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When Barb and Len Eaton had their house remodeled, they didn’t stop with the inside. With it came a picture-perfect remake of the garden and landscaping, complete with an outdoor dining room and fireplace.

It’s the crown jewel of the 19th annual Spring Garden Tour organized by the American Association of University Women of Ashland.

If you go

What: 19th annual Spring Garden Tour organized by the American Association of University Women of Ashland

When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 8

Tickets: Cost is $20; available at Paddington Station, the Grange Co-ops of Medford and Ashland, and at www.aauwashland.org

The self-guided tour, which benefits scholarships and social programs for women, as well as the environment, runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 8. Participants can tour five gardens and enjoy refreshments at Grizzly Peak Winery.

Entering the rear garden, visitors are stunned by the classic symmetry of this “Mediterranean-theme oasis,” as it’s called by Kelly Eaton, its designer — and the daughter-in-law of the Eatons. Her husband, Jason Eaton, of Conscious Construction, remodeled the house.

A lovely fireplace nestles under a pergola, dominating the west wall. It’s surrounded by a tiled dining area with a table for six and another table for four. Flagstone walkways wind about the secluded yard, threading between mature Ponderosa pine and oak trees.

There seems not a blade of grass out of place — and the effect is deeply meditative, with views of mountains (but not neighbors) in every direction.

With the region in drought, the AAUW this year is emphasizing two big ways to cut water use: reduce grass and increase drought-tolerant plants. The Eatons’ landscaping does just that.

The city of Ashland is co-sponsoring the event as a way to promote its Water Wise and Fire Wise programs, offering water audits and wildfire audits through the city Conservation Commission, says Mimi Pippel, co-president of the Ashland AAUW. For details, see www.ashlandsaveswater.org.

A rich selection of flora lines the walkways of the Eaton garden — salvia, barberry, day lilies, heather, hardy geraniums, fuschia, pin cushion flower.

“This is my sanctuary,” says Barb Eaton. “My garden is my best therapist. It’s pure joy to be out here with the bees and butterflies.”

The south part of the garden offers bleeding heart, pineapple guava, echinacea, day feather, flowering currant, yew, dogwood and redbud. In the northwest corner, vegetables grow apace.

The wood fence is adorned with hanging sculpture, including lots of Green Men and a Dionysus. One plaque appropriately notes, “If you love the life you live, you will live the life you love.”

In addition to the Eatons’ oasis, four other gardens are on the tour:

• A former orchard with native plants near the forestland interface. Foxes have been seen here, munching persimmons high in a tree. A pond edged with local rocks provides habitat for frogs, birds, opossums and others. Native plants include camas, dogwood and currant.
• A flowering woodland with a dramatic gate provides an example of lawn converted to the “whimsical ambience” of daffodils, irises, tulips, Asiatic lilies, hyacinths, gladiolus, rhododendrons, sage, lilacs, strawberries and more.
• A neighborhood garden above Siskiyou Boulevard uses simple, natural materials, native plants, modern lines, edible gardens and sculpture, with a cottage, an alpine creek and a concrete-and-steel bridge. Grapes, ornamental grasses, heathers, rhodies, ferns and drought-loving maples help form the landscaping.
• Lots of young fruit trees, including apple, pear, peach and plum, combine with artistic features and views to give visitors lots of ideas for their own gardens. Roses and clematis climb the rear fence. Raised beds contain veggies and herbs. Deer don’t find much to munch here.

The Ashland AAUW raised $22,000 last year for young women’s scholarships and other programs. The tour sold more than 400 tickets and netted $6,000. The organization — the largest AAUW in the state — has branched out from scholarships and donates funds to help bring new bedding and kitchen items to Dunn House, a shelter for abused women, says Pippel.

The tour will feature refreshments and live music by More Fools Than Wise Madrigal singers, at Grizzly Peak Winery at the top of East Nevada Street. Tickets cost $20 and are available at Paddington Station and the Grange Co-ops of Medford and Ashland. Tickets and maps are also available on the Ashland AAUW website at www.aauwashland.org.

John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Email him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.

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Incorporating carefully selected native plants into your garden is a great way to create a landscape that needs less water, fertilizer and pesticides and that also benefits native pollinators, such as bees, moths and hummingbirds. Many western native plants are adapted to strong sunlight, limited amounts of precipitation, soils low in organic matter and challenging winters. Even putting these benefits aside, many gardeners grow native plants to bring more of the natural landscape around them into their day-to-day lives.

