Green roof pioneer Nigel Dunnett dies at 63

The Shedworking team was sorry to hear of the death over the weekend of horticulturalist and writer Nigel Dunnett. We have featured several of Nigel's Chelsea Flower Show creations over the years, and reviewed his marvellous book Small Green Roofs which featured many garden offices and other shedlike atmospheres when it came out in 2011 from Timber Press (sadly it's now out of print but still available secondhand) with helpful practical 'how to' sections. The green roof movement and biodiversity was one of his passions, establishing the first trials of them in the UK, and writing what is 

We are sad to hear of the passing of Nigel Dunnett who was a key figure in UK Green Roof research and teaching, and wrote what is believed to be the first book in English on the subject, with Noel Kingsbury, Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls, also a Timber Press publication.

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Sheds at Chelsea Flower Show: photo essay

The Shedworking staff had a most enjoyable day at the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday and took the opportunity to take in the many shedlike atmospheres on display. Here's a quick look at some of our favourites, starting above with Jo Thompson's lovely caravan-centred show garden which won a silver gilt.

There were plenty of people enjoying the Rooftop Workplace of Tomorrow garden which won silver.

Below is the shaded cabanon in the L'Occitane Immortelle Garden

And here is Plankbridge's shepherd's hut in their own silver-winning garden. We stopped for a long chat with Richard from Plankbridge about its construction.

Vicky Harris’s stone crofter’s hut in her Naturally Dry garden
 

The Artisan Retreats area where five sturdy Malvern Collection summerhouses were turned into working spaces.

 Nigel Dunnett’s RBD Blue Water Garden featured a lovely conical-roofed trullo, a traditional hut from Puglia.
 

And finally, the shepherd’s stone hut in Borut Benedejcic’s Pepa’s Story Artisan Garden.

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Shipping container garden office at Chelsea Flower Show

It's turning into a bit of a bumper year for garden offices at Chelsea Flower Show 2011. Last week we looked at Marney Hall's and Phil Game's splendid creation and here is another great shedworking build which we looked at back in March, a garden office from Green Roof Shelters (being lifted into place in the video above - note the green roof).

The garden office - with habitat walls - has been built using a refurbished shipping container and is part of the RBC New Wild Garden designed by Nigel Dunnett (apparently the first full-size rain garden at a Chelsea Flower Show). Here's what the RHS says about it:

"The garden combines ecological awareness with an artistic and sculptural use of materials, and the theme of sustainability runs through the design. Reflective pools capture rainwater and sculptural dry stone walls present ever-changing views. The garden takes inspiration from the planting ideas of Victorian horticulturist William Robinson and a fresh look at the quality and craftsmanship of the Arts and Crafts movement to create this forward-looking wild garden."

Pictured below is a sketch of how it should look when completed.

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Green Roof Shelters

Adding a living roof to your garden office started to become popular a couple of years ago and now is almost a mainstream option offered by garden building suppliers. But essentially you still buy a shed and then decide whether or not to go for a green roof. Now, Green Roof Shelters (whose team includes green roof experts featured previously on Shedworking including Dusty Gedge and John Little) are providing a range of ready-planted shelters which come all done and dusted and ready to crane into position for a variety of uses such as outdoor classrooms, exhibition pavilions and of course shedworking.

The buildings themselves are our old friends recycled shipping containers and optional extras include a rather attractive habitat wall and special bespoke habitats for birds and bats. Everything in the process is as recycled/salvaged/ecofriendly as possible.

Pictured above is an example in situ, the pavilion at The London Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust’s new Rain Garden designed by Nigel Dunnett.
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Small Green Roofs

Green roofs have been all the rage for the last couple of years but there has been precious little published about how to put one on your own shedlike atmosphere. Which is why this marvellous book Small Green Roofs: Low Tech Options for Greener Living from Timber Press by experts in the field Nigel Dunnett, Dusty Gedge, John Little and Edmund C. Snodgrass is so welcome. Here are some details from them:

Small Green Roofs is the first book to focus on small-scale and domestic green roofs. More than forty profiles of small and domestic-scale projects of all shapes and sizes include green roofs on sheds, garden offices, studios, garages, houses, bicycle sheds, and other small structures, as well as several community projects. For each project, details are given for design, construction, and installation, as well as how-to tips on how the roof was planted and cared for. For readers looking for inspiration when hiring a contractor or taking the adventurous step of building their own, Small Green Roofs provides the knowledge and encouragement to make it possible.

There are more than 200 photos over 250 pages. Well worth a browse.
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Chelsea Flower Show 2011: RBC New Wild Garden

Details are starting to emerge about some of the gardens at this year's Chelsea Flower Show (May 24-28) including the RBC Wild Garden featuring a garden office. It's sponsored by the Royal Bank of Canada, designed by Nigel Dunnett & The Landscape Agency, and built by Landform Consultants. According to the RHS the garden studio will be built using a recycled shipping container and will have habitat walls and a green roof. Here's what they say:

"The studio sits within waves of colourful, impressionistic and naturalistic planting. This is the first full-size rain garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The garden combines ecological awareness with an artistic and sculptural use of materials, and the theme of sustainability runs through the design. Reflective pools capture rainwater and sculptural dry stone walls present ever-changing views. The garden takes inspiration from the planting ideas of Victorian horticulturist William Robinson and a fresh look at the quality and craftsmanship of the Arts and Crafts movement to create this forward-looking Wild Garden."

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Chelsea Garden Show: how we were in 2012

Chelsea Flower Show should have started today with its usual lovely spread of garden offices, shepherds' huts, and sheds. Tomorrow, we'll take a look at some of the sheddish-structures that visitors would have been able to see, but today here is a look back at what was on offer in 2012, starting above with Jo Thompson's lovely caravan-centred show garden which won a silver gilt.

There were plenty of people enjoying the Rooftop Workplace of Tomorrow garden which won silver.

Below is the shaded cabanon in the L'Occitane Immortelle Garden

And here is Plankbridge's shepherd's hut - the first ever to appear at Chelsea - in their own silver-winning garden. We stopped for a long chat with Richard from Plankbridge about its construction.

Vicky Harris’s stone crofter’s hut in her Naturally Dry garden
 

The Artisan Retreats area where five sturdy Malvern Collection summerhouses were turned into working spaces.

Nigel Dunnett’s RBD Blue Water Garden featured a lovely conical-roofed trullo, a traditional hut from Puglia.
 

And finally, the shepherd’s stone hut in Borut Benedejcic’s Pepa’s Story Artisan Garden.

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