• Home
  • Features
  • Talks
  • Learn with me

Sally Nex

~ Sustainable food growing

Sally Nex

Monthly Archives: May 2016

So long Chelsea, and thanks for all the flowers

29 Sunday May 2016

Posted by sallynex in shows

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

flowers, Great Pavilion, RHS Chelsea Flower Show

As the bulldozers move in to the Chelsea showground and reduce all to turf once more, I just thought I’d share a selection of the most beautiful plants which caught my eye from the Great Pavilion. Till next year!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Postcard from Chelsea #6: Little stars

28 Saturday May 2016

Posted by sallynex in new plants, shows

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

alpines, Diamond Jubilee Award, Great Pavilion, hepatica, RHS Chelsea Flower Show

IMG_3548

The Ashwood Nurseries exhibit, easy winner of the Diamond Jubilee award this year

The talk of the Pavilion this year was not the giant Pullman carriage at the Bowdens stand – but a diminutive little tumble of starry flowers spangling the mossy ground beneath Japanese cherries, pussy willows and artfully-placed branches of larch.

It’s the first time the consummate plantsman John Massey has brought his collection of hepaticas to Chelsea and they caused quite the stir, scooping the Diamond Jubilee Award for best display. They certainly made me see hepaticas in a whole new light: I’d always rather glanced past them before, convinced they were fussy little alpines which needed more care than I could sensibly give them. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

IMG_3683

Love this way of displaying the perfection of the flowers

Hepaticas are spring-flowering woodlanders (these had been held back for Chelsea: normally they’re in flower in February) for planting under deciduous shrubs and trees. They’re tolerant of all soils, but best where they have spring sunshine but summer shade. H. nobilis and H. transsylvanica are the ones for growing outside; there are many more to explore once you get hooked but you’ll need an alpine house. The Asian and American species, like teeny tiny H. insularis and even teenier H. henryi, are very, very special but need the care and attention to match.

IMG_3686

H. nobilis var pyrenaica ‘Stained Glass’

John has been working on developing interspecies hybrids, aiming at plentiful flowers but also bringing out the beauties of the foliage: I hadn’t realised hepatica leaves were quite so lovely. They are three-cornered, like a tricorn hat, and come in attractive variegations reminding me a little of the leaf patterning on cyclamen.

IMG_3687

H. ‘Ashwood Charm’

Two of the new varieties bred at Ashwood Nurseries and shown here for the first time were H. nobilis var pyrenaica ‘Stained Glass’, with quite the most gorgeous leaves, and H. ‘Ashwood Charm’ which earned its name in spades with a froth of exquisite little white flowers. Get your order in now to beat the rush (it’s http://www.ashwoodnurseries.com). My guess is that there will be a lot of hepatica talk come next spring: these are plants whose moment in the sun has arrived.

Postcard from Chelsea #5: Shiny new plants

27 Friday May 2016

Posted by sallynex in new plants, shows

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

new plants, Plant of the Year, RHS Chelsea Flower Show

IMG_3655

Clematis chiisanensis ‘Amber’: Plant of the Year 2016

The Plant of the Year competition at Chelsea has only been running a few years, but it’s really shone the spotlight on one of the things the show has always done well.

New plants first seen at Chelsea include favourites like Geranium ‘Rosanne’ and the ‘Yak’ (yakushimanum) rhododendron hybrids, as well as uncounted classic roses: in short, some of the best and widely-grown plants in the world.

Now the best new releases of the season compete for the chance to be crowned as the one to watch for this year. The worthy winner, from Taylors Clematis, was the somewhat unpronounceable but very beautiful Clematis chiinanensis ‘Amber’. It even flowers twice a year, to add good value to its considerable charms.

Here are a few more of the new arrivals on the horticultural scene this year. Not all were finalists in the Plant of the Year competition but all, I hope you agree, look likely to have an illustrious future in our gardens ahead of them.

IMG_3577

Iris ‘Libellule Jaune’ from Cayeux Iris

IMG_3578

Leucanthemum vulgare ‘Lollipop’ Wyndford Farm Plants

IMG_3579

Cirsium rivulare ‘Frosted Magic’ Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants

IMG_3582

Rosa ‘Roald Dahl’ David Austin Roses

IMG_3545

Clematis ‘Volunteer’ Raymond Evison

IMG_3591

Rhododendron ‘Huisman’s Sun Star’ Millais Nurseries

IMG_3594

Chrysanthemum ‘Rossano Charlotte’ National Chrysanthemum Society

IMG_3589

Acer ‘Moonrise’ Hillier Nurseries

Postcard from Chelsea #4: Visions of loveliness

26 Thursday May 2016

Posted by sallynex in design, shows

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Hay Joung Hwang, planting combinations, RHS Chelsea Flower Show

IMG_3531

Planting combination of the week for me was this soft confection of ethereal pastels from Hay Joung Hwang on the LG Smart Garden: Eremurus robustus, Digitalis purpurea ‘Alba’, Geranium phaeum ‘Album’, Phlox divaricata ‘Clouds of Perfume’, Persicaria bistorta ‘Superba’, Rosa ‘Royal Philharmonic’, and Iris ‘Jane Phillips’. Just sublime.

