Dubai developer plants sales seed at chelsea flower show

The Dubai development, Al Barari Photo: Facebook.com/albarari.uae

A Dubai developer is expecting blossoming demand for one project next year, after planting a sales seed at the Chelsea Flower Show. The project, Al Barari, contains 189 luxury villas and multilple themed gardens, with more than 16.4km of landscaped lakes, streams, cascades and waterways. As OPP Connect describes it, it is "more like a botanical garden than a residential community".

The developer has therefore struck upon an ingenious way to advertise the property: by creating its own show garden at the Chelsea Flower Show. The event, which runs from 19th to 23rd May 2015, will mark the first time that an Emirati designer has a garden at the show.

Called The Beauty of Islam, it will be designed by Kamelia Zaal, who was trained at London's Inchbald School of Design and now lives in Dubai. She is also the Creative Landscape Director of the Al Barari development (the name translates as "wilderness").

The garden will give show visitors the opportunity to explore the relationship between humankind and the earth, which is prominent in Islamic Culture.

Planting and hard landscape patterns reflect those found within Islam. The poetry, calligraphy and textures within the garden reflect both the beauty of Arabic and Islamic cultures. A sculpture within the garden also represents Islamic art. The origin of the materials for the garden’s hard landscaping, such as white marble from Turkey, has been specially chosen to represent the geographic reach of Islam.

Four walls act as dividers within the garden, creating different rooms and enhancing the garden’s element of discovery with water flowing throughout. The wide variety of plants within the garden, including, Jasmine, Rosemary and Papyrus, represents the spread of Islam and Arab culture and the growth of the Arab empire through trade, most notably the Spice Route.