Former Tonbridge School boy John Warland scooped gold at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show with his spectacular undulating World Vision Garden.

Judges agreed the floating waves of turf, symbolising journeys of life, were a technical and visual triumph.

John, 38, who created a smaller version of the garden at RHS Chelsea 2016 said the extra space at Hampton Court worked in his favour.

He said: “The undulations represent how unpredictable and vulnerable life can be for children living in disaster areas and regions of poverty. The larger plot here at Hampton Court means visitors can actually ‘walk through the waves’.

“This is very personal for me as I sponsor a young boy through World Vision, and with this garden I wanted to show how, as fear recedes, there is a crescendo of new hope.”

He added: “Using mature trees which pierce through the grass waves was a technical challenge but it works and echoes the support we can all give.

“The budget was tight, obviously, as World Vision uses its money money wisely, so recycling the garden made sense. We changed the planting and I am really pleased the result, especially the meadows of ox-eye daisies.”

Coblands Nurseries, Sevenoaks

It was a walk in the park for the Dogs Trust, who took gold with plants supplied by Coblands of Sevenoaks. Award-winning garden designer Paul-Hervey Brookes and Lewis Normand, head of garden design at Coblands, created sumptuous swathes of gold and blue planting with picture-perfect sugar maples.

The semi-formal garden’s dog-friendly features, including tunnels and sniffer tracks, playfully woven into the herbaceous borders had gold written all over it.

The trust is active in Kent and is celebrating its 125th anniversary of finding new, loving owners for thousands of homeless dogs.

Hythe Garden Landscapes

Hythe couple Mark Whyte and Abigail Ferguson, who run Hythe Garden Landscapes, took silver-gilt with their first show garden, inspired by Dungeness.

The ambitious Our Lives in Time’s Hands conceptual garden featured a giant wave, hand-crafted from more than 500 pieces of steam-bent wood, suspended as if crashing to the shore.

“We could only make a small number of the wooden pieces everyday and sometimes they would break – it was very stressful sometimes!” said Mark.

“The wave represents the passing of the moment and is inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnet 60, which speaks with a melancholy sentiment that everything born will wither and perish, while the planting reflects a natural landscape with wild flowers among other edible species.

“We had a real job getting hold of the yellow poppies and they only flower for one day – fortunately that was the day of the judging!”

The Border Control Garden

This striking garden sponsored by the United Nations Refugee Agency highlights the plight of refugees and the risks many take to find shelter.

A wildflower meadow sits within a treacherous moat, bordered by a razor wire fence and accessed through a tightly controlled crossing. At the centre of the oasis a shelter provides protection, while outside, plants struggle to survive.

An abandoned child's tractor, a life-vest and fragment of clothing hanging from the fence are not a comfortable sight but thought-provoking and worthy of its gold medal.

RHS and BBC Local Radio competition finalist

Sarah Morgan, of Whitstable, was a finalist in the RHS and BBC competition to design a front garden that takes inspiration from a local region.

Sarah’s Beachscape Oyster Garden does just that, leading the visitor along a wooden path on a journey from land, across the beach, to the water’s edge. Large pebbles gradually become smaller, turning into beach shingle, and the plants also change from clifftop species to those that grow near the shoreline.

At the bottom of the garden two rills and a circular pool give a nod to the sea.

Sarah also features nets and a huge anchor-chain borrowed from a Whitstable fisherman and the innovative planting scheme works perfectly with creeping red molinia, achillea, various varieties of eryngium and euphorbia and bold agapanthus.

Sarah, who volunteers at the local community garden, moved to Whitstable after the birth of her daughter to allow her to take a more flexible approach to work and home life. She now hopes to embark on a new career in garden design. The future looks bright and she also hopes to get more involved in Whitstable's NGS open gardens scheme next year.

Floral Art

In the floral art pavilion, Leeds Castle’s head florist Louise Roots created a dazzling representation of a Rio 2016 carnival float and it deserved nothing less than gold. Hadlow College received a bronze medal and Canterbury College’s students also pulled off a fabulous creation. The pink-carpeted pavilion contained work which many visitors agreed were as good, if not better, than displays they had seen at RHS Chelsea 2016!

Plant Heritage

Plant Heritage, showcasing 10 of its specialist National Plant Collections, includes Canterbury Cathedral’s head gardener Philip Oostenbrink’s Collection of Hakonechloa macra and Japanese Forest Grass. The plants are native to Japan, originating from the Hakone mountains, but Philip’s collection started off on a small balcony - he now has 17 cultivars displayed in a private office garden in the precincts of the cathedral and a silver medal to go with them.

Flower tent

Paul Harris of Brookfield Nurseries, Ashford, took gold for his hostas and silver-gilt for his Hemerocallis cultivars. Downderry Lavender, of Hadlow, also took gold to make it a brace after RHS Chelsea Flower Show success.

Madrona Nursery, of Bethersden, earned silver-gilt for its flowering shrubs, trees and perennials while Dysons Nurseries, at St Mary's Platt, was awarded silver for its salvias.

Pictures by Ian West