As with all landscaping projects, you’ll first need to assess the conditions in your yard. Take a look at the amount of sunlight and wind you have, the kind of soil and available water. You can then start selecting plants you think will suit the environment. As you begin to research possible plants for your yard, remember that drought-tolerant plants—those that will help you use less water in your landscape—are often adapted to full sun. If your yard is shady, you may need to look for plants that prefer a bit more water.

Also keep in mind that many western wildflowers are short-lived perennials. Many live for three to five years, during which they will often produce seed that—if given the chance—will grow into plants to replace their parents. Expect your yard to change a bit from one year to the next. Self-sown seedlings are great for expanding your plantings or passing along to friends.

Here are some plants you might consider trying in your yard. The descriptions are from the new booklet Plants with Altitude: Regionally Native Plants for Wyoming Gardens, co-written by myself, Amy Fluent with the Laramie Garden Club, Dorothy Tuthill and Brenna Marsicek with the University of Wyoming Biodiversity Institute

Kelsey’s phlox or marsh phlox, Phlox kelseyi

• Exposure: full sun to light shade
• Water needs: low to moderate

This early bloomer is covered in glowing bright-purple flowers that hide its needle-like green foliage. It stands between 1 and 1.5 inches tall and is between 5 and 8 inches wide. It has a long bloom time (at least a month in many locations) and is less likely to suffer from winterburn than more common creeping phlox species (perhaps because it is so short). It’s a great plant for the front of a garden bed. Phlox kelseyi is found in a few locations in Wyoming; the cultivar ‘Lemhi Purple’ was originally collected in the Lemhi Mountains, which are near the southwest portion of the Montana-Idaho border. ‘Lemhi Purple’ is becoming increasingly common in quality regional nurseries.

Rocky Mountain beardtongue, Penstemon strictus

• Exposure: full sun
• Water needs: low but adaptable

Penstemon is the largest genus of wildflowers restricted to the new world—mostly north of Mexico. In Wyoming, there are more than 40 species, some broadly distributed and some restricted to very narrow ranges. They usually stand between 18 and 30 inches tall and are between 12 and 36 inches wide. Of the purple/blue penstemons, Rocky Mountain beardtongue is the species most commonly found at nurseries. (It is also easy to start from seed.) With tall spikes of blue-purple flowers and shiny dark green leaves, it is attractive in any garden and very attractive to pollinators, too. Like most penstemons, it has a short blooming season—typically a month in summer. Also like most, it prefers dry soils. With excess water or too much shade, it can develop mildew on the leaves, and the root crowns may rot, especially if it goes into winter with wet feet. Rocky Mountain beardtongue can reseed aggressively, but cutting off the flower spikes after the blooms fade is an easy way to control this tendency.

Narrow-leaf coneflower, Echinacea angustifolia

• Exposure: full sun
• Water needs: low but adaptable

These purple-flowered, hairy-leaved plants are tough, standing between one and two feet high and about 12 and 18 inches wide. Though shorter than the much more common purple coneflower, these plants are definitely more drought tolerant. Plants can be started from seed and should be transplanted when small; they are more difficult to transplant when larger because of their taproot. Plants start out a bit slowly and take a few years to bulk up in size. This plant can reseed a fair amount depending on conditions.

Tufted evening primrose, Oenothera caespitosa

• Exposure: full sun
• Water needs: very dry to moderately moist

This short-lived plant produces huge, fragile-looking white flowers with a sweet lemony fragrance. The plants are less than a foot tall and between one and two feet wide. The flowers, which are often visited by white-lined sphinx moths (also called hummingbird moths), open in the evening and shrivel in the heat of the day. It can be a vigorous reseeder depending on where it is placed—as a result it will move around your landscape, dying out here, sprouting up there. This plant has a taproot, so transplant it when it is young. (Some other native evening primrose’s spread aggressively underground, becoming garden pests to some —know your Oenothera before you plant it). Rabbits may chew on the plant, especially when food sources are scarce. Given the chance, tufted evening primrose will usually recover very well from this activity.

