Garden Design Student Wins Silver at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival
Hamzah-Adam Desai studied garden and landscape design at College Manor College before winning Silver for his show garden design, Turfed Out, at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2022 in July.
Hamzah-Adam Desai studied garden and landscape design at College Manor College before winning Silver for his show garden design, Turfed Out, at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2022 in July.
After reading an article about the number of new homes being built in the UK over the next five years, Hamzah-Adam thought about how they would most likely all have identical gardens with patios and large lawns, without much consideration for practicality or eco-sensitive designs. With this in mind, Hamzah-Adam designed his show garden at Hampton Court for the owner of a new-build home who may be a complete beginner to gardening and wants a low-maintenance, cost-effective option that is environmentally-friendly.
Hamzah-Adam’s Turfed Out design is a water-wise garden that repurposes existing features; the lawn has been replaced with a simple, gravel garden with pollen-rich, easy to care for plants (that require no watering once established), and the existing patio is repurposed as a stepping stone path through the gravel garden.
Providing the right habitat for pollinators was at the heart of Hamzah-Adam’s winning design.
The garden also features a Gabion seat, which doubles up as a bug hotel. Hamzah-Adam was able to create this at zero cost, as he filled the cages with whatever he had and with things donated from neighbours’ gardens, which were destined for landfill. Bee boxes were also made on-site with off-cuts from Hamzah-Adam’s own garden fence. A simple, water feature serves as a dry place for pollinators to land on when stopping for a drink.
Hamzah-Adam’s show garden included a traditional herbaceous border and a pink and purple colour scheme. Magenta Dianthus carthusianorum and Agapanthus ‘Poppin’ Purple’ add splashes of bright colours complemented by silver-leaved plants such as Eryngium yuccifolium and Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’.
Hamzah-Adam says,
‘This is my first RHS show garden and I am thrilled to receive a Silver medal. The aim of my design is to raise awareness of climate change and the importance of reducing our water usage. Turfed Out is perhaps the future of gardening in the UK.
The feedback and positive comments I have received have been endless, and it has inspired so many people to ditch their lawn and replace it with a gravel garden. It was also a great honour to feature on BBC Gardener’s World followed by an interview with Joe Swift.’
Christine Bianchin, Principal at Capel Manor College, describes Hamzah-Adam as, ‘A credit to the course and our tutors, definitely one to watch!’
RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival is the world’s largest annual flower show, stretching over 34 acres. It is a celebration of gardening set in the historic grounds of Hampton Court Palace within easy reach of central London.
You can read more about Hamzah Adam’s journey into garden design here.
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