Malvern Gardening Show includes Quaker garden

Visitors to the Malvern Spring Gardening Show next month will be anticipating spectacular displays, bursting with colour and new ideas to take home. They will find among the show gardens a calm and tranquil space called The Quaker Meeting Place garden.

Landscape gardener Matt Jackman has drawn on his roots to design a garden to reflect how Quakers meet for worship in quiet meditation. He says “I have been inspired by my Quaker family and by going to Leighton Park School in Reading. I see this as giving something back and reaching out to others. My company, Topiarus horticulture Ltd are completing the build.”

The design speaks of the Quaker commitment to equality, simplicity and peace. Green in its many hues, silver grey foliage and soft colours dominate the planting, with clean simple landscaping creating a calm contemplative backdrop to the space.

The garden is circular to reflect the inclusive nature of Quakerism, where everyone is welcome and respected equally. Four paths lead to the central seating area where four simple benches face each other across the central pool. Water rills flow towards the central pool, symbolising thoughts and ideas flowing into the garden. A tall metalwork sculpture shows someone standing to share their insights. Marble pebbles set out as ripples move away from the pool, representing shared thoughts and ideas of the people at the meeting for worship.

Matt Jackman was an RHS silver medal winner at Malvern in 2009. See photos of the new garden at www.quaker.org.uk/garden and www.topiarus-horticulture.co.uk

The Malvern Spring Gardening Show will be on at the Malvern Showground, from 6 to 9 May. The show is a partnership between the Three Counties Agricultural Society and The Royal Horticultural Society.

Ends

Notes to editor:

• Approximately 25,000 people attend Quaker Meetings for Worship in Great Britain, and there are more than 475 Meetings.
• Quakers are known formally as the Religious Society of Friends.
• The garden was part funded by Quakers.
• For more on the garden show see http://www.threecounties.co.uk/springgardening/index.html

Media Information
Anne van Staveren
0207 663 1048
07958 009703
annev@quaker.org.uk
www.quaker.org.uk