Увлечение Джорджа Харрисона и Ринго садоводством

The Material World Charitable Foundation
From Life to Life


Designer: Yvonne Innes, Olivia Harrison
Contractor: Hillier Landscapes
Sponsor: The Material World Charitable Foundation

This garden was inspired by the life of George Harrison, who not only gained international fame from his time in The Beatles, but was a dedicated and inspired landscape gardener.

The garden is divided into four areas to represent George’s life story. The area to represent his boyhood years in Liverpool is a small area reflecting the post-war atmosphere. It includes an old child’s bike, rough weedy grass and a reference to his father’s vegetable patch where George’s love of gardening began.

The 60s are represented by colourful planting and textural contrasts reflecting the decade. A huge glass sun with George’s song titles spiralled into the glass is a focal point of this section.
George’s mature gardening years are illustrated by a complete contrast to the 60s and feature a tranquil moss lawn with ferns, grasses and white-stemmed birches.

The final section, George’s spiritual life, is accessed via a narrow rill of water. The planting is predominantly white and red and as scented as possible. The area features an ornate pavilion with decorative hangings, furniture and cushions, as well as two trees, large shrubs, roses, perennials and grasses.
Linking each area is a path, which changes in colour and texture as you progress along it.

George Harrison tribute garden at Chelsea Flower Show
Alex Stephens, Evening Standard
George Harrison was a regular at Chelsea Flower Show, where he could be seen touring the gardens, notebook in hand.

Now, six and a half years after his death from lung cancer, the former Beatle is to have a garden at the show in his memory.

Designed by his widow Olivia, the plot will recall Harrison's life, from his birth in Liverpool in 1943 to his post-Beatle life in Henley, through the medium of plants and trees.

In an interview with Radio Times, she tells how her husband's love of horticulture inspired her own passion for gardening.

Speaking at Friar Park, the couple's Victorian neo-Gothic home, Mrs Harrison said: "George showed me the creativity and fun that was involved.

"One day, for example, we looked out of the window and decided everything in the garden was too green, so we went on a colour binge, buying lots of brightly coloured flowers.

"In terms of landscape design, he liked the idea of Capability Brown, so we started calling him Capability George.

"He thought that everyone, as a matter of course, should have themselves regularly overwhelmed by nature. He used to say that all unused buildings should be knocked down and gardens put in their place.

"The way nature played tricks amused him, too. Once he planted lots of this pinky coloured weed on one side of the lake only for it all to spring up on the other side. 'It's jumped,' he laughed.

"Without a doubt, George never felt more at peace than when he was gardening. He loved the gardens here and always said you felt closest to God when you were in the garden. Some days when he was working in the recording studio, he'd look out of the window and say, with a shake of his head, 'We're not getting much gardening done today. ' Every time I go out there, I think he'll just pop out from behind a shrub, like he used to." The Chelsea garden, entitled, From Life To Life after a line in the Beatles' song It's All Too Much, has four distinct parts, each representing a phase in Harrison's life.

It was designed in conjunction with family friend and garden designer Yvonne Innes, a Chelsea goldmedal winner and wife of musician Neil Innes. It is sponsored by Harrison's own Material World Charitable Foundation.

His widow said: "Each year we used to go to Chelsea and George would take copious notes and come home with a list of plants he wanted to buy.

"My hope is that this project will be a tribute to the horticultural side of his personality that relatively few people know about [and] ... help inspire other gardeners."

• The show is at Royal Hospital, Chelsea, from 20-24 May (8am-8pm).The Tuesday and Wednesday are for RHS members only.

2Sweet Little Queen XIII:

спасибо большое за эту новость!
эх, как бы хотелось побывать в этом чудесном саду...

2Лена me mine:

>2Sweet Little Queen XIII:
>спасибо большое за эту новость!
>эх, как бы хотелось побывать в этом чудесном саду...

Да, это точно.
Я вот жду открытия выставки, чтобы фотографии посмотреть. Описания и рисунка конечно моловато. Да навернякак там и Оливия и Ринго будут, может и еще кто.

Да, кстати, может кому-то интересно:
Большая статья про Капабилити Брауна (на русском)
http://www.landshaft.ru/pub.php?id=1201

Какая прелесть!Все,уезжаю жить в деревню!

