Literally Littoral | A show garden designed by Debbie Montgomery, winner of the BBC Radio Merseyside amateur gardener competition 2022.

Debbies garden was inspired by the Wirral Country Park

The garden you see at the show is not meant to be a recreation of this beautiful location, but a domestic garden inspired by a place close to her heart and home.

An opportunity to see plants that thrive in sandy soils, this garden shares a native British hedgerow filled with Hawthorne, Cornus and a bird cherry, all similar to the plants found in the upper areas of the countrypark.  Bordered to the other side, reclaimed scaffold boards create a boundary and secluded seating area, where a brightly striped deck chair enjoys it’s location alongside the three galvanised water tanks.

Fed by rainwater from the shed roof, the first of these tanks holds water, perfect for dipping a watering can in to water the plants.  The second tank holds water loving Equisetum and the third bog plants.  Eventually winding down a cobble stream, the water seeps away into the ground.

Debbie worked with garden designer Lee Bestall to further develop the design after the layout of the garden was changed from the initial rectangle to the new circular feature you see at the show.

I was inspired to create this show feature following a conversation I’d had with Chris Beardshaw back in 2017, when we were building gardens side by side at the Chelsea Flower Show in London.  We’d been discussing the constrains of the Chelsea site, when Chris remarked how interesting it would be to create a selection of gardens that opened up into one another.  This idea, combined with the perennial problem of hiding a shed (and disguising a backdrop) made me think that this re styling of the gardens would be a great idea.  I’m pleased to say that it’s been a talking point throughout the show ground and I’m hoping this will be adopted in the future as a great way to view the gardens.

Lee Bestall

Thanks to CED Stone for supplying the pebbles, cobbles, sand and gravel