NEWS EXTRA


He added: “And, Chelsea, for us in the past five years, has really changed a lot too. We always used to be on the monument site in the Great Pavilion and we’ve exhibited there for a number of years. It was a fantastic space and we really utilised it well and because of the big mature trees that we could show off there, I think people often used to see us and knew where we were. And, three years ago, we actually took the decision to move away from that site. What that’s done is opened up huge new opportunity for us. The older designs that we used to have were very much about showing off what we had grown. Now it’s much more about the design and actually creating that green space. You always used to get the garden exhibits outside but now we are able to produce something that will inspire people who come to the show to get into gardening, to get into horticulture and to create some green living spaces. So, we’re really excited about that.”


HILLIER GETS SET TO RING IN THE CHANGES


Great British grower and garden centre business, Hillier makes Chelsea history, as it gears up to celebrate another Royal wedding, as well as ringing in the changes in the Great Pavilion at the nation’s famous RHS gardening show.


P erfectly


for our celebrating


timed issue


British


manufacturing, one of the UK’s biggest nursery operators,


Hillier has unveiled its exciting and ground-breaking plans for this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. For the first time, the show’s


organisers have commissioned a floral installation to take pride of place at the entrance of the show’s Great Pavilion, asking family-run Hillier and garden designer Sarah Eberle to undertake the project. Speaking at a recent press briefing, Robert and his son George – the fourth and fifth generations of the Hillier family who still run the nursery and garden centre operations established by Edwin Hillier in 1864 – described how the business had changed over the years and detailed its long-running association with Chelsea. “In the old days, Chelsea was really more about loading up all your plants into the back of a van, reversing it up somewhere in Chelsea, getting everything out, sticking it on the floor, putting a bit of rope


The design for Hillier’s main exhibit, complete with walkway for visitors


8 DIY WEEK 11 MAY 2018


around it, [getting your] order pad out, and standing there to take your orders…Obviously it has changed an awful lot since then,” said head of property George Hillier.


Rising to the challenge Following the departure of former Hillier MD Andy McIndoe in 2015, Hillier needed to appoint a new designer for its Chelsea exhibit. Mr McIndoe, who had been with Hillier for 37 years and helped the business achieve 25 gold medals left big shoes to fill but, Sarah Eberle was brought on board for the 2016 show and has kept Hillier’s winning streak going. Ms Eberle described working with Hillier as “the pinnacle of my career,” adding that she “loved every minute of it”..


She explained: “Every designer wants to have the chance to design a flora exhibit. Plants, after all - as a designer or grower – are the things we interact with the most – and it’s a big challenge. But there’s nothing I love more than a good challenge. This is my third year with Hillier and I guess one of the challenges is asking ‘how do we ring the changes?’”


So, this year Ms Eberle suggested that Hillier actually invite the public to walk through its garden and has incorporated a walkway into her design. “I’m quite excited by that because it’s new to me as a designer. Chelsea does not allow visitors on to the show gardens, so that’s a challenge but it gives opportunity. It allows the public to get up close and see, in more detail, more of this large display that we are having.” The garden design is based on a journey through three different themes – Work, Rest, and Play – and the planting in each section follows this theme, from practical plants and


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