Prize bloomers at top garden show

ARTISTS and landscape architects have brought forward some startling and original proposals for the 2009 International Garden Festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire (Loir-et-Cher).
The event is France’s equivalent of the Chelsea Flower Show.

Based on the theme of colour, 20 gardens have been selected from 300 entrants and the competition gardens are on display throughout the summer until October.

The chateau itself is picture-perfect so it is especially striking to see the sometimes outrageous garden displays.

Each is totally different and some include light emitting diodes for nighttime displays. The evening events are open from 22.00 until midnight.

The picture above, an artist’s impression of designer Anaëlle Madec's 'Laundry in Bloom' shows the washing line and washing swaying in the wind and reflecting the garden’s colours.

Her garden is split up into nine areas planted with dye plants with shades varying from crimson to blue.

Elsewhere, landscape architect Anne-Fleur Aronstein from Holland has many hues of blue in her work 'This is not Monochrome' which was created in collaboration with Mascha Onderwater, Danielle Huls and Martine Van Vliet.

The French painter Mona Robert has created a garden painting which she sees as contemplative garden, just like those of Zen temples.

Landscape architect Odile Decq is using black glass to reshape her garden and the soil has been replaced by shredded tyres for a new sensation underfoot.

The show attracts thousands of visitors each year, many of whom are interested in the original design ideas. Chaumont has become famous for one-off concepts that suddenly appear world-wide, such as botanist Patrick Blanc’s vertical vegetal walls.

Photo: Anaëlle Madec's 'Laundry in Bloom'