All The World’s a Stage at Hampton Court Palace
Post date: 28 Jun, 2016
The ‘All The World’s a Stage’ garden, designed by Dawn Parke of Lunaria Landscapes, Cho hee Song, Jasper Kaessmann and Manuel Wehrle, is inspired by one of Shakespeare’s most frequently quoted passages.
As the phrase that begins a monologue from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’, a pastoral comedy believed to have been written in 1599, the world is compared to a stage and life to a play, cataloguing the seven stages of a man’s life.
Sometimes referred to as the seven ages of man: infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, Pantalone and old age facing imminent death, each stage is represented in the show garden by a water basin. Each basin mirrors the transition in planting, from lush greens and pure whites, to barren golds and deep purples.
Inviting visitors on a journey through the ages, the garden offers Gunnera and ferns to represent the youth, eventually transitioning to a barren-scape of death, represented by dry grasses set against the depths of chocolate cosmos and Aeonium.
CED Stone Group are excited to be sponsoring the stone elements to this garden, which also includes our gravel stabilisation system, CEDAgravel. The honeycomb sheets will be holding three different sizes of our Golden Flint Gravel, which has been chosen to complement the planting scheme.
The naturally angular, golden brown gravel changes size throughout the garden, reflecting the transition of lush landscape to barren-scape; the changing texture enhancing the overall garden experience.
Speaking of the garden, designer Dawn Parke states:
“CED provided the golden flint gravel found in the garden. We worked with Paula and the team in the run up to the show to ensure that the material choice enhanced the concept and overall experience and functionality of the space. We have used a range of gravel sizes to create a textural transition as the public journey through the garden. The ‘honeycomb’ structure underneath the gravel gives the garden the stability it needs to cater for the many thousands who will partake on their journey through the ages during the show.”
The garden functions as a stage, showcasing live performances from all who enter, emphasising the principle that we are all actors in our own stories. Complete with a staged seating area, the garden allows for other ‘actors’ to be observed in their journeys.
Watch the story unfold at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, held between 05th and 10th July 2016.