Former Beatle, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison, stand in the 'From Life to Life; A Garden for George' garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in London

Olivia Harrison is seen in front of the 'From Life to Life' garden at the Chelsea Flower show in London May 19, 2008. George Harrison's widow created a special garden in memory of the former Beatle at the Chelsea Flower Show on Monday and felt the labour of love had brought her much closer to her late husband.

George Harrison's Flower Power
Mon., May. 19, 2008 9:45 AM PDT by Gina Serpe



All you need may be love. But a green thumb wouldn't hurt, either.

George Harrison's widow, Olivia, with a little help from his old friend Ringo Starr, opened a special memorial garden in honor of the late Beatle in London Monday, during the city's world famous Chelsea Flower Show.

"I really cannot think of a more joyful thing to do for George, and I know he would approve," she said of the "Life to Life" garden, which is divided into three parts, each signifying a portion of the quiet Beatle's life.

Harrison was an avid gardener who even dedicated his autobiography, I Me Mine, "to all gardeners everywhere, " and the space is his widow's way of honoring the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who died of cancer in 2001.

Per Olivia, all her late husband's favorite bits of greenery were accounted for, interwoven with his song lyrics, a photo of the artist and a giant "Here Comes the Sun" emblem.

Here comes the tourist hot spot, more like.

Former F1 racing driver Damon Hill arrives in a psychedelic Mini

Britain Queen Elizabeth II, right, meets Yvonne Innes, left, the designer of a show garden entitled 'From Life to Life, A garden for George', designed to celebrate George Harrison's life, music and philosophy, as Olivia Harrison, widow of George Harrison looks on during her visit at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, Monday, May 19, 2008. The Chelsea Flower Show is the premier event on Britain's gardening calendar attracting stars of stage and screen, along with members of the royal family and the public to the fashionable event.
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Former Beatle Ringo Starr arrives at the 'From Life to Life; A Garden for George' garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in London May 19,

Former Beatle, Ringo Starr, and wife, Barbara Bach, stand in the 'From Life to Life; A Garden for George' garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in London May 19, 2008

Beatlemania comes to Chelsea Flower Show
By ROBERT BARR – 12 hours ago

LONDON (AP) — Beatlemania erupted at London's Chelsea Flower Show on Monday as Ringo Starr rolled up in a gaudily painted Mini to join George Harrison's widow for the opening of a garden inspired by the "quiet Beatle."

Photographers swarmed around as Starr drove up in the Mini decorated with symbols of the Hindu faith that Harrison embraced.

"Peace and love," Starr said as he kissed Olivia Harrison on each cheek.

Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001, was an avid gardener, and the display at the flower show reflects that interest.

The Chelsea Flower Show is the premier event on Britain's gardening calendar, and Starr and company got a more frenetic welcome than Queen Elizabeth II can expect when she formally opens the event Monday evening.

"He always told me his first garden was his father's vegetable patch," said Olivia Harrison.

She said that as a teenager, Harrison was unhappy at being kicked out of a local park at closing time.

"He always said, 'One day I will have my own garden.'"

The garden's designer, Yvonne Innes, said the 76 species and varieties of flowers were designed to depict Harrison's journey from the material to the spiritual world. Titled "From Life to Life, a Garden for George," the garden is arranged in four tiers linked by a path that is a mosaic of Venetian glass.

A big star in the garden is emblazoned with, "Sun, sun, sun, here it comes," from the cheerful song he composed for The Beatles' "Abbey Road" album, released in 1969.

"I think it's fantastic," Beatles producer Sir George Martin said of the garden. "It's completely George — it's wonderful."

Olivia Harrison said her husband enjoyed developing the garden on the sprawling grounds of Friar Park, the neo-Gothic mansion near London that he bought in 1970. Harrison was pictured sitting in that garden on the cover his solo album, "All Things Must Pass."

"He never really had a lot of help" with the garden, she said. "It was amateur hour all the time."

"Above all in the garden, no one asks about business," she added. "I think that's why he liked it."

The garden was sponsored by the Material World Foundation, which Harrison established in 1973 with his earnings from the album he released that year, "Living in the Material World." The foundation sponsors art projects.

Starr's wife, Barbara Bach, also turned up for the opening.

