The Gardening World Cup 2012
The Gardening World Cup Flower Show in Nagasaki, Japan, draws to a close this weekend. Billed as a festival of "flowers and world peace", the annual event, now in its third year, is the ultimate garden design challenge.
Competing for the 2012 up were UK, Italy, Spain, USA, France, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. Designers have 10 days in which to create their garden in Japan.
This year’s winner was Lim In Chong, who likes to be called “Inch”, from Malaysia. His garden, “Eye to Eye” (pictured above), combined Islamic and Japanese garden styles, won both a Gold Medal and Best in Show.
“The two eyes that are part of my design show that we can see eye to eye with other people and also that we need to see the world through other people’s eyes,” he told The Telegraph. “If we can do that, then there should be a lot more peace in the world.”
“Inch” won a certificate, medal and 1 million yen prize money. He has also won a silver medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2006 in the Show Garden Division, and another silver at the Singapore Garden Festival 2010.
British designer Richard Miers won a bronze medal for the United Kingdom with his elegant dining area and fusion of Eastern and Western styles. British designers Jo Thompson and James Basson represented Italy and France respectively with “The Butterfly Effect” and “Dulce et Decorum Est”.
The contest takes place at the Palace Huis Ten Bosch, a reproduction of the residence of the Queen of the Netherlands in the style of a 17th century Dutch town. During Shogun rule, when Japan was closed off from the outside rule, Nagasaki was the only port open to international trade, with Dutch traders arriving in 1600. The twentieth century history of Nagasaki is dominated by the dropping of the atomic bomb on the city at the end of World War Two. It is against this background that renowned Japanese garden designer Kazuyuki Ishihara decided to establish the event with the theme of world peace.
Last year, Britain lost out to Australia because of a rogue snail. A container of gardening materials intended for the contest contained the stray mollusc. With strict customs rules that forbid live creatures being imported in order to protect Japan’s ecosystem, the container was quarantined. British garden designer Jonathan Denby only got them back on the day of judging and didn’t have time to set them all up in his Lake District-themed garden.
The full list of winners is as follows:
Best In Show - Lim in Chong (Malaysia)
Best Design - Xanthe White (New Zealand)
Peace and Flowers Award - James Basson (France)
Gold Medal - Lim in Chong, James Basson, Xanthe White, Kazuyuki Ishihara (Japan), Hiroshi Terashita (Japan)
Silver Medal - Jo Thompson (France), Gabino Carballo (Spain), Karen Stefonick (USA), David Davidson and Leon Kluge (South Africa)
Bronze Medal - Richard Miers (England), Jihae Hwang (South Korea), Haruko Seki (Japan)-
Posted by Iconography Ltd
18th October 2012
Follow on Google+
