Trevor Tooth Finds Italian Inspiration for Chelsea Flower Show 2008

31st March 2008: With the countdown to the show now in full swing Trevor has been busy with the practical, yet highly creative, process of sourcing plants for his show garden.

In order to find extra-special plants for his design, Trevor recently travelled to Italy to visit a vast plant nursery called Innocenti & Mangoni Piante in the Italian city of Pistoia. Here he found some real horticultural gems to complete the vision of his Chelsea 2008 garden design.

The nursery boasts the one of the most extensive collection of outdoor ornamental plant varieties offered by a single nursery and is renowned for its state-of –the art technology and influential presence in the European plant export market.

The Pistoia Nursery is located in a beautiful Tuscany region of Italy which, with its breathtaking scenery, is enough to inspire any gardener. The nursery has been involved in the production and marketing of outdoor ornamental plants for 60 years and produces some really exciting plants that are bought by horticulturalists not only in Italy, but throughout Europe and the world.

Within the nursery are avenues of conifers and other striking evergreens, ancient olive trees, perennial and deciduous shrubs and even some more exotic species such as palms and bamboos. The richness of the soil in this region of Italy allows plants of great quality and variety to be developed in order to meet the exacting standards of important customers such as Trevor Tooth.

The plants that were eventually chosen for the show garden were an eclectic and quirky mixture that really inspired Trevor. He said, “when I saw the sheer range of plants available at the Pistoia Nursery I was really excited. I had predefined plans as to which plants I was going to buy, but the nursery itself provided such inspiration that I ended up visualising where I could use some of these awe inspiring plants in my Chelsea 2008 show garden.”

Following on from his trip to Italy Trevor will shortly be heading to America where his visit will include the sources of inspiration for his Chelsea show garden, such as the New York Botanical Gardens and the Wax Building in Wisconsin. Trevor’s garden designs not only contain exciting plants, but also architecturally inspired elements. Frank Lloyd Wright, the designer behind the Wax Building, is one of Trevor’s favourite architects as his sculptural architecture influences Trevor’s non-organic forms within his garden designs.