The world's most famous flower show, Chelsea is a cross between trade fair, horticultural competition and showbiz ball, with some 600 exhibitors and more than 150,000 expected visitors.

Here comes the sun - tending Garden for George

Beatlemania erupted at London's Chelsea Flower Show on Monday as Ringo Starr rolled up in a gaudily painted Mini to join George Harrison's widow for the opening of a garden inspired by the "quiet Beatle."

Photographers swarmed as Starr drove up in the Mini decorated with symbols of the Hindu faith that Harrison embraced.

"Peace and love," Starr said as he kissed Olivia Harrison on each cheek.

Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001, was an avid gardener, and the display at the flower show reflects that interest. The Chelsea Flower Show is the premier event on Britain's gardening calendar.

The garden's designer, Yvonne Innes, said the 76 species and varieties of flowers were designed to depict Harrison's journey from the material to the spiritual world. "From Life to Life, a Garden for George," is arranged in four tiers linked by a path that is a mosaic of Venetian glass.

A big star in the garden is emblazoned with, "Sun, sun, sun, here it comes," from the cheerful song he composed for the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album.

"He never really had a lot of help" with the garden, Olivia Harrison said.

"Above all in the garden, no one asks about business," she added. "I think that's why he liked it."

George Harrison: Chelsea Flower Show homage to late Beatle
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 20/05/2008



It may not be rock'n'roll, but he liked it. Judith Woods on the Chelsea tribute to George Harrison

How should we remember one of the greatest pop musicians of the 20th century? A gala concert? A blue plaque, or a digitally remastered retrospective of his finest work?


A Garden for George at Chelsea Flower Show
Well, according to the widow of George Harrison there is no more appropriate way to commemorate his life - and afterlife - than a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Embracing one of the Season's most popular events may not sound very rock'n'roll, but Olivia Harrison is clear that this was where his heart lay.

"I wouldn't like to say whether gardening was as important to him as music," she recalls, speaking at the family home in Friar Park where he spent so many happy hours, "but when he was home he was always either in the recording studio or in the garden. Both were places where he became utterly absorbed and we didn't like to disturb him."

The Harrison garden takes its place this year alongside a number of show-stopping creations including The Daily Telegraph's tranquil Japanese-inspired pondscape.

advertisementEntitled From Life to Life, A Garden for George (the name comes from the Beatles' song It's All Too Much), the horticultural homage to Harrison is planted with scrubby thistles and allotment vegetables, brightly clashing perennials, white-stemmed birches and scented roses.

The garden is divided into four tiers that Olivia says represent his life, music and philosophy; it takes visitors along a Venetian glass mosaic path from Harrison's post-war boyhood in Liverpool (symbolised by a child's old bike and rough grass), through the heady days of Beatlemania (where there is a 6ft glass sun).

Then it's on to the singer-songwriter's more mature years (represented by ferns and silver birches), and, finally, to his spiritual life, represented by a white Indian pavilion.

From the age of 27, Harrison devoted much of his time to landscaping the 35 acres surrounding Friar Park, a 12-room neo-Gothic Victorian pile outside Henley-upon-Thames. But he first gained his love for making things grow on his father's allotment in Liverpool.

"Sometimes George would see that something he'd planted in one place suddenly sprang up in another instead," says American-born Olivia, 59. "He'd always be amused at this confirmation that he was facilitating nature rather than controlling it.

"I feel that George has been by my side as I've worked on this project," adds Olivia, who worked on the garden with designer Yvonne Innes (it has been sponsored by Harrison's Material World Charitable Foundation). "I've learned a lot about the English from their gardens. No matter how small the patch of ground they have, people take great pride in making it beautiful."

Harrison married Olivia, his second wife, in 1978, and they had a son, Dhani, now 29 and himself a musician.

After being diagnosed with cancer in 1997, Harrison had growths removed from his throat and lung, but in 2001, his cancer returned and was diagnosed as terminal. Towards the end of his life, the garden gave him great comfort.

"I know he would have loved nothing better than for a garden to be created in his name," says Olivia, "although he always fought shy of things being about him.

"We spent so many years together working on the garden at Friar Park that I know which plants he would and wouldn't like and how he would want them to be planted. We've taken elements of the garden he created at home and brought them here and I think it really captures something of George's essence. I hope visitors to Chelsea will enjoy it."