Western mock orange, Philadelphus lewisii

• Exposure: full sun to part shade
• Water needs: low to moderate

Although mock orange might not have visible characteristics of a drought-tolerant plant, its looks belie its hardy constitution. It blooms in early summer, during which the shrub is covered with lovely white flowers that are strongly and sweetly scented. Be sure to site this shrub where it has plenty of room to grow and where its flowers can be appreciated. It came be between four and nine feet tall and wide. This plant can become a bit scraggly over time, which can be corrected with judicious pruning shortly after flowering. The selection ‘Cheyenne’, which originated from the Cheyenne High Plains Grassland Research Station, is especially lovely and easily found in nurseries.

The Garden Plot Thickens in The Potting Shed Mysteries

Posted: Friday, May 30, 2014 12:30 pm

The Garden Plot Thickens in The Potting Shed Mysteries

Julie Bawden-Davis

The Reporter-Times

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What do you do when you’re a garden writer who wants to write novels? If you’re Marty Wingate, you stay planted in the garden and pen the Potting Shed Mysteries series. The recently released first book in the series, The Garden Plot, tells the story of Pru Parke, a friendly Dallas native living in England, who is seeking a head gardener position so she can afford to stay in her adopted country.

In order to pay her bills, Pru takes on a variety of private gardening jobs. What occurs on one client’s site presents her with a mystery to unravel. While digging in the soil of a broken-down potting shed, she unearths an ancient Roman mosaic. Her delight at the find soon dampens considerably when she returns to the shed and finds a dead body in the spot. Though the police are on it, Pru has a hard time distancing herself and starts to ask a lot of questions, which angers the killer, who feels she’s already dug up too much.

A mystery reader and longtime garden writer, Wingate is a regular contributor to Country Gardens and other magazines, and is author of Landscaping for Privacy. She also leads gardening tours throughout England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and North America.

“As a garden writer and someone who visits England, Ireland, and Scotland on a regular basis, it has worked well to write the mystery series,” she says. “I’ve had a fabulous time in the make-believe world I’ve created in the garden. It’s certainly freeing to write fiction, and the process is a lot like gardening. You design, dig, and plant, and then tend to the garden and watch it flourish.”

Admire Wingate’s handiwork by grabbing a copy of the book, which is in e-book format, on Amazon. And if you enjoy Pru’s story, you won’t have to wait long to read more. Subsequent mysteries in the series will be released every six months.

View the original at Parade or follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+

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She’s saving up for her first dump truck.

“I want to have pink dump trucks all over York County,” said Valerie Mace, owner of Garden Girls of PA in West York.

She will use the trucks to haul soil, mulch and more to a growing number of landscaping jobs throughout the region.

In its third year, the company employs about 20 women, who range in age from 21 to 36. Three of them handle most of day-to-day operations, and the other 17 assist or volunteer with landscaping work, Mace said.

The women build retaining walls, mulch, garden and do other landscaping work during the warmer months, and in the winter they plow snow.

Mace said she’s still not making much, but the company has made progress.

“I started the business with $1,500 from my income tax return and bought a beat-up F-150. It broke down every week, but we made it work,” she said.

But it was a turning point for the 31-year-old mother of three boys.

“I worked in the bar industry and got tired of being pushed around by men and looked down on by women. I was in a place in my life I just didn’t like,” Mace said.

Her passion: She thought about what she loved to do and went back to her roots — literally.

Planting gardens and being outside are a passion for the young woman who grew up on a 101-acre farm in Hanover.

“I started mowing on the side, and the business grew from there,” Mace said.

Garden Girls has often been hired by older women in the area who are no longer physically able to plant their gardens and pull weeds, she said.

Mace dreams of being able to earn enough money to help those women and other seniors in the area.

She also wants to open a Garden Girls daycare.

“My girls and I are all moms, and we’ve all had trouble finding sitters or have had trouble paying them. We know what that’s like. It would be nice to have a facility where kids could go and plant their own garden and make lunches from that garden,” Mace said.

For the kids: She came a step closer to that dream when she and her co-workers purchased a van, which is used for taking the kids on field trips.

“That’s what I want — to make sure the kids are having a good life, even if I have to work through most of it,” Mace said.

She and her team work 10-hour days, five days a week, and she also works as a bartender at a local golf course.

“It’s amazing. It’s hard. I would love for Garden Girls to be my primary job, my only job. As of now, I’m working all weekend, every weekend. You do what you have to do to grow a business,” she said.

