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Leeds City Council, Parks and Countryside Service

Designer: Denise Preston, Leeds City Council

'The silver flora garden 'Scent of a Roman' has a Yorkshire theme that has been influenced by historical evidence of a Roman settlement in Leeds and Roman features still in evidence in the Yorkshire region.

The structure of the garden represents Roman essence rather than traditional style. Aged and distressed pillars in various states of decay, and a meandering footpath leading through a series of terraces to a small amphitheatre, are set against a weathered and distressed stone grotto. The grotto, which is clothed in plants, ferns and mosses, represents a place of worship and prayer. Here seeping ferny walls and a reflective pool create an atmosphere of meditation and mythical woodland.

The garden includes plants used by Romans for their scent, culinary and medicinal uses. Herbs and culinary plants are arranged in a tapestry of texture and colour feature in a meadow at the front of the garden. The meadow provides a light texture of planting and includes flowering bulbs (such as Allium, Hyacinthoides, Scilla) and grasses. The planting takes on warmer tones as it moves away from the meadow. The plants invade the path to soften the hard landscape and scramble over the pillars.

Moving down the garden the planting rises up to the grotto where silver birch and chestnut create a wooded backdrop populated with plants that are shade loving and tolerate a moist habitat. Mulberry and olive trees provide structure.

One of the key reasons that Leeds City Council, Parks and Countryside Service exhibits at Chelsea is to develop the horticultural skills of its workforce.