Butter Wakefield to design Gaze Burvill garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018

“You don’t get much bigger than designing a garden trade stand on Main Avenue at
the Chelsea Flower Show.”

- BUTTER WAKEFIELD

“It is the premiere flower show in the world and also the 25th anniversary of Gaze Burvill garden furniture, so we have a lot to celebrate. The planting will be luxurious and vibrant. We are going to push the boat out with some crazy, clashing colours such as Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’, which is this fabulous bright orange, next to a really dark purple Salvia caradonna and maybe, depending on how the roses are looking – a bright, garish pink rose called Gertrude Jekyll to give it that special wow factor.”

Having used Gaze Burvill furniture in many of her garden designs, Butter says it is her love for comfy seating that led to her to include the Splash Sofa for the upcoming Chelsea Flower Show.

Butter originally trained as an interior designer, so it is no surprise that she is paying close attention to the soft furnishings to create an all-round outdoor living experience that embodies the Gaze Burvill ethos of quality and craftsmanship. Working with specialist outdoor fabric supplier Sunbrella, Butter says fabric is the one element of garden space that can get neglected. “If we treat the fabric on the furniture as important as all the other elements, then we can create something very special. I’ve been choosing stripes and geometric patterns with colour palettes of greys, taupes, black and lots of green. I think it will look stunning.”

Originally from Maryland on the East Coast of America, Butter says her love of gardening was inherited from her grandmother, mother and aunt who were all keen and accomplished gardeners. However, it wasn’t until she moved to England that she began to understand the gift the generation of gardeners before her had given her.

“After a busy week at work, you can’t beat going into your garden on a sunny Friday afternoon and cutting your own flowers, bringing them inside and arranging them.”

- BUTTER WAKEFIELD

“I moved to the UK into an enchanting two-up, two-down Georgian cottage. I had special window boxes made and would fill them in the summer months with trailing geraniums. Neighbours and people I didn’t know on my street would stop by and say how I had created a happy vision for their street and how enchanting they looked. At the time, I was working for interior designers Colefax & Fowler, but it was only through owning my first little garden in London that I began to understand the huge importance of the green space outside; the vital role it played in our sense of well-being and the views created outside each window.”

Having trained at the English Gardening School and the London College of Garden Design, Butter recently won an RHS Gold Medal at RHS Chatsworth Flower Show 2017. But she still makes time for the simple pleasures in life. Like her grandmother before her, there is nothing she likes better than going into her garden in the summer months and picking some flowers. “After a busy week at work, you can’t beat going into your garden on a sunny Friday afternoon and cutting your own flowers, bringing them inside and arranging them. I love that whole process. It takes me back to a time where the seeds were sown for my love of gardening.”

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