Hi-tech gardens: the new technology that tells you which plants need watering wherever you are in the world
Bring technology into our city gardens, and we will use them more.
This was the direct thinking behind one of the Chelsea Flower Show’s most contemporary gardens, dreamed up by landscape architect Hay Joung Hwang, who got together with the multinational electronics company, LG, and, for her much-admired efforts, achieved a Silver-Gilt award.
“The idea is that you can be in your home and, before you step outside, switch on the water feature, the lighting and see what needs watering,” says London-based Hay, who is intent on getting Londoners outside more, because, she says, being up close and personal with nature is the best thing in the world.
“People are put off planting because they are worried about maintenance, but a monitor that links to your smartphone as well as a tiny planting device pushed into the soil will notify you which group of plants need watering when. You just need to download the app and register the plants, then you can be in your living room, on your garden lounger or anywhere in the world and give your plants precisely what they need. It makes life simpler.”
Technology aside, the LG Smart Garden makes a glorious flowery retreat, and is a purposeful blend of Scandi cool and Zen calm that is reflected in a streamlined garden building with sliding glass wall.
JOIN THE GARDEN PARTY
“I wanted to create something special that you can see from your living room, right across the garden, beyond the flowerbeds,” she says. “So many London gardens don’t make use of the space right at the back. I made it a long building so the terrace could be used for yoga, and the inside living area could also be used as an office.”
A state-of-the-art LG wall television holds whatever is on your phone and allows you, explains Hay, to chat to your family and friends on a big screen so you can join the party wherever they are, but when not in use, the 65-inch screen becomes a mirror. On the right-hand inside wall is a dark, dramatic water wall made from Accoya wood — which is treated with acetate so that it does not rot — decorated with an abstract pattern of brass inserts.
The central dining table as well as the pale wood furniture has a distinct Scandinavian look. “Everybody said I should use furniture from Korea, because that’s where I am from, but for me, Scandinavian style wins out. It’s sleek, light and minimal, which works so well with nature,” says Hay.
She wanted a pergola to add height to the garden and designed an innovative and elegant template for modern town plots: a cantilevered series of wood beams that frame the space beautifully, yet have no support at one end. What stops them from falling into the flowerbeds are steel structures to a depth of 60cms beneath the ground that support the beams above the ground, so excavation, at an early stage of build, is essential.
In keeping with the minimalist feel, the floor is white sawn-cut limestone. Stepping stones leading down the garden, of the same smooth material, contrast with bands of riven black slate and textural black pebbles.
The predictable route in a contemporary garden such as this would be clean-cut, simple planting, but aside from sharply-cut cubes of yew bordering the garden, Hay wanted to show how the most romantic, feminine planting, in a palette of dreamy pastel shades, could complement the angular, modernist lines. Thus, a magnolia tree offers shelter and shade by the open sides of the pergola, while wisteria cascades from the white beams.
“I love pale blue and pale pink together — they give an almost fairytale quality to planting,” she says. Indeed, the country-garden beds thick with white and apricot foxgloves, sugar-pink roses, sky-blue and peach iris and white ragged robin could be straight out of a storybook, making this garden a perfect traditional/contemporary blend.