Last Chance to See: The Times Eureka Chelsea Garden comes to Kew for the Summer

01 July 2011

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is delighted to announce that The Times Eureka Chelsea Garden, in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, will be on display at Kew, near Victoria Gate, from 8 July 2011 until this autumn. The show garden, designed by Marcus Barnett, which won a Silver Medal at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, highlights the significance of plants to science and society.

The garden at Victoria Gate will, as far as possible, be faithful to the original design, with the exception that it will not include the still water features and boundary hedges that featured at Chelsea.

Visitors to Kew will also have the added benefit of being able to walk through the show garden and to see it against the majestic backdrop of Kew’s historic, UNESCO World Heritage Site landscape, and to see many more beautiful, useful and rare plants in Kew’s gardens and iconic glasshouses.

The species featured in the show garden demonstrate both beauty and utility, including medicinal, commercial, and industrial uses to underline the fact that plants are invaluable to our everyday lives – without them, none of us could live on this planet; they produce our food, clothing and the air that we breathe.

They include fennel, which is used to flavour food in many culinary traditions around the world and geraniums, often used as a diuretic and to treat kidney complaints – the leaves of which can also be used as mosquito repellent. Others are salvias, which is used as a treatment for diseases of the Central Nervous System, and roses, commonly used by the cosmetics industry and by drinks manufacturers.

Professor Angela McFarlane, Director of Public Engagement and Learning, said, “We are pleased to be able to give anyone who missed the Chelsea Flower Show an opportunity to see The Times Eureka show garden at Kew over the summer months.

“As an organisation, the future and security of the planet’s plants is very close to our heart. This garden is not only stunning, but also embodies how we all absolutely depend on plants for the necessities of everyday life.”

Marcus Barnett drew his inspiration for the garden from plant cell structure. A central pavilion, designed to look like the skeleton of a leaf, folded into a cube shape, provides a contemporary and light space from which to view the garden. From this structure ‘capillaries’ radiate along the ground, helping to demonstrate the link between plants and materials. For the design of the pavilion, Barnett collaborated with award winning architectural practice NEX. Engineering services were provided by Buro Happold.

Sussex based, The Outdoor Room, the main contractors for building the show garden, are also involved in the relocation of the garden to Kew.

The notion of plants as essential contributors to life on earth motivates much of Kew’s work around the globe. Kew’s scientists and conservationists are working to ensure that the plants that protect our environment continue to thrive, and that their usefulness for mankind is harnessed and enhanced. Kew maintains the world’s largest Herbarium, one of the world’s most important botanical reference libraries and probably the most diverse living collection of plants in the world. Kew also leads the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, a global collaboration operating in more than 50 countries. It is the largest ex-situ conservation project in the world and we have already banked the seeds of 10% of the world’s plant species.

The partnership between The Times and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, celebrates a shared commitment to science. The Times is the only national newspaper to have a dedicated monthly science magazine – it launched Eureka in October 2009, which every month devotes 60 pages to covering science, life and the environment.

Marcus Barnett is a prize winning graduate in landscape design, with two RHS Gold Medals at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2005 and 2006 and a Silver Gilt in 2007. Influenced both by modernist architecture and the English garden tradition, he is known for his classically contemporary style, in which bold, abstract geometry, clean lines, and modern materials combine with clipped evergreen shapes and the softening influence of grasses and perennials. His work ranges from urban courtyards, which blur and blend boundaries between indoors and out, to large country house gardens, where the ground is sensitively manipulated to the rhythms of the surrounding landscape.

For more information please contact the RBG Kew Press Office on 020 8332 5607 or email pr@kew.org

Images are available to download from http://www.kew.org/press/images
Please contact the press office for the username and password.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding living collection of plants and world-class Herbarium as well as its scientific expertise in plant diversity, conservation and sustainable development in the UK and around the world. Kew Gardens is a major international visitor attraction. Its landscaped 132 hectares and RBG Kew’s country estate, Wakehurst Place, attract nearly 2 million visitors every year. Kew was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 and celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2009. Wakehurst Place is home to Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed bank in the world. RBG Kew and its partners have collected and conserved seed from 10 per cent of the world's wild flowering plant species (c.30, 000 species). The aim is to conserve 25% by 2020, and its enormous potential for future conservation can only be fulfilled with the support of the public and other funders.

Kew receives funding from the UK Government through Defra for approximately half of its income and is also reliant on support from other sources. Without the voluntary monies raised through membership, donations and grants, Kew would have to significantly scale back activities at a time when, as environmental challenges become ever more acute, its resources and expertise are needed in the world more than ever. Kew needs to raise significant funds both in the UK and overseas. Members of the public can support the work of the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership by getting involved with the ‘Adopt a Seed, Save a Species' campaign. For £25 an individual can adopt a seed or for £1000 anyone can save an entire species. www.kew.org/adoptaseed.

The Times is one of the world's most trusted quality newspapers, with 1.6 million readers and more under-45 readers than any other title in the UK quality segment (NRS Jan-Jun 2010). The paper has more business readers than both the Financial Times and The Daily Telegraph combined (British Business Survey). In October 2009, The Times demonstrated its commitment to investing in quality journalism with the launch of Eureka - a 60-page monthly magazine dedicated to science, life and the planet. Eureka is published on the first Thursday of every month. The Times relaunched its features section, Times2, in October 2010, which delivers 24 pages of news, lifestyle and arts features every day.

News International has made a corporate commitment to building an environmentally sustainable business, in terms of paper suppliers, processes and power provision. In 2007, News International Ltd became the UK's first carbon neutral newspaper publisher. This was achieved by increasing energy efficiency, switching to renewable energy and combined heat and power, and purchasing high quality offsets. In line with this, in 2008 NI newsprint was made from 87% recycled source fibres.

For more information on Marcus Barnett, please go to http://www.marcusbarnett.com/

For more information on NEX please go to http://www.nex-architecture.com

For more information Buro Happold please go to http://www.burohappold.com/bh/home.aspx

The Outdoor Room
• Founded 1995
• Landscape consultation and construction at the highest end of the market for some of the country’s leading garden designers
• The Outdoor Room has the expertise to realise just about every element of garden design and construction
• Lecturing and tutoring in landscape construction since 1993 (including Inchbald, Merrist Wood, SGD, RHS, LCGD)
• 11 RHS award winning gardens for Chelsea, Hampton Court and Tatton Park ( 4 gold, 2 silver gilt, 3 silver, 2 bronze)
• 5 National BALI awards
• Our goal is to continue offering the highest standard of service to our customers.
• Specialties: Full landscape and garden construction, show gardens, mature tree planting, major ground works and land sculpture, water features, garden lighting, education
• For further information: enquiries@theoutdoorroom.co.uk, T +44 (0) 1403 780 354
• www.theoutdoorroom.co.uk

Inchbald School of Design
Marcus Barnett trained at the prestigious Inchbald School of Design, which has been educating the leading figures in the world of design since 1960. An independent school of design, Inchbald offers Master of Arts degrees, Diploma and Certificate courses in Architectural Interior Design, Interior Decoration and Garden Design, which are now available online. Inchbald, based in London, has helped to produce some of the biggest names in garden design and is proud to see former student Marcus Barnett teaming up with The Times and The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on such an innovative project.

Marcus Barnett: “I wouldn’t be where I am today without my training at The Inchbald School of Design. The course cleverly broke down every facet of Landscape Design; starting with the history of design, the core principals of design and then bringing us right up to date with modern materials, planting ideas and methods, construction details and the way to approach the business of design.”