Showgarden chance for college team at Ideal Home Show

The 2016 Young Gardener of the Year competition was launched recently and is organised by TV gardener David Domoney in association with the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community.

The competition sees six of the UK’s leading horticultural colleges go head-to-head to create stunning sustainable urban show gardens, built in just one week.

The finished gardens will be seen by a quarter of a million visitors at the Ideal Home Show in March and the winners will be crowned Young Gardeners of the Year 2016.

The Prince’s Foundation have tasked the young gardeners with incorporating elements of an educational garden into the design. It should aim to inspire young people to reconnect with nature.

These annual awards offer students a great opportunity to showcase their work and celebrate the best of British young talent in garden design and build.

Each college will be given a 5.5m x 4m plot to both plan and design a garden that will demonstrate an understanding of harmony and sustainability.

It should also use clever plant combinations and incorporate a sense of proportion and clever use of the important vertical dimension in small, urban gardens and terraces.

The college will be asked to submit their garden designs before the beginning of February and will have five days to create their garden inside Kensington Olympia ready for the Ideal Home Show opening day on March 18. Visit www.idealhomeshow.co.uk