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Sally Nex

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Sally Nex

Tag Archives: Sarah Eberle

Postcard from Chelsea #3: Floating pretty

25 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by sallynex in shows

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

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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.

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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.

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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….

 

RHS Chelsea sneak peek #2

12 Thursday Nov 2015

Posted by sallynex in shows

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Andy McIndoe, artisan gardens, fresh gardens, Great Pavilion, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Sarah Eberle, Sue Beesley

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

Chelsea chic

07 Thursday Jun 2007

Posted by sallynex in Uncategorized

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Jinny Blom, Kate Frey, phacelia, Sarah Eberle, Tiggy Salt, Ulf Nordfjell

As I mentioned a few days back, I had the fantastic experience of spending a whole week at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show just recently. And what a show it was. I had been a bit worried that I’d be all jaded this year – I did the same thing last year and was all wide-eyed and star-struck by it all, so I thought this year I’d be all “been there, done that”. I needn’t have been concerned. It was just as exciting to be there, the atmosphere was just as electric, and all those mouthwatering, beautiful plants…

The thing Chelsea did to me last year and has done again is to give me a sense of my own insignificance. I tend to strut around here at home thinking, I’m a professional gardener, I know it all – but when you go to Chelsea, you realise what an amateur you are in comparison to these utterly dedicated plantaholics. They’re so talented, too: the perfection it takes to get a gold medal at Chelsea has to be seen to be believed. When you’ve watched someone spend a whole hour teasing dead strands from a Stipa tenuissima, you know you’re in the presence of the highest standards it’s possible to imagine.

So, suitably humbled, I thought I’d just share my favourite Chelsea gardens from this year’s show. There were some real crackers: nothing head-and-shoulders above the rest, like Tom Stuart-Smith’s garden last year, but several which really grew on you (like Jinny Blom’s Laurent-Perrier Garden, and Ulf Nordfjell’s Tribute to Linnaeus). And, just for the record – I entirely agreed with the RHS judges in giving the Best in Show award to Sarah Eberle’s 600 Years with Bradstone. It was the only truly original garden there, executed with panache and daring, to say nothing of excellence: and every time you looked at it, you saw something else. You can’t ask more of a Chelsea garden than that.


This was Kate Frey’s garden for Fetzer Vineyards. Have you ever seen such wonderful flowers? The gorgeous blue ones were Phacelia campanularia – a new one to me, but a native wildflower in California. Kate – a lovely, gentle person who you can tell was just born to be a gardener – is a master at recreating wild landscapes like this: you can’t really believe such beauty is possible on such a small scale.


This was Jinny Blom’s garden for Laurent-Perrier. Jinny was over the moon about her gold medal – it’s the first time she’s struck gold after several years of trying. You could see why, too: the planting in this garden was ultra-sophisticated and very, very subtle, and she’d obviously put a huge amount of thought into it. And that moongate sculpture was something else: it moved around the garden with you. Fabulous.


This was another super-sophisticated garden with some really accomplished planting – I thought it had a good shot at Best in Show had the judges been playing safe. Robert Myers reflected the old, traditional nature of the Fortnum & Mason department store which sponsored the garden – but at no point did his charming garden feel stuffy. The garden was full of subtle little touches of brilliance: behind those beehives (which provided a major talking-point at the show) that fencing is made of old Fortnum & Mason hamper lids. And the clock at the back was set to seven minutes past five – or 1707 in 24-hour clock, the year Fortnum & Mason was founded.


Tiggy Salt’s small courtyard garden, Where the Wild Things Are, was a big hit, with adults and children alike. This is pure Chelsea theatre: the night sky formed a background to a recreation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book, and a wonderful copper boat was there to take Max from his chamomile bed across to the “forest” of Fatsia japonica. It was magical.


And an odd little snippet: this Italian Scarce Swallowtail butterfly hatched out halfway through the show, having been imported as a chrysalis on a yew at the Romantic Gardens topiary display in the Great Pavilion. It fluttered over to the Claire Austin Hardy Plants display next door – presumably the irises looked prettier – before finally flying off. Apparently only a handful have ever been seen in the UK before. Look out for this one in SW3 for a few weeks to come!

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