Meanderings

Belgravia in Bloom

May 26, 2017

Sometimes London has a bit more magic on its streets than usual. This week, during the Chelsea Flower Show and Belgravia in Bloom nothing could be more true.

So many wonderful shops in the area have created spell bounding displays for the occasion. Each one taking either a children's book or safari-inspired theme, and making a beautiful shop front.

Being fairly new to the neighbourhood we felt compelled to jump on the band wagon and play around with our own shop.

Choosing Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland, we were lucky enough to have the expertise of Hugh McLaren from McLaren Gardens working with us on this particular venture.

Please come and visit - join us down the rabbit hole...

Love,

S&B

Meet Hugh McLaren from McLaren Gardens

No stranger to woodlands and creating fantastical gardens we had to ask Hugh a few questions...

Q. How did you get into gardening?

A.
I always had an interest in gardening. Growing up, when everyone else was working in restaurants and pubs, I was always working on gardens. I ended up having a professional background in commercial forestrybefore focusing on gardening full time.

Q. Where and how do you get inspired for your gardens?

A.
I read a lot of Homes & Gardens magazines and design books. The Royal Horticultural Society has a publication I follow as well. Other than that, I really enjoy trying to reconstruct wilder garden-scapes in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

Q. What's your favourite flower at the moment?

A.
Right now I'm very fond of Astrantia Major - it's a beautiful flower and very hardy.

Q. You treat the gardens you create as art (we can see why), what is the general creative process like?

A.
It's almost completely spontaneous. I am constantly working through each space as the project unfolds and the layout begins to take shape. As the garden grows there's also an element of
reworking and helping the space grow into itself.

Q. Is there an aspect you enjoy most about working on collaborative projects like the one you've just helped us with for Belgravia in Bloom?

A.
The wonderful thing about horticulture is that it's so wide ranging - when I'm not doing private gardens these sorts of projects add a whole other dimension of opportunities and creative challenges that I enjoy.

For enquiries about McLaren Gardens:

Email
mclarengardens@gmail.com

Telephone
+44 7505 199937

Instagram
@mclarengardens

We would also like to wholeheartedly thank the incredible teams from Peggy Porschen and Chene Bleu for their involvement in our Mad Hatter's Tea Party