This garden, named ‘Temple of
Flora’, was the result of a team effort by leader and
installer Bob Frieden, designer Zach Zuik and Redwood
Stone. The design was inspired by a visit to Stourhead
Gardens when Bob and Zach visited Redwood Stone in
England in the winter of 2004. The design cleverly
combined the strong structure of 18th century landscape
gardens with the ephemeral use of colours in the style
of Andrew Goldsworthy.
Redwood Stone’s major
contribution to the effort was the design and
manufacture of a new Temple Rotunda as an addition to
the Gothic Folly collection. I particularly liked the
way Zach designed the temple into a sweeping curved wall
rather than the more traditional placement as a
centrepiece. I must also pay tribute to the skill of
Frieden Landscapes who installed the temple with
meticulous precision - especially considering that they
had to fix all of the columns before the crown had even
been delivered!
Like the Pantheon at Stourhead our
Temple was also designed as a structure with purpose
rather than simply as decoration. The fireplace inside
makes this the perfect place for evening or late summer
entertaining.
It was particularly pleasing to find that the Cleveland
Botanical Garden had chosen to retain our Folly from the
2003 show amongst their own permanent gardens. Bob
Frieden installed new paths and refreshed the planting
to give us almost a second show garden.
Matt and Bob from Frieden Landscapes, Tim and Zach
Winners of the awards for Outstanding Architectural
& Landscape Design and Best in Show for Theme
Gardens