Postcard from Chelsea #3: Floating pretty

25 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by sallynex in shows

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

artisan gardens, best artisan garden, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Sarah Eberle, tropical

IMG_3607
It takes some doing to create a garden in a 7m x 5m space which is so complex, so detailed and so atmospheric it can take you halfway across the world in a second.

But so it is with Sarah Eberle’s lushly planted slice of the Mekong Delta for Viking Cruises – winner of a gold medal and Best Artisan garden (by miles, if I had my way). So luxuriant, so densely-planted, so detailed is it that there’s just no way to do it justice with a few snatched pictures – so you’ll have to take my word for it. It’s a true piece of theatre.

IMG_3614

The planting floats in flat-bottomed traditional Cambodian fishing boats, dripping leaves and flowers over the sides into the water beneath. A riotous mix of dahlias, gloriosa lilies, philodendrons and orchids crammed into every inch of space conjures up the steamy South Asian jungle in a few deft sweeps of exotic, tropical-looking foliage and flowers.

IMG_3615

And I did love that there were vegetables here too. I’m always on the lookout for veg at Chelsea and these were as lush as the flowers that surrounded them. Some veg just have that jungly look, so it wasn’t a surprise to see gourds, okra and aubergines. But who knew cabbage and spinach could look exotic? Must add dahlias to the cabbage patch next year….

 

Postcard from Chelsea #2: Best in Show

24 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by sallynex in shows

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Andy Sturgeon, best in show, RHS Chelsea Flower Show

IMG_3603

Well: Andy Sturgeon has done it again with his dinosaur-inspired creation for the Daily Telegraph. It’s huge, sculptural, dramatic, monumental…. and…. oh dear. Not my kind of thing at all.

I really like Andy’s designs as a rule: the last time he won, in 2010, was with a garden I still talk about today. It had a similarly strong design, with sparse, beautiful, well-considered planting, and a haunting sense of atmosphere. It left you with the kind of images that stay on the retina for years afterwards.

IMG_3605

Now there’s a trip hazard waiting to happen…

This one may stay in my mind for all the wrong reasons. The bold design was, for me, just a bit too bold, a bit too in-yer-face. It kept pulling my eye away from the extraordinary planting I’d rather be looking at, full of beauties I’d never come across before. When you have star plants like this, it’s a crime to have your attention dragged away so you can look at a load of white limestone instead.

Anyway. What do I know. It was all undeniably very ambitious: Andy has shouldered the task of telling the history of the world in a garden, no less, from dinosaurs onwards, bronze stegosaurus plates and all.

IMG_3604

For me, though, it was the plants which swung it: my, but they’re special. Their names are like a rollcall of the rare and exotic and sent me scurrying for my plant encyclopedias: Anizoganthus (kangaroo paw) and gaunt, sparse Corokia x virgata I’m familiar with, but the tufty red spires of Echium russicum, grassy Poa labillardierei and Ephedra fragilis, delicate Bulbine frutescens… all had me rifling feverishly through the pages.

The effect was so ethereal, otherworldly, alien: a world of sparse, twisted stems and delicate, shy flowers in silvers and tangerine oranges, so unfamiliar you could believe a stegosaurus might walk around the corner at any minute. It convinced better, in fact, than any amount of firepits and paving.

Postcard from Chelsea #1: Press Day

23 Monday May 2016

Posted by sallynex in shows

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

press day, RHS Chelsea Flower Show

IMG_3561
IMG_3584
IMG_3558
IMG_3599
IMG_3608
IMG_3543
IMG_3602
IMG_3560
IMG_3563
IMG_3550
IMG_3606
IMG_3585

And a lovely time was had by all….!!

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • February 2021
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • September 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • May 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006

Categories

  • book review
  • chicken garden
  • children gardening
  • climate change
  • container growing
  • cutting garden
  • design
  • education
  • end of month view
  • exotic edibles
  • France
  • Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
  • garden design
  • garden history
  • garden words
  • gardening without plastic
  • Gardens of Somerset
  • giveaways
  • greenhouse
  • herbs
  • kitchen garden
  • landscaping
  • my garden
  • new plants
  • new veg garden
  • news
  • overseas gardens
  • Painting Paradise
  • permaculture
  • pick of the month
  • plant of the month
  • pond
  • poultry
  • pruning
  • recipes
  • seeds
  • self sufficiency
  • sheep
  • shows
  • sustainability
  • this month in the garden
  • Uncategorized
  • unusual plants
  • videos
  • walk on the wild side
  • wildlife gardening
  • wordless wednesday

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy