大象传媒

This year鈥檚 Chelsea garden reflects Tom鈥檚 love of travel and is inspired by Voltaire鈥檚 classic novel, 鈥楥andide鈥�. A tale of adventures across oceans, chronicalling Candide鈥檚 pursuit of his love Cun茅gonde. It ends in a Turk鈥檚 smallholding where the hapless couple and their companions find contentment working in the garden.

鈥淚 read 鈥楥andide鈥� at school as the set O Level French book. Re-reading it as inspiration for this show garden, I have created the essence of Candide鈥檚 global pursuit of his love Cun茅gonde," he explains. 鈥淚 have represented her in the garden by a series of voluptuous sculptures, cast in bronze and set into stone walls that sparkle and reflect light as if containing the jewels and treasures of El Dorado.鈥�

Water is an important element, representing the oceans and treacherous rapids as Candide enters El Dorado. In the garden a water feature connects the pools and contains the main sculpture of Cun茅gonde, full bodied and kneeling in the water, framed by a stunning planting of Cyparus papyrus, the papyrus sedge.

The sculpture鈥檚 verdigris green-blue patination provides the colour scheme for garden, a palette of aged bronze accented with vivid oranges, balanced with blues and glaucous greens of the foliage plantings.

鈥淚鈥檝e found some truly amazing plants this year, a 7m specimen tree of Parrotia persica, the Persian Iron tree. It has a beautiful and curious branching structure that echoes the limbs of the sculptures - similar to the angular forms of bent elbows and knees. Yucca rostrata is another Chelsea first, the spiky leaves of the 2m tall plants refract light in subtle blue tones on the planting below.鈥�

鈥淚 think the final message of Candide鈥檚 musings in the Turks garden, is as relevant today as in Voltaire鈥檚 time - we can all find happiness in a life focussed on simple hard work and what better place to express that than by cultivating a garden?鈥�

What will happen to the garden after the show?

The whole garden is to be rebuilt at a farmhouse in Essex.