GROUNDWORK Ed.04
Growing a resilient garden
Predictions for our planet’s future are often painted in a drastic light, with shocking images of a parched barren planet, void of life and hope. Unquestionably, the earth faces increasing challenges ahead with rising temperatures, extreme weather events and global warming. With many millions of years of wisdom, it is in these moments of despair that we must look to nature for the answers, for in nature there is always hope.
Plant Futures: The Future in Bloom at Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show is a demonstration of the wondrous possibilities of climate-forward, resilient plants. Traditional design in built environments can be bound by rules and regulations - restrictions that see us value function over form, where beauty is seen as a frivolous unnecessary consideration. Plant Futures breaks free from these restraints and dares to prove that beauty, luminosity and whimsy can be cultivated alongside resilience, strength and climate compatibility.
The garden celebrates all that is unique and distinctive about the dry-summer climate. Australia’s hot, arid landscape welcomes in saturated colours of corals, lilacs and blush creating a painterly, dream-like quality. Soaring beacons of delight float high above a dense blanket of ground planting, mimicking the multi-layered planting we see in the natural environment.
The garden takes on a celestial quality as the plants collect the atmosphere around them and distill the light into an otherworldly dream-scape. These carefully curated plants invite the light to play, bouncing off leaves, filtering through delicate layers of fuzz and creating a hazy glow that illuminates the garden and creates a luminous exploration of joy.
The voluminous beauty of these plants is underpinned by a stealth resilience. They survive and thrive in extremes, boldly growing and flourishing in our dry-climate with minimal rainfall under hot, dry conditions. The plants in the garden have been especially selected for the way that they emulate naturalistic planting, and have adapted to the harsh conditions of their environment. They have formed clever ways to prosper in spite of their growing conditions - storing water, developing unique textures on their leaves to prevent water loss - these are all beacons of hope from nature that there is a way. Wonder has the innate desire to bloom in all conditions.
Super Bloom’s team took inspiration from nature, looking at the repetition and naturally imperfect patterns seen in the wild. The beauty of nature's imperfections has been cultivated into a mesh of planting where repeating patterns echo those seen in nature. We see that beauty and resilience can be one and the same, paired together to create a wondrous vibrant garden that answers our human hunger for beauty and offers a floral feast for the eyes and senses.
The Plant Futures garden will go on to live a new life after MIFGS at a Footscray community garden, revitalising a public space and offering vital access to the beauty of plants for all. Plants for the people!
