Congratulations to Hay Joung Hwang for winning a silver gilt medal for her first show garden at Chelsea. Hwang’s LG Smart Garden combined soft pastel-coloured planting in a very English style with clean, modern lines for an outside living space. The feature which caught everyone’s attention was the cantilevered pergola which reached over the terrace, providing shade, and around which a vine was trained.
Inside the garden the living area provided calming views of the planting to the other show gardens and the Royal Hospital grounds.
At the back of the space, a large LG screen provided a stop-motion video of the construction of the garden, giving a clue to how the pergola was constructed – with strong steel girders and a robust concrete foundation.
The “Smart” element to the garden was provided by the electronics and software: all the lighting was controllable from Hwang’s smartphone and sensors in the soil could monitor the moisture and nutrient levels, enabling the less experienced gardener to make sure the plants are properly taken care of.
The contrast between the meadow-like, unstructured borders and the modern, straight lines of the living space worked well, with the two elements linked by rectangular-clipped hedging. It was the sort of garden which visitors could imagine themselves living in and enjoying rather than just admiring: a very welcoming feature.