said: “It was interesting to see how beech hedges had been planted in different ways, including in front of the entrance building and to define the edge of a planting bed. The use of columns throughout the garden was a strong reminder that it doesn't have to be a tree or a 1000mm hedge to achieve definition.” 

Kate said: “I loved the Judas tree in the Paradise Garden with its open structure and delicate heart-shaped leaves which complements the soft grasses around it. It takes 20-50 years to reach its ultimate height of 8-12 metres so it’s an ideal small tree for restricted gardens.”

·         We’ll be visiting the Chelsea Flower Show this month.