SHOW REVIEW |
'Be inspired', the posters told us, and we were.
The Chelsea Flower Show launches itself each year with a show of horticultural excellence. Show gardens with huge budgets are prinked and tweaked to within an inch of their lives, floral displays of prefect bulbs, luscious roses and magnificent, unbelievable vegetables are assembled in the Floral Pavilions, and retailers build conservatories and mock courtyards to display their wares.
This year was no different and, as always, there were ideas and inspiration at every turn. Some you covet instantly, while others might be better suited to someone else's back garden.
The day before the Show is a hive of activity. The TV celebrities have their chance to dance and prance in the garden, taping words of wisdom and wit for the evening news, before the public and the celebrities turn up. The judges are there, clipboards in hand, marking displays for excellence in a number of categories. All this frustrates the ranks of photographers, lined up with their tripods, trying to photograph a pristine and empty garden.
This pristine perfection is seen before mere mortals are admitted - the Gala performance with royalty, celebrities and those with connections, suitably dressed for one of the a social events of the year, wander amid the displays champagne in hand.
Display Gardens
There is a diversity of design styles at Chelsea, ranging from modern and minimalist through to traditional styles 'English country gardens'.
Show preview information promised 'modern' gardens, with nary a traditional garden to be seen. Well, Britain is the 'old country' and most of the gardens we saw at Chelsea owed far more to traditional than to cutting edge design we saw in Melbourne.
The Best Garden in Show and a Gold Medal went to the Real Japanese Garden, designed by Professor Masao Fukahara from Osaka University of the Arts. It was one of the nicest gardens there. You could live in it, enjoy it and maintain it. The maples were to die for, the camellias were simply lovely and there was some beautiful stonework, incorporating a huge slab of stone forming a 'bridge' over a dry streambed. Every angle, every view was well thought through and composed as a vignette. |
A Real Japanese garden, Best in Show |
The small size of a Chelsea garden impinged on the concept and the garden did seem a little crowded. In an equivalent space most Japanese gardens would have been restricted to one or two elements; the Real Japanese Garden had a teahouse, a dry streambed, water with a viewing platform and a stroll garden. But if we could have taken it home with us, well... Visitors to the National Botanic Garden of Wales will have a chance to appreciate it when it is moved there after the Show.
The other Gold medal winner, the Laurent Perrier-Harpers and Queen Garden was a simple, very lovely design, more a meadow than a garden, but one that took a more modern approach. The design featured a sheet of red sandstone terracing fronted by a trough of clear water. The water, forming a rill, ran along the shady side of the garden.
The terracing, backed by low wall, was simple and clean. The rest of the garden was a wildflower meadow enclosed by pollarded limes and planted with shade and sun loving plants. More 'an installation rather than ... the illusion of a garden', designer Tom Stuart-Smith says the garden would need to be 'cut once in the spring, then watch it grow'.
Perhaps the most modern design was the Circ Contemporary Man's Garden (Silver Gilt) designed by Andy Sturgeon. A strong diagonal axis formed by paving and a rill lined a circular sculpture positioned against a deep rust coloured wall and the pool in the front of the garden. Vivid blue shade sails with modern styled furniture provided sheltered seating areas and there was more blue in the accessories.
The planting was of dry-climate plants with agaves and cacti mingling with iris and other perennials in stone mulch. In contrast, at the rear of the garden, a tunnel of rusted steel led to the sculpture and, parallel, a row of birches made a sheltered area planted with shade loving plants.
The Theatrical Garden (Silver-Gilt) provided plenty of drama, but was not probably something you would take home! A more contemporary garden with a theatrical theme it comprised a central stage beyond a curving sweep of box hedging, a turfed amphitheatre and water, which disappeared under the jutting stage. |
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Kelaways, Inspiration in the Pavilions
Chelsea 2001 - and the Colour is Blue
Chelsea 2001 In summary
Last year at Chelsea 2000 it was mirrors, and more mirrors. They were everywhere. And in 2001?
The colour of the Show - Blue Blue flowers, blue shade sails, a blue concrete garden, blue tiles, blue accessories, even blue snails
The plant of the Show - Cirsum rivulare 'Atropurpureum' , a wine thistle-like flower in the second most popular colour, in gardens, floral exhibits and the birch Betula pendula 'Youngii' seen in many of the gardens to provide scale and light, dappled shade
Main Award Winners
Best Garden in Show - 'A Real Japanese Garden' (Gold medal)
Gold Medal Garden - Laurent Perrier-Harpers and Queen Garden
Best Courtyard in Show - London Borough of Barnet Skills Training Centre's 'Of the Elements' (Gold medal)
Gold Medal Courtyard - Wyevale Garden Centres 'Ruby Tuesday' |
Chelsea 2001 - the Must Have plant, Cirsum rivulare 'Atropurpuruem'
A Real Japanese Garden
Laurent Perrier-Harpers and Queen Garden
Laurent Perrier-Harpers and Queen Garden
Contemporary Man's Garden |
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