29 Sunday May 2016
Posted in shows
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!
28 Saturday May 2016
Posted in new plants, shows
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.
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.
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.
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.
12 Thursday Nov 2015
Posted in shows
Tags
Andy McIndoe, artisan gardens, fresh gardens, Great Pavilion, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Sarah Eberle, Sue Beesley
Hillier’s gold medal winning display from 2015: as it turns out, their last
Of course the RHS Chelsea Flower show isn’t just about the big fancy show gardens, even if they do shout the loudest.
Among my very favourite features of the show are the small gardens – particularly the Artisan Gardens (still think of them by their old name, Courtyard Gardens though: can’t get out of the habit, somehow).
And then there’s the Pavilion… the great beating heart of the show. What it’s all about, really: without those perfect, breathtaking, impossibly beautiful plants from every corner of the world there simply wouldn’t be a show.
So while I’m previewing Chelsea 2016, I couldn’t possibly pass up the chance to give you a sneak peek at the bits of Chelsea regular visitors know are really the best.
Great Pavilion
There are seismic changes afoot in the Pavilion next year.
The huge display by Hillier around the central monument has been a landmark fixture for 70 years of gold medal winning displays: they’re the most successful exhibitors in the century-plus history of the show.
Now however their MD and designer of the last 25 gold medal winning displays, Andy McIndoe, has bowed out. There can be few people on whose shoulders Chelsea can be said to rest: but Andy is definitely one of them. He’s being a bit cagey about whether or not he’ll be involved with Chelsea next year: but he’s definitely not doing another Hillier display. He – and his shirts – will be much missed.
Instead, in the big central spot there will be a large train. Specifically, the Orient Express, or rather one carriage of it. Bowdens, the hosta people, have taken on the daunting task of filling the 6000 sq ft plot with a fully planted railway station. There will be stewards, I’m told. And crockery.
Sue Beesley will be back again for another go at improving on her impressive debut silver next year (despite the cack-handed helpers); and New Covent Garden Flower Market is making its debut with what is going to be a breathtaking extravaganza of cut flowers.
There will be some front gardens to give you a few makeover ideas a la Ground Force, courtesy of the Horticultural Trades Association‘s Love the Plot You’ve Got campaign; and rhododendrons a go-go (both the RHS and Millais Nurseries are celebrating the centenary of the Rhododendron Society). People keep trying to resurrect rhodies and I don’t see any sign of it catching on yet: let’s see if this does the trick. Oh yes; and a chunk of castle from Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire.
Sarah Eberle’s watery world
Artisan Gardens
In the secluded huddle of gardens under the trees of Ranelagh Way the headline act is undoubtedly Sarah Eberle, a Chelsea veteran with a Best in Show (2007) under her belt. Love the sound of her floating garden: fishing nets, watercress, and a lounger-cum-boat.
There is going to be much noise in this corner of the show: Frederick Whyte is creating a garden all about helping children to make music and Peter Eustance has drawn inspiration from percussionist Evelyn Glennie for an ‘acoustic garden’ harnessing everything from the wood to sunshine to make pulsing rhythms. Just hope they don’t put them next door to each other, that’s all.
Fresh Gardens
Conceptual gardens have made a shaky transition from Hampton Court to Chelsea; in fact they’ve rather lost their way at Hampton Court too what with the imposing of this year’s misguided ‘themes’ instead of letting artists have their head. Maybe it’s because it’s no longer new; it’s harder to surprise when you’re expecting to be surprised.
The Dyer’s Garden
This year is looking promising, though, perhaps because people aren’t trying quite so hard. I love the sound of Claudy Jongstra‘s dyer’s garden: right up my street, all hand-dyed fabrics and the plants used to create them. Juliet Sargent weaves a strong story about modern-day slavery around an oak tree; and I really want to see Tatyana Goltsova‘s Lace Tree, threading living branches through gossamer lace.
There’s also a garden in a concrete box. ‘Nuff said.
24 Sunday May 2015
Posted in shows
As I wave goodbye, a little sadly, to the little bubble of dreams that is the Chelsea Flower Show for another year, it’s time to hand over the stage to the real stars: the wonderful, wonderful plants here in their thousands to amaze and enchant. Enjoy.
