If you saw any coverage from the Chelsea Flower Show last week you’re bound to have noticed the quite magnificent looking Westland Magical Tower – an award-winning display put together by garden designer and television personality Diarmuid Gavin.

Overshadowing all of the other entrants both in terms of size and ambition, this enormous 80ft garden brought some much-needed excitement to the prestigious event thanks to its unashamed outlandishness and creative use of vertical space. Those of us at GroWell were delighted to be associated with the project, after organisers called upon our expertise relating to hydroponics and horticultural lighting to help ensure exhibited plants remained strong and healthy.

Consisting of seven tiers in total, the Westland Magical Tower somehow managed to include a fully operational lift, a café, a helter skelter (yes, a helter skelter!) and greenhouses alongside 5000 plants and trees. It took three weeks of 15-hour days to build and fill the unique pyramid structure, with many obstacles coming and going along the way.

One such issue concerned getting sufficient light to plants located near the centre of each floor. Upon hearing about this, we took great delight in providing a workable and effective solution! By setting up a number of grow light systems – featuring Exolux Dimmable Digital Ballasts, Adjust-a-Wing Avenger Reflectors and Metal Halide Lamps, the more shaded plants actually received greater amounts of light than those exposed to sunlight on the perimeter! As a result of installing the grow lights the affected plants really flourished and no doubt played a small part in enabling the display to win the Most Creative Show Garden Prize!