For more information, call Garden Girls at 717-846-6966 or search for Garden Girls of PA on Facebook.

—Reach Candy Woodall at cwoodall@yorkdispatch.com.

Landscape architect Jon Emerson’s office garden is such an important part of his workspace that he put the front door there.

“It’s like Savannah and Charleston,” Emerson says. “In Savannah and Charleston, you walk into the gardens first.”

The office, in an early 20th- century house in Beauregard Town, features a side garden divided into three main parts — a grove of citrus trees, a vegetable garden and an area for “trying out” new plants. A section at the back of the property contains a large circular fountain, filled with exotic fish, as well as a secluded area behind a studio and storage space.

Emerson, who retired after teaching 31 years in the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, originally owned his current office and the turn-of-the-century house next door. Beginning in the 1980s, he established the garden between the two buildings. Several years ago, he sold the older house but kept the garden.

To create a more private area, Emerson surrounded the garden with a wooden fence and planted a screen of Alphonse Karr, a special variety of bamboo that does not spread.

At least half of the side garden is filled with 14 varieties of citrus — Meyer lemons, blood oranges, Mandarin oranges, limes and kumquats — all loaded with budding fruit. Each citrus tree is planted in its own raised bed with a soaker hose and timer.

“With the raised beds, you don’t have to bend down so far to weed,” explains Emerson, who is very careful to remove all branches that shoot up in the graft area of the trees.

“The fine varieties are grafted onto very hardy stock for endurance, but the fruit on the hardy trees is not good, and the branches have very big thorns,” Emerson says. “These branches in the graft must be removed.”

Between the raised citrus beds, paths are laid with Grasscrete, a material which contains open spaces where grass can grow.

“I use it because I want to be sure the trees get enough oxygen and water from the rain,” he says.

Some time ago, Emerson made a large dirt mound as a playground for the champion Scottish Terriers he raises.

“They made such a mess on it that I turned it into my vegetable garden,” he says.

Tomatoes and green beans are planted around the edges with herbs, white eggplants and peppers in the center.

Emerson arranged pavers over the mound so he can easily access the plants at the center.

“It’s almost like a labyrinth,” he says.

A tall fence where each spring sweet peas bloom in abundance separates the citrus grove from a narrow area Emerson uses to experiment with different kinds of plants. A good part of this area is dedicated to several varieties of liguleria, one of his favorites. He is trying a black-leaf crape myrtle with dark red flowers, a yellow magnolia and several unusual irises.

“I just love plants. I love to experiment with plants,” he says. “Some make it, and some don’t.”

Emerson grew up in California, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and earned a graduate degree in landscape architecture from Harvard, where he taught for one year.

He is a man of many interests. He paints, does life sculpture and raises his champion Scotties. In 1998, one of his dogs won Best in Breed at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

He is an award-winning landscape architect with many outstanding projects to his credit. One of his most recent is the landscaping design for the new Main Library. The project also includes his design of two rooftop gardens and the stained-glass window in the children’s section.

From the work area in his office, Emerson has a clear view of the garden.

“I come here every day,” he says. “It’s a place I love to be. I have my music and my dogs here. I design here.”

GARDENS

1. The Dr. Gus Frye Garden, 3 Bartram Road, Lookout Mountain

2. Chattanooga Arboretum and Nature Center, 400 Garden Road, Chattanooga (last Saturday tickets accepted at 3 p.m.)

3. Janet Wasetis, 900 Mississippi Ave., North Chattanooga

4. Evelyn Davenport Navarre Teaching and Enabling Garden at the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, 2009 Curtain Pole Road, Chattanooga

5. The Fair Share Garden at Hope for the Inner City, 1800 Roanoke Ave., Chattanooga

6. Johnny and Shirley McMasters, 4879 Loan Hill Road, Chattanooga

7. Mike and Stephanie Payne, 1726 Collieview Lane, Hixson

SUGGESTED ROUTES

The Nature Center will close early Saturday for a wedding, and touring doesn’t begin Sunday until 1 p.m. Event organizers suggest these routes to ensure ample time to enjoy each garden.

■ Option 1: Gardens 3-7 on Saturday, Gardens 1-2 on Sunday

■ Option 2: Gardens 1-5 on Saturday, Gardens 6-7 on Sunday

The city of Bowie and Soroptimist International of Bowie-Crofton will host the city’s 18th annual Beautification Awards Program and is seeking nominations until June 20.

