Gold Medal and Best World Garden at RHS Hampton

Multi award-winning Turkish garden of Paradise

We are thrilled to share that the Nilufer Danis Turkish Garden of Paradise has been awarded an RHS Gold Medal and Best in Category, World Garden at RHS Hampton 2015.

Commissioned by The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, this lavish and evocative show garden is influenced by early Turkish Islamic gardens of the 10th century.

DESIGN CONCEPT

The garden features traditional Islamic elements including strong geometric architecture, a pavilion and a plane tree to provide shade, and cooling fountains and rills. A high wall containing a window grille surrounds the garden, providing privacy and enclosure while representing the nature of paradise as a place that is secret and hidden away.

All the features in the garden have a meaning and a story. For example, the metal door has the design of a lily flower on it because our planting included many lilies, common in Turkish gardens. Many of the elements, such as the marble water feature and fountain, were handmade in Turkey to our design by traditional craftspeople. The tiles in the water rills came from a handmade tile supplier in Kutahya which is renowned for its ceramics. We visited Turkey a few times to check all these works in progress and were fascinated to watch the skills of the women making and painting the tiles with smiles on their faces. The metal pergola, benches, window grills and door were made by a small metal works shop in the UK.

The hard landscaping is softened with herbaceous planting representing the rich flora that blooms in Turkey and includes hot, bold colours and highly scented plants. The fruit trees and pomegranate along the sides bring welcome shade and height and support the garden of paradise concept.

The whole combination provides a modern look that captures the essence of early Turkish gardens and the culture, history and rich flora of this important horticultural destination.