25 Friday May 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
digitalis, foxglove, Great Pavilion, Isoplexis, Plant of the Year, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, thompson and morgan
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| (c) Thompson & Morgan |
The Plant of the Year stand is a funny one: a motley collection of plants out of context, drawn from all over the Pavilion. It’s a bit like the ‘remainders’ trolley in the garden centre, only with good-quality plants.
Anyway, almost everyone who brings a new plant to Chelsea nominates it for the award: but only the very best make it onto the white podiums for the public to look at.
Among this year’s 20 finalists were a massive pitcher plant (Nepenthes ‘Linda’) from Hampshire Carnivorous Plants, rubbing shoulders with one of Peter Beales’s roses (‘Queen’s Jubilee’ – of course), a ridiculously vivid blue hyacinth (‘Royal Navy’, from J S Pennings de Bilt) and two new aeoniums from Trewidden in Cornwall – ‘Cornish Tribute’ is compact and has extraordinary purple rosettes with a glowing lime green centre: and ‘Logan Rock’, which turns purple in summer.
My own tip for the top was a foxglove, Digitalis ‘Silver Cub’ – a fabulous silver-foliage perennial white foxglove which just shone out from the stand and made you want to stroke its leaves. It flowers in its first year from sowing and has multiple stems – seriously lovely thing.
But the winner was another foxglove altogether, D. ‘Illumination Pink’, bred by Thompson & Morgan. Though on appearance I still prefer the ‘Silver Cub’ you’ve got to take your hat off to them for achieving what was thought impossible: a cross between Digitalis purpurea and the evergreen Canary Island foxglove, variously referred to as D. canariensis or Isoplexis canariensis depending on whether you think it’s botanically a foxglove or not. T&M’s achievement would suggest that it is.
Its exotic origins have given it a very un-foxglove like colouring of candy pink with butter yellow centres. On the plus side, it’s perennial, semi-evergreen, flowers for absolutely ages, and is nice and sturdy so it doesn’t need staking. On the minus side, it’s sterile – clever marketing ploy, but disappointing for gardeners who like to raise their own plants from seed.
24 Thursday May 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty’, a gorgeous specimen and in flower, too: my plant of the week, spotted on the Edulis stand (also my exhibit of the week – I’m so delighted they’ve made it to Chelsea at last, and though they’re first-timers they’ve shown off an exceptional collection of edibles, many of which I’d never come across before).
I adore podophyllums – big, blowsy foliage plants and as this one shows, no slouch on the flowering front either. ‘Spotty Dotty’, a cross between P. delavayi and P. difforme, is one of the most colourful with its generous brown-spodged leaves.
I’ve always struggled to grow them a little in my old garden, bone-dry acid sand that it was: but I think I might have another go in this one as it has plenty of nice shady damp corners – right up Dotty’s street. I was a little surprised to see it nestled among the other Edulis plants until I found out that though most parts of the plant are toxic, its ripe, yellowish or red fruit is known as the May apple (in this case, the Chinese May apple). About the size of a crabapple, it’s said to taste a little inspid – but I’d really like to give it a try.
23 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
floral marquees, Great Pavilion, HW Hyde and Son, lilies, oriental lilies, RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Sorry – this simply doesn’t do justice to the spectacular exhibit that is the HW Hyde & Son lily display in the Great Pavilion, winner not only of a Gold but also of the coveted award for the best exhibit in the show.
It’s a walk-through stand – this is one of two paths around a central island. There are more walk-through displays than I’ve seen for a long time this year: Hardy’s, both David Austin and Peter Beales’ Roses, and Hyde’s allow you to wander through the plants, immersing yourself in them and surrounding yourself with them.
Massive-flowered oriental lilies are almost impossible to place in a garden: they’re just too big, too blowsy, too ‘look at me’. I don’t care: I love them anyway.
I have several in containers around the place: they get very little care, far less than they should have I expect, but they come back year after year. As long as I can defend them from the horrors of the lily beetle (can there be any larvae more disgusting than those of the lily beetle, I wonder?) they’re incredibly easy, yet incredibly breathtaking when those long fat buds finally break.
Not one of them, though, is a patch on the sensational glamourpusses on Hyde’s, though. Here are just a few.
Sally Nex 