The program is a way for Bowie to recognize the yards, gardens and landscaping that add to the city’s aesthetic, said special events coordinator Matt Corley.

“We’re looking at those homes that help beautify Bowie,” he said. “You can nominate your own home or someone else’s. You can also nominate a school or business.”

Entries will be judged by the Landscape Design Critics Council of the National Capital Area Garden Clubs in early July, and winners will be selected in several categories, including “Distinguished Whole Yard,” “Distinguished Specialty Garden” and “Distinguished Wildlife Habitat.”

Winners in the residential categories will receive yard signs, while winning schools and businesses will receive plaques, Corley said.

For nomination forms or additional information, contact Matt Corley at mcorley@cityofbowie.org.

If you thought you missed the spring home and garden tour season, don’t despair. There’s a triple feature coming up June 7 and 8 with dueling garden tours in Marin, western Sonoma County and Sonoma.

The Garden Conservancy’s Open Garden Days moves to Marin County on June 7 with a chance to visit four gardens in Belvedere, San Rafael and Tiburon.

Admission is $5 per garden, with tickets sold at each garden. Information about each garden, hours they will be open and directions can be obtained at gardenconservancy.org. or by calling 888-842-2442.

On June 8, Food for Thought hosts its 19th annual Western Sonoma County Home Garden Tour featuring eight gardens.

This year’s lineup includes homes and gardens with intriguing features like old-growth redwoods, edible landscaping, a labyrinth and garden art.

Cost of the self-guided tour, running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., is $45 and includes a booklet with descriptions of the homes and gardens and a map. Tickets can be ordered online at fftfoodbank.org or by calling 887-1647. Gourmet box lunches from Cottonwood Catering can be pre-ordered for $12.50 and will be available for pickup on the day of the event at Food for Thought, 6550 Railroad Ave., Forestville.

If you prefer to go east, the Sonoma County Master Gardeners hold their biennial Bloomin’ Backyards Garden Tour on June 8 in the Sonoma Valley.

This is a tour that offers a chance to learn, with expert advice and demonstrations on growing low-water-use vegetables, replacing lawn, nurturing the soil, using mulch for moisture retention and weed control, composting, drip irrigation, backyard vineyards, beneficial insects and bees, and more.

The event includes a garden craft market of birdhouses, mosaics, succulent wreaths and garden art as well as a plant sale featuring only low-water-use plants and succulents, all propagated by Master Gardeners.

Cost for the 9 a.m.-to-4 p.m. tour is $35 in advance and $40 the day of the event. Tickets may be purchased online at sonomamastergardeners.org, or can be obtained at the UC Cooperative Education office, 133 Aviation Blvd., Santa Rosa; Copperfields Books’ four Sonoma County stores; Readers’ Books in Sonoma; or by calling 565-2608.

SONOMA: The art of planting in partial shade

Trees are a prized feature in any garden, but once they start spreading their branches, that shade comes at a price.

Longtime Sonoma County garden designer and educator Maile Arnold will give a talk June 5 before the Valley of the Moon Garden Club on how to plant an attractive and water-wise garden in partial shade.

Arnold will talk about which trees allow for plantings under their canopies and which don’t. She will offer a PowerPoint presentation showing photos of sample plantings in her own Sebastopol garden.

Arnold, a strong proponent of organic, no-till gardening, has been featured in Sunset magazine, taught classes at the San Francisco Botanical Garden and done notable design projects, including at The Lodge at Sonoma.

The public is invited to the 7 p.m. meeting for a cost of $5, which can be applied to a $20 membership. The meeting features refreshments and drawings for plants. 126 First St. W., Sonoma. 337-3415.

PETALUMA: Workshop focuses on water-wise gardens

The Sonoma County Master Gardeners wrap up their free spring library workshop series May 31 with a talk in Petaluma on planning a low-water-use garden. Linda King discusses swales and berms and the right plant in the right place, all to use water wisely on the home front. 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Petaluma Regional Library, 100 Fairgrounds Drive, Petaluma. For information on the program or help with your backyard gardening questions, call 565-2608 or visit sonomamastergardeners.org.

You can direct Home and Garden news to meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com, or call 521-5204.

