'Willpower & sheer idiocy combine in harmony'
Gardens I liked best and ideas you can use at home without spending a fortune
THE Chelsea Flower Show is a funny old beast and I really think familiarity breeds contempt.
I won't say I didn't enjoy this year's show - I did - I just look at things with a more critical eye now, compared with my early visits, where I was like a kid in a toy shop.
Late May is an odd time for plants, so you tend to see the same things every year - foxgloves, foxtail lilies, alliums, fennel, cow parsley. This year, you're hard pressed to find a garden without Geum or Angelica.
Gimmicks
While I love all these plants, it's good to see designers which have stepped away from the usual much-used varieties. I'm also immediately turned off by ridiculous gimmicks like spinning topiary or pleached trees (you know who you are).
Here's my top five gardens (without the benefit for the judges' awards).
Interestingly, these gardens didn't appeal to me that much in the artist's impressions, so have an open mind:
1. Winton Beauty of Mathematics Garden, by Nick Bailey (silver-gilt): The garden I fell in love with, its planting echoing my own love of succulents. There's mostly Mediterranean species with shapes that form mathematical patterns, with a mature framework of Pinus sylvestris glauca with a high seating area overlooking Aloe polyphylla and other drought-tolerant plants and succulents.
Ideas for home: Use strong, architectural shapes in containers or borders instead of bedding.
2. RHS Greening Grey Britain Garden for Health, Happiness and Horticulture, by Ann-Marie Powell: Part of the campaign to encourage people not to concrete over their front gardens. Absolutely teeming with flowers, fruit, veg - even a recycled shipping container as a summerhouse.
Ideas for home: Not much space is no obstacle to growing - tomatoes were fruiting on the roof of the container (first find, transport and do up a shipping container...).
3. The Telegraph Garden, by Andy Sturgeon (gold, Best in Show): More use of drought-tolerant plants - semi-arid to be precise. Design effects achieved by leaf form, shape and scale rather than flowers. Unsure about the 'mountains'.
Ideas for home: Very similar to the Winton Garden, if our summers get drier, we will have to change the type of plants we grow.
4. The M&G Garden, by Cleve West (gold): Based on the oak woodlands of his youth on Exmoor, Cleve has done it again - and used some out-of fashion stalwarts to achieve a very cohesive, peaceful design. Good to see London Pride, bugle, dead nettle and plain old green ivy in the mix.
Ideas for home: Ground cover - get the right 'understorey', like a natural wood, and those plants will take care of most of the weeds for you.
5. St John's Hospice: a Modern Apothecary, by Jekka McVicar (silver-gilt): Her first Show Garden, but her overall experience tells. I've always had a fascination for medicinal plants and herbs and this one is spot on - mixing form, shape and colour brilliantly.
Ideas for home: Make your own herb garden but include edible plants such as Calendula and Nasturtium, used to great effect as slashes of colour.
On the down side, the Artisan Gardens weren't up to their usual standard in my opinion, which is a shame, as their small size makes them most translateable to real gardens. However, @SodShow told me off for this on Twitter - for dismissing them in one paragraph.
To be fair, I really like the Senrei Sentei Garage Garden (gold) by Kazuyuki Ishihara, which is an excellent concept - but I'm looking for things that ordinary folk can grow in NE England and the Japanese style is labour intensive and Acers get really bad wind burn here.
The Fresh Gardens are there to polarise opinion, which one certainly did - especially The Marble and Granite Centre's Antithesis of Sarcophagi by Martin Cook and Gary Breeze, which won Best Fresh Garden. It's a garden set inside a giant 2.5m granite cube. It's supposed to be a representation of a world turned inside out - a garden inside a sculpture, viewed through peep holes. It reminded me of the Barbican.
The Great Pavilion looked very different this year, with Hillier's display moved off to one side (it used to in effect split the space in two). It seemed far more airy than before and strangely bigger. Once again, lots to see from the specialists, including a full railway carriage from Bowdens Hostas.
Also, don't forget the trade stands - it takes a great deal of time and effort to display at Chelsea.
THE Great Pavilion, a 12,000sq metre marquee, will feature more than 100 exhibits from the world’s best nurseries, growers and florists. Nurseries exhibiting for the first time include Tom Smith Plants, Hoggarth Hostas and Love the Plot You’ve Got.
Two of Cheshire’s oldest families are hosting a joint floral exhibit. The Cholmondeley family, who have lived in the county since Norman times and 15th generation family oat miller, Mornflake, are recreating Cholmondeley Castle’s iconic Temple Garden. The project will be led by head gardener Barry Grain. Representing the agricultural foundations that shape the Cholmondeley Estate, Mornflake has been a fierce supporter and pioneer of British land and food for more than 340 years, independently owned and run by the Lea family since 1675.
Devon-based nursery Bowdens will occupy the pavilion's central monument site, with a 6,000sq ft planted-up train station, including an 80ft-long carriage from 1920s Belmond British Pullman (sister train to the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express). Plants will range from hostas on Platform 1 to rare jungle ferns on Platform 2.
