As he goes from strength to strength, we catch up with renowned Chelsea Flower Show Garden Designer, Paul Hervey-Brookes. Paul has worked with us on our RHS Chelsea Flower Show gardens now for a number of years, and understands our inspirations and ambitions – just as we recognise his.

His creativity and innovation shone through at last year’s show, where he won us Gold Medal for our ‘Fresh’ garden and it continues to be a pleasure to work with him.

Here you can watch our latest interview with Paul as we dig a little deeper to find out where Paul finds his inspiration and  read up on how he even begins to plan a garden as complex as his ‘Italian Renaissance Show Garden’ for BrandAlley at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

1.       What excites you most about the Show Garden?

The scale and prestige of creating a Show Garden on Main Avenue is a dream come true, and to create one with such personal inspiration behind it is utter joy.

2.       What excites you most about the Italian Renaissance theme?

The most exciting thing is to be able to create a garden that hasn’t been seen before at Chelsea. By drawing on beautiful, historical places, we can bring to life the style and atmosphere found within them. The BrandAlley Renaissance Garden is very traditional and, whilst that is not new in itself, building a garden using traditional methods, as we are doing, has not been done on this scale at Chelsea for many years. It’s going to be an incredibly moving creation.

Image: Paul’s Inspiration

3.       Where do you begin to plan something like this and how does that plan develop?

The planning all started as a conversation between BrandAlley and myself. Because we’ve worked together before and have a great partnership, the creative concept came to life very quickly. From this stage, we moved to a submission. This is a detailed plan that has to be submitted to RHS Chelsea for inclusion in the Show and we were thrilled when ours was approved. This was actually quite a while ago now, followed by us spending almost a year tracking down all of the obscure components we needed, both in the UK and abroad – with Italy being especially important for our garden’s Renaissance theme.

With everything ticked off the list, we will arrive on site at Chelsea several days before the start of the Show next month and start bringing those elements to life as a harmonious whole. It sounds a lot simpler when written down!

4. You’ve chosen Bradstone to supply the paving. Can you tell us a little more about them?

Bradstone are the UK’s leading paving specialists with a product range that is not only inspirational, but also very affordable and that gives fantastic, achievable results.

I enjoy a long-standing relationship with Bradstone, which I’ve nurtured over the past seven years. We are now at a point where we understand each other’s needs and how each other works, which really shines through when I use Bradstone products to create landscapes and gardens.

Using a mixture of their standard range alongside some bespoke items, I am able to create gardens, which hopefully, people feel relaxed enough to escape into.

 

5. For the plants, you’re working with Hillier. What makes them special?

Hillier are one of the few horticultural businesses that need little introduction. So here are a few stats:

–           Hillier is often referred to as ‘The Beatles’ of horticulture.

–          Still industry leaders to this day, Hillier celebrate their 150-year anniversary in 2014.

–          Hillier were voted ‘International Grower of the Year’ in 2010

–          They supplied the London 2012 Olympics with over 2000 trees

Hillier’s determination for quality and innovation make them my number one choice for the trees and shrubs for The BrandAlley Renaissance Garden.

 

6. How would you sum up The BrandAlley Renaissance Garden?

We feel that The BrandAlley Renaissance Garden embodies the ultimate aspirational space.  Renaissance gardens continue to inspire film, fashion and photography and we want to create a garden that will not only inspire, but also allow BrandAlley members to take something back to their own gardens.  That could be an idea, a beautiful planting combination or one of the many luxurious garden accessories on display.

Join the conversation with #BrandAlleyInspired and follow our blog to hear all the latest from the event and its build-up.