Most of us have gasped in awe and wonder at the phenomenal geological formations of Yosemite, Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. Nature’s most breathtaking landscapes, carved by wind and water over millennia, trigger our deepest emotions. We respond to the harmonious balance of rock, plants and water and experience a kind of transcendent beauty.

Of these elements, rock is everlasting. Its mass, durability and stability are timeless and evoke a sense of reassuring permanence. In a man-made landscape, we can create a similar tranquility by incorporating natural boulders into designs.

Well-placed large stones can help achieve a sense of stability in the garden, and act as a foil for the more ephemeral plants. They will outlast every other landscaping element and convey an eternal sensibility, giving the garden metaphysical structure and balance. And, just as using native plants can integrate a garden into the surrounding natural environment, use of local stone can enhance a feeling of greater belonging in the garden’s regional context.

When properly placed, boulders can provide an artful intention in the garden, acting as focal points, framing views and providing textural contrast to companion landscape elements, as well as rhythm and context. They can be manipulated to influence a viewer’s emotional and aesthetic experience of the garden.

Be bolder with boulders

At a recent presentation to the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, Bill Castellon, boulder expert and licensed landscape contractor in the Bay Area, outlined some fundamental considerations when placing large boulders in the landscape.

• Look for rocks that appear to go together. Use all the same types of rocks – don’t mix various types, as it won’t look natural.

• Aim for stability when placing large stones. A rock should look like it’s been there forever and is not going anywhere. Burying the stones helps achieve this effect. They should also be leveled and not leaning into each other. Horizontal rocks create stability.

• When placing the stone, start with the largest focal-point specimens. Use one primary rock, then scale down to smaller-sized stones.

• Rocks should be placed at varied distances from each other and at different heights (use different shapes and sizes of stones). They should not hide each other.

• Group boulders in odd numbers.

• Rocks can be oriented to guide the viewer’s eyes toward certain garden elements. Vertical rocks block views and diagonal angles point the eye toward certain views. Try not to obscure boulders with higher plantings.

As summer approaches during this drought-plagued time in Northern California and we are called on to reduce landscape irrigation, it’s important to note that boulders are by far the most drought-tolerant natural landscape element. Large stones in the garden displace plant material and require virtually no water or maintenance – yet another reason why boulders can increase our sense of tranquility.

Sarah Herman is a landscape designer and member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, where she currently serves on the East Bay Chapter board as associate program coordinator. For more information, call (510) 559-4069 or visit sarahscapedesign.com.

By Sarah Cosgrove
Wednesday, 28 May 2014

The people’s favourite garden at Chelsea Flower Show will be enjoyed by a whole new set of visitors when it is rebuilt at Chavasse VC House recovery centre for forces veterans.

The Cavasse scheme with Chelsea show garden near top right hand corner

The Hope on the Horizon garden won a silver gilt medal before being voted People’s Choice at the show on Friday and will form part of a much larger landscape scheme at the recovery centre in Colchester, Essex.

Both show and centre garden have been designed by landscape designer Matt Keightley and built by his company building and landscaping firm Farr and Roberts, based in Maidenhead, Kent. They plan to prepare the ground over June and July and rebuild the garden in August ready for an opening in September.

The Help for Heroes charity, which sponsored the Chelsea garden through the support of The Havisham Trust, has launched a public campaign to raise £100,000 for the work.

Keightley, who at aged 29 was one of several young Chelsea first-timers to triumph at this year’s RHS show, beat six gold medal-winning gardens and Alan Titchmarsh and Kate Gould’s From the Moors to the Sea to scoop People’s Choice.

He said: “I’m absolutely thrilled. It is such an honour, and amazing to have such fantastic public support.

“We’ve had people coming over and telling us how much they love the garden all week, but I never anticipated we would actually win.”

The Chelsea garden was designed in the shape of the Military Cross, the medal awarded for extreme bravery and was partly inspired by Keightley’s brother Mike, currently serving his fifth tour of Afghanistan with the RAF.

Centre manager Steve Schollar said: “This project will deliver a raft of new recovery experiences and capabilities.”

Chavasse VC House in Colchester, Essex is part of the Defence Recovery Capability, a partnership between the Ministry of Defence and service charities, including Help for Heroes, which gives service people who have been wounded, injured or sick the support they need to return to duty or make a smooth transition to civilian life.

More than 600 have been helped so far.