Phil's steel-inspired garden scoops double award
Phil Hirst works part-time as Head of Financial Policy and Strategy at the University, but few may know that, when he's not dealing with figures, he's cultivating award-winning gardens.
This summer, Phil swapped finance for foliage and entered his steel themed garden design into the Royal Horticultural Society's Tatton Park Flower Show.
Entitled A Stainless Century, and sponsored by housing association, Sanctuary Group, the garden celebrated the invention of stainless steel in Sheffield 100 years ago and earned Phil a gold medal.
The garden, which contains features inspired by the iconic buildings of Sheffield, including a 3m tall stainless steel pergola and decorative wall panels, also scooped the Best Large Garden accolade.
Phil, who passed his Diploma in Garden Design with distinction, said: "I was in absolute shock when the judges came round with the awards. I thought the garden looked good but I wasn't sure if the judges would feel the same.
"It's such a great honour to know that the RHS thought so highly of my work, especially as this is the first time I have designed a garden for one of their shows."
The award-winning garden, which took over six months planning, also included a central rill of water that depicts the pouring of molten steel from a crucible.
Phil said: "The planting complements the steel theme through use of plants with silver leaves and with cool coloured flowers. These are offset by rust coloured highlights."
As well as being inspired by Sheffield's steel industry, Phil also sourced a lot of the materials and labour for his garden from the city.
He said: "I got all my steel pieces fabricated in the city and I used local company, Garden Style, to build the garden."
The garden, which took two weeks to erect, has not just been for the enjoyment of visitors to the Tatton Park Flower Show either. There are plans for it to be rebuilt by sponsors of the garden, Sanctuary Group, at a new retirement development in Stocksbridge.
As well as offering our congratulations to Phil, we thought that with an award-winning gardener in our midst we had better take the opportunity to find out some top tips for all you gardeners out there.
Phil said: "Every garden is different so my best piece of advice would be to get to know your garden. Find out what the soil is like, find out where you get the sun - simple things like this will determine how successful you are."
"You've also got to know what the purpose of your garden is and what you want to achieve – it's all about the planning," he said.