Millais Nurseries will celebrate the centenary of the Rhododendron Society, which held its first AGM at the show in 1916. The walk-through exhibit will compare large-growing plants that were favoured 100 years ago, to modern, compact varieties.
Picture; RHS
Picture; RHS
Picture; RHS
RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2016 review
NEW to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show?
Here's eight tips that will make your visit more enjoyable - learn from my mistakes!
1. The Chelsea Cough: caused by a mix of pollen from the plane trees and pollution. Reached impossible levels for me in 2014 and the best thing for sale on site was a tin of commemorative boiled sweets. Be prepared with proper cough sweets and a bottle of water - and antihistamines if you suffer from hay fever.
2. Hotel: In my first year, I made the mistake of trying to stay as close as possible to the Chelsea Hospital site. This is a bad idea - hotels are extremely expensive. The nearest I could afford was a basement dungeon in Pimlico, a good 20-minutes' walk away. Consequently, to be there at 7am on press day, I used a lot of cabs, both to the site and back to King's Cross. Stay close to your station and make sure you get a full breakfast (or even cheaper, seek out a local cafe, which will be half the price). You'll be right next to the transport hubs and hotels are competitively priced.
3. Transport: My station is King's Cross and it's an easy tube ride to Sloane Square tube station (on the District and Circle Lines).
There's one change: King's Cross St. Pancras-Victoria, then change train at Victoria to Sloane Square. Estimated time: 22 mins. Sloane Square is an easy (and flat) 10-minute walk from the showground.
4. Food and drink: obviously, it's expensive. Make sure you have a cooked breakfast to set you up for the day - It'll save money in the long run - and you'll walk off all those calories. If you're using the Sloane Square tube, there's a lot of reasonably-priced restaurants near the Saachii Gallery just off the King's Road - Comptoir Libanais is my favourite, in Duke of York Square, www.comptoirlibanais.com.
5. While you're there: the Saachi Gallery has the Rolling Stones exhibition on at the minute, but must be booked ahead, www.saatchigallery.com.
The National Army Museum, next door to the RHS Chelsea site on Royal Hospital Road, is closed until late 2016 for refurbishment.
The Chelsea Physic Garden - a marvellous garden next to the Thames, a few minutes' walk from the site with Tangerine Dream, a really good cafe and excellent gardening bookshop. For prices and full details, log on to www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk.
6. Oyster card: buy one online with an automatic top-up well BEFORE you go - it's much cheaper and more convenient.
7. Clothes: Forget restrictive fashion and leave that to the celebs on press day. Choose VERY comfortable shoes that function just as well in hot weather or cool. Be adaptable - in 2013, I ended up buying an emergency cardigan - in 2014, a sun hat. Put on sun block before you set out, whether it's cloudy or not.
8. Other essentials: blister plasters; painkillers; over-the-body shoulder bag; spare strong fold-up bag for purchases.
8 tips for a better Chelsea experience
Great Pavilion's undercover gems
THE smaller artisan gardens are no less innovative - Peter Eustance of Symphonic Gardens has developed an acoustic garden for disability charity Papworth Trust, inspired by percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie. The garden creates an acoustic pulse inspired by Evelyn’s love of the ‘sea music’ produced by the women of the Vanuatu islands who create amazing rhythmic songs with just their hands, water and voices.
Sarah Eberle draws on international inspiration for her garden for Viking Cruises, based on the floating gardens of the silk-weaving region of the Mekong River in Cambodia. Largely made up of water, with a small deck leading to a ‘floating’ lounger styled on a traditional fishing boat, this oasis also features a cantilevered parasol inspired by traditional fishing nets.
Fresh gardens are expected to excite and engage visitors with conceptual designs. Tackling the controversial subject of modern-day slavery, Juliet Sargent aims to raise awareness of the issue. This
struggle is represented by two contrasting atmospheres: empty, lifeless and black inside; colourful and open on the outside. The open doors and path represent the way to freedom for modern slaves.
Other highlights in the two sections include The World Vision Garden by John Warland, which symbolises how unpredictable and vulnerable life is; The Dye Garden, demonstrates age-old techniques used by artists of using plants to dye fabrics and John Everiss returns with a garden for Meningitis Now.
Artisan and Fresh garden highlights
Sublime: Senrei Sentei Garage Garden by Kazuyuki Ishihara. Picture; RHS
Great Pavilion
Flying the flag for NE England
THERE'S not many North East exhibition at RHS Chelsea this year - only four registered, all from County Durham. Here they are - give them your support:
Harperley Hall Farm Nurseries, alpine and unusual perennials nursery from Harperley, near Stanley. They're in the Floral Marquee, and added to their three previous Chelsea golds and 2015's President's Award by winning a fourth this year. Website: www.harperleyhallfarmnurseries.co.uk.
The National Chrysanthemum Society, based in Peterlee, will also be exhibiting in the Floral Marquee. Website: www.nationalchrysanthemumsociety.co.uk.
Carryon Clothing, from Beamish, will be taking one of the trade stands again this year.
Website: www.carryonclothing.co.uk.
