There are many different things that can inspire gardeners to get to work in their green spaces – and some of these can be quite surprising.
Some designers who are making entries into the 2012 Flower Show at Tatton Park, which runs from July 18th to the 22nd and is hosted by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), are taking ideas from the world of music.
They are not the only ones to look to the arts to prompt new ways of using garden equipment to give their outdoor area a uniquely personal twist.
The recent Chelsea Flower Show featured the Humko Garden, which was designed by Tomaz Bavdez. This was inspired by the novel The Soft Machine by William Burroughs – the controversial author and cult figure who is more famous for his earlier work Naked Lunch.
Mr Bavdez adapted the central metaphor of the title The Soft Machine – which symbolises the human body – and applied this to an ecosystem. The garden is watered when a person works out on an exercise bike in the centre of the space.
One of the music gardens set to feature at Tatton Park is Brass, designed by Alan Gardner, which is based on the sounds of a brass instrument.
A sunken and brightly coloured area explodes into a mound that features brass-coloured tubes. Furthermore, traditional planting methods adopted at the edge of the garden are used to represent classical music.
"We hope that these music gardens will challenge and inspire visitors to think differently about their gardens and show that you can achieve fantastic design by combining two passions," commented show manager for the event Kris Hulewicz.
"The RHS Flower Show Tatton Park is known for its creative and fun approach to garden design," she continued, adding: "We want to encourage music lovers, who might never have gardened before, to be creative in their own outside spaces."