Jo Manfredi-Hamer’s Mental Health Garden awarded gold at the Harrogate Flower Show at the end of April.

We were thrilled to be involved with this year’s Harrogate Flower Show as we donated decorative aggregates to The Mental Health Garden designed by Jo Manfredi-Hamer.

The garden was designed to raise awareness of mental health suffering and recovery, something designer Jo had helped support a loved one through in the past. Various elements in the garden were carefully selected to reflect the mental health journey. This included the embedded pebble semi-colon which is sometimes used by mental health sufferers to represent their challenges.

“I think mental health is an issue that has been somewhat

ignored in past years and profile does need to be raised. It was a nice idea to use gardening, which is so good for mental health anyway, to raise the profile.”

Designer, Jo Manfredi-Hamer

Choosing products that reflect the message.

Jo selected products that would emphasise the mental health message. She explained, “I chose products that would easily convey the stark contrast between how you feel when you’re mentally ill with dark depression moods conveyed by the darker Ebony Black stones. Compared to how you feel when you’ve had treatment with the lighter Cotswold Cobbles illustrating better moods after talking therapies, counselling and support.”

The Duck Egg Cobbles and Ebony Black Cobbles were used to create feature walls which separated the planting from the main lawned area. These walls were made of 635mm Gabion Baskets which were filled with our products.

The positioning of the dark and light stones in the gabions leads your eye towards the Sculpture in the centre. ‘The Kernel’ by David Harber forms the base of the semi colon and brings all of the elements of the garden together.

Creating a usable space.

The Gabions and Cobbles were not the only features in the garden which reflect mental health issues. In fact the harsh, rust effect metal strips at the front of the garden represent the injuries inflicted in self harm. In addition, the garden also contained a table and chair to depict counselling. This table and chairs were surrounded by a circle of pebbles, half black, half white.

You can see more of the garden and listen to Jo’s thoughts on the show and her garden in the video below.

We were thrilled to work with Jo on a garden that carries such an important message. Below is full product list of items found we supplied to the show.

1. 635 Gabion Baskets
2. Ebony Black Cobbles
3. Ebony Black Pebbles
4. Duck Egg Cobbles
5. Duck Egg Pebbles
6. Cotswold Cobbles

The Mental Health Garden was designed by Jo Manfredi-Hamer. It was built by Nicholas Edward Gardens and was created to support Leeds MIND.
Watch our video on this fantastic garden.