The Moorland Rug Company, of Frosterley, is the only rug company endorsed by the RHS and are also appearing on one of the trade stands.
Website: www.moorland-rugs.co.uk.
The Queen's rose arch and Rosa display
THE RHS will celebrate The Queen's 90th birthday with floral arches.
The primary arch, by Shane Connolly, will span the Bull Ring gate entrance, on the bank of the Thames, while its sister arch will welcome visitors to the London Gate.
The Bull Ring arch will be made using all British blooms donated by UK growers and will be installed by design students from UK colleges.
Shane was the florist who directed the horticultural elements at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and holds a Royal Warrant of Appointment to The Prince of Wales and The Queen.
Award-winning artist Joseph Massie provides another floral display, Rosa, a hanging installation beneath the Rock Bank restaurant that connects Main Avenue and Ranalegh Way, featuring more than 5,000 fresh rose blooms.
The installation will be formed of two lit pools at either end of the walkway, with rows of the preserved rose petals flowing towards the ceiling on seemingly invisible thread, in pinks and soft apricot tones.
As the two columns of petals rise, hanging full headed roses intertwine with them to create a fuller column of rose heads and petals at the tunnel’s peak.
The petals used to create the artwork will be recycled at the end of the show.
ANTICIPATED attendance: 165,000.
Exhibitors: More than 500 from all around the world, including Show Gardens, Artisan Gardens and Fresh Gardens. There are more than 100 exhibits in the Great Pavilion, predominantly from nurseries and florists and about 270 trade stands.
Number of people involved in building the show: Approximately 800 people take 33 days on site to create it.
Number of Show Gardens: 17
Number of Artisan Gardens: 6
Number of Fresh Gardens: 7
The Great Pavilion: 12,000 m2, more than the size of two football pitches and big enough to park 500 London buses.
Food and drink in 2015: 7,720 glasses of Pimms; 28,447 cakes, pastries and cookies; 10,823
glasses of champagne; 64,144 hot drinks.
Show Garden highlights
First timers: After 25 years of exhibiting in the Floral Marquee, Rosy Hardy designs the Brewin Dolphin’s Forever Freefolk Show Garden, inspired by declining chalk streams.
Catherine MacDonald creates a design for Hartley Botanic featuring a glasshouse and tropical plants.
Hay Hwang presents a hi-tech garden for LG Electronics.
Sam Ovens, winner of RHS Young Designer of the Year 2014, makes his full debut with a garden for Cloudy Bay.
Chihori Shibiyama and Yano Tea create their first Show Garden for Watahan & Co. to represent
the cultures of both the UK and Japan.
With 62 RHS Gold Medals, Jekka McVicar designs her first Show Garden with A Modern Apothecary.
Nick Bailey celebrates the beauty to be found in the mathematics and algorithms of plant life, with his garden for Winton Capital.
Great Pavilion
First timers: Hogarth Hostas, Tom Smith Plants, Love the Plot You’ve Got and New Covent Garden Flower Market.
Other highlights: There will be more than 100 exhibits from the world’s best nurseries, growers, florists, specialist societies, horticultural colleges and scientific institutions.
Bowden Hostas are bringing a spectacular display, the centrepiece of which features a genuine 1920's British Belmond Train carriage, the sister train to The Orient Express.
New Covent Garden Flower Market are to make a dramatic debut as their 3m high wall of black buckets overflows with flowers and foliage to finally reveal a secret design on May 23.
Hillier Nurseries move from the monument for the first time in more than 16 years with a 21m x 12m garden within the Great Pavilion, designed by Sarah Eberle.
Millais Nurseries will be celebrating the centenary of the Rhododendron Society, which held its first AGM at Chelsea Flower Show in 1916.
RHS Chelsea - the mind-boggling stats
LAST year, the RHS Greening Grey Britain campaign was launched in response to the trend of paving over front gardens.
The growth of grey space, and decline of green aggregates, a range of environmental challenges, while the domination of grey, hard surfaces has been shown to have a negative impact on our health and wellbeing.
The RHS has teamed up with award-winning designer Ann-Marie Powell to champion the health and wellbeing benefits of horticulture.
The charity believes everybody should have access to a garden and the joy and happiness it brings.
Ann-Marie’s garden celebrates the wide range of plants and tactics gardeners can use to promote health and happiness.
Her garden includes: cacti, fruit and vegetables, wildflowers, fruit trees, herbs, a bug house, a kitchen garden, a compost bin, hanging baskets, house-plants, seedlings and many more ‘take-home’ ideas.
Urban Connections, a new Fresh Garden for the Victoria Business Improvement District, by design duo Lee Bestall and Paul Robinson highlights the growing issue of elderly isolation and showcases the role that high-quality public spaces play in bringing communities and generations together.
Other exhibits that follow this theme include RHS Ambassador Jekka McVicar’s A Modern Apothecary, which champions the healing power of herbs, Chris Beardshaw’s collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital and The Garden Bed by Alison Doxey and Stephen Welch.
Gardening ideas you can take home
My top 5 show gardens
The Marble and Granite Centre's Antithesis of SarcophagI. Picture; RHS