Students Impress at Gardeners World Live
Budding garden designers from City of Wolverhampton College are celebrating after coming away with a clutch of medals at this year’s BBC Gardeners’ World Live.
Horticultural students from the college’s Cedars Centre entered the Birmingham Borders competition at the annual event with a range of imaginative designs, and each one picked up a bronze award.
Kevin Downs’ nostalgic entry entitled Where’s Grandad? encouraged people to forget their worries and instead take a step back into the past and revisit old memories.
The garden included elements that suggested Grandad has just stepped away for five minutes - his flat cap hungs on a fence, while a newspaper and drink were tucked away amidst the plants.
Kevin said: “With all the doom and gloom in the world, such as the recession and the pollution problem, I thought I would remind people of what was really important – their families.
“My design also conjured up a memory of when I was little and I used to visit my grandparents. My grandfather was always sitting in the garden among his 
favourite plants, and I included some of them in my border.”
Meanwhile judges fell hook, line and sinker for Adrian Roughton’s work.
Catch of the Day was based around the life of a retired fisherman who no longer had any use for his tackle and instead of getting rid of it had used it in his garden as landscaping materials.
Adrian said: “I based my design around fishing because it’s something I have enjoyed ever since I was little.
“In the garden I decided to recycle fishing equipment. So, for example, a fishing rod and line became a trellis, while fishing nets were used as hanging 
baskets.”
Emelye Martin, aged 26, entered the competition with her design entitled Lotus Garden.
The horticultural student designed a relaxing garden with a profusion of flowers representing the colours of the lotus petal, from dark pinks and purples right through to whites and yellows
The garden was designed around the theme of the Lotus Mandala, a Buddhist design created by monks in the sand and used for meditation.
In the centre was a Mandala, while two footprints symbolised treading the noble eight-fold path which is a fundamental part of adhering to Buddhist philosophy.
Emelye said: “I wanted to create a relaxing environment, providing people with a place for quiet contemplation.”
Meanwhile former student Linda Lunn picked up a silver medal for her facade garden.
Gardeners World Live takes place at Birmingham NEC from June 16 to 20.
