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GARDEN ACCESSORIES OF THE FUTURE ARE GREEN WALLS. THEY ARE ENGAGED, SELF SUSTAINING AND PRODUCTIVE.
Garden Accessories tend to lag behind in the world of design and architecture. However it seems that times may be changing. Woolly Wally Pockets Green Wall System meets the future gardens criteria: engaging, self sustaining and productive. And its all with super eco chic style.
A trend spotter, The Future Laboratory UK, has identified the garden of the future to be more engaging, self sustaining and productive than in the past.
This trend is partly fuelled by the economic down turn but there is also a general desire to live more harmoniously with the environment. Organic living is no longer the domain of the unwashed. Meanwhile we are living in more confined spaces and have less access to our own private outdoors.
Garden accessories normally tend to lag behind social trends but remarkably there are some gardening products that have kept abreast of this social change and are accommodating the urban dweller's desire to remain in touch with Mother Nature, despite the lack of space.
Gardening no longer requires an outdoor area; you do not even need free floor space. All you need is a vacant wall, enough light and a few Woolly Wally Pockets. The Pockets are a type of wall planter that allows most walls to become your very own vertical garden within a couple of hours.
Made from recycled plastic bottles the material conserves water. It also allows a plant's root system to breath, thereby promoting healthy growth. But best of all it enables plants to be grown up a wall (without damaging the wall) and it is no more difficult to install than a book shelf. It is robust and looks great even before the plants have established.
Green walls, also known as living walls and vertical gardens were pioneered by Patric Blanc, a French botanist. He has made the vertical gardening concept famous. The advertising world is currently embracing his skills and engaging him to create various living billboards around the world. In fact London's Athenaeum Hotel's green wall has its very own Facebook Fan Page.
There have been various green wall systems developed in recent years in response to rising interest in this planting technique. Woolly Wally Pockets is one of the first systems that enables even the most basic gardener to construct a living wall without the need for specialist plant and green wall construction knowledge.
The living wall can be located indoors or outdoors and can be as small or as large as you wish. The wall planters come in three sizes and three colours to accommodate your green wall design. This is an easy solution for all those vertical garden enthusiasts who are ahead of their time.
Woolly Wally Pockets are available on-
Garden Beet stocks garden accessories and eco gifts for the contemporary gardener.
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Keep up to date with the design blog on contemporary garden accessories http://www.gardenbeet.com/design-
11th, January 2010
Garden Accessories News
PLANNING A BBQ? A CREATIVE, CHEAP AND CHEERFUL GARDEN DESIGN IDEA USING UNLIKELY HOUSEHOLD ACCESSORIES.
There is no need to do a complete garden makeover to get your outdoors looking great for summer. Just be creative with accessories that are lying around the house and in less than 15 minutes you will have a garden that will entertain.
You have 15 minutes to liven up a drab garden. People are coming over for a BBQ and you get a burst of creative energy. What should you do?
1. Embrace the design principal of repetition and context.
2. What do you mean?
3. Grab some household items that have a strong visual theme. Colour is a great visual theme as it can tie many diverse shapes together. Arrange these same coloured items in various ways, over and over again. This is repetition.
4. Take the items out of their normal setting and use them for a purpose for which they are not usually used. This is context.
5. Help -
6. Choose a colour like red.
7. Go to the kitchen and choose only red vegetables and red plastic cups.
8. Go outside and arrange all your red items in a line or some type of recognisable shape in the middle of the garden or maybe off to one side. We do not want it looking a mess so the easiest way to create instant visual harmony is to go geometric.
9. Then repeat your red accessory arrangements throughout the garden. Consider hanging some red cups from a tree or the clothes line. Through careful use of repetition the eye will pick up on some fun patterns.
10. It is also unusual to see red vegetables and red cups used in this context and often this ‘unusualness’ that can create visual intrigue.
And fun patterns and visual intrigue can lead to an inspiring outdoors and a great BBQ.
Garden Accessories on Show at RHS Chelsea 2010
Show gardens are only one section of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The commercial section of the 2010 show offered an array of interesting garden accessories, many hand made and some even affordable.
The media focus on the RHS Chelsea Flower are the show gardens. While the garden designs are impressive Chelsea is much bigger than what is shown by the BBC television coverage.
The commercial section of Chelsea has several interesting garden design ideas as well (and the commercial section is huge). The RHS actively encourage well designed commercial show stands with an array of awards and penalties. The displays generate much interest from the show goers and the effort some store holders placed into the commercial stands at the 2010 show was impressive.
There are the high end commercial stands as well as self representing artists and designers using copper, bronze, glass and stainless steel. While many pieces are expensive ( a hanging pumpkin chair made from copper was £11,000 +) it is possible to pick up some affordable designer pieces to add contemporary style to your garden.
Affordable (under £100) garden accessories that were in show at Chelsea 2010 included beautiful hand made copper poppies on a stake. There were also various sculptures hand weaved from willow and planters made from pebbles enclosed in wire baskets.
Another interesting product debut for Chelsea was a versatile wall planter called Woolly Pockets. The planter allows people to build their own vertical garden or a giant living wall indoor or out. Its modular and affordable. The Pockets are constructed from a tough felted fabric that is made from recycled plastic bottles.
Did you know that some accessories are banned at the RHS Chelsea Garden Show? Garden gnomes can not step foot within the show boundary. The RHS consider the garden gnome as the bastion of bad taste. Balloons, bunting, flags, and other brightly coloured creatures are not welcomed either.
All the garden accessories mentioned in this article can be purchased through Garden Beet. Located in London, ship worldwide.
4th June 2010
19th June 2010