Show Review
Story and Pictures by Margaret Chapman
The Chelsea Flower Show 2002 surpassed itself with wonderful gardens and horticultural displays. The innovations this year, especially the introduction of more small garden displays, brought a freshness to a Show first held in 1912.
New themes ran through the gardens and the displays, with environmental concerns reflected in the number of wildflower gardens, as well as gardens designed for water conservation and wildlife.
Other gardens were traditional, most relying on an established planting palette and designing informal plantings around a structured or formal ground plan. The courtyard gardens took a braver look at design, with the more innovative gardens pulling off a great garden, while other did not all quite come together on the ground.
The retail displays picked up on the trends, more of the posh glasshouses and conservatories than ever had vegetable gardens laid out beside them, and tomato plants and basil seedlings (nothing common, mind you) gloried in the warmth and light of their luxurious abode.
Themes in 2002
Colour Schemes
And the colour is purple.
Purple with splashes of lime green or, in a bolder contrast, orange.
Purple alliums were the most constant source of colour, along with hardy geraniums, nepeta, aquilegias and dozens of other purple flowers, a smoky haze of planting. Deep plum-coloured foliage from heucheras and purple hazels, spiky New Zealand cordylines and phormiums added depth to the schemes.
Lime green was provided by euphorbias, alchemilla, and fresh foliage; orange by poppies, nasturtiums, marigolds and geums.
Plants You Have to Have
Plants were light an airy, never heavy-handed dinner plates. The delicate, almost woodland, look is all.
Alliums were in almost every garden. Heucheras, especially the purple leaved and ruffled varieties, and euphorbias were widely used
Geraniums, those humble flowers, were there in purple, lavender and magenta. Verbascums must be pink. Orange trollius, geums and poppies are used to create a bold contrast. Knautia, with deep magenta thistle flowers, are used to deepen colour schemes and create a 'wild' feel.
Bold foliage was important to many designs. Phormiums, cordylines, fatsias, cannas, hostas and the deep-coloured maples found a place in many contemporary gardens.
Grasses were used to create a contrast in form. Carex buchannanii was popular as was the giant Stipa.
And, of course, if it's purple, then you have to have it.
Design and Style
The most successful, and award winning gardens, had a simple underlying deign scheme, a strong theme. And they stuck to it.
With the number of wildflower gardens increasing an overall trend to more informal planting was clear. The Healing Garden and Gold-winning Celtic garden were pure wilderness, the Tateshina Meadow a staging of a wild meadow with more English garden planting on the perimeter. Many gardens used a disciplined, formal plan and softened it with informal, lush planting using 'cottage' and wild flowers amongst more traditional perennials.
In a time of introspection, nostalgia can be expected to surface. And it did. 'Rescued' or restored gardens were staged by NGS in their Open Garden. In need of 'rescue' was the West Midland Farmyard designed by Julian Dowle. Wild and neglected garden was the theme for many of the small courtyard gardens. Pure fun was the tumbledown station garden 'Where Trains Run on Thyme'.
Conservation was a strong theme with wildlife and water conservation especially prominent.
Sustainability and environmental concerns were in the forefront. Gardens using recycled materials, encouraging birds, using plants with low water requirements were a recurring theme. At the extreme, one garden recycled grey-water in a bed of reeds surrounded by naturally styled planting and native species.
A refreshing change in the smaller gardens was sleek restrained design with a modern flavour. The Visual Retreat courtyard was an exercise in modern formal; the restrained plan and planting delivered an exceptional garden.
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Chelsea 2002 Best Show Garden
NGS 'Open Garden'
The wildflower look was everywhere
The colour is purple - with orange, lime or yellow
Chelsea In Summary
Colour Purple with splashes of orange or lime green
Style Wild flower gardens, formal layouts with informal planting
Influences wild flowers, environment (bird gardens, water conservation, recycling, water treatment) sanctuary gardens (urban, extreme Celtic and healing etc etc)
Popular Plants Alliums, plum-leaved heucheras, foxgloves (wildflowers) |
Alliums were everywhere
Bold foliage in contemporary gardens
Conservation themes - RSPB's Bird Garden
Smaller gardens - sleek modern design |
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