October 18, 2005
I have had the great fortune to attend the Chelsea Flower Show for the last two years. Foxgloves Garden Gloves were featured on the stand of Earthworks London Ltd. and Sue and Barry Aylett invited me to attend to help promote Foxgloves there. It has been a fascinating experience and many people have asked me what it was like. I wrote this report not as a critique of gardens and plant materials but to give a taste of the best flower show in the world.
The Chelsea Flower Show, the mother of all flower shows, is ‘The’ event for any garden enthusiast. (The Chelsea Flower Show is the quintessence of horticultural events.) Sponsored by The Royal Horticultural Society founded in 1804 and “dedicated to advancing horticulture and promoting good gardening”, Chelsea is horticulture heaven.
I recommend going for two days. A single day won’t suffice. Plan ahead and buy your tickets in January as the show sells out early. Prepare for crowds especially around the displays and food vendors. This year, to address the issue of crowding, the same number of tickets were sold but the show was expanded to five days. There are still crowds but there wasn’t as much of a jam around the displays. If you can attend the last day of the show you will observe the great sell off when people scoot around from stand to stand to take home a prize plant or blossom. It is truly amazing to watch people trying to walk while literally covered from head to toe in plants. I spied a six foot palm tree ride pass me in the back seat of a sporty red convertible, top down of course, being chauffeured to its next appearance.
The first two days of the show are reserved for Royal Horticultural Society Members only. For the most part these are serious gardeners who are very interested in new trends and designs and who are on the look out for gardening accessories. I enjoyed speaking with so many gardeners, sharing information and letting them know about the benefits of Foxgloves. Insert photos Day three the show is open to the general public. I met many tourists who traveled from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the U.S.A. to attend the show.
As you walk through the entrance to the show you will pass the Royal Hospital Chelsea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Royal_Hospital founded in 1682 by King Charles II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England) as a home for the veterans of the British army. Still located in the original buildings that were designed by Sir Christopher Wren, it is today home to about 300 former soldiers. This year is the 83rd flower show to be held at the Royal Hospital since it was moved there in 1913. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War also known as “The Peace”, and it was a theme for this years show. The Royal Hospital staged a garden for the first time to commemorate the end of the war, and draw attention to the pensioners’ needs. http://www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea/2005/exhibitors/show_gardens/royalhospital.asp This was the 26th garden at Chelsea for designer Julian Dowle. http://www.juliandowle.co.uk/aboutus.asp He designed it with input from the pensioners and created a vision of what a soldier’s dream of home might have been. The garden won gold. It was also awarded Best in Show and won the BBC RHS People’s Award. This is another feather in Julian’s cap as to date he has been awarded 10 RHS Gold Medals, 10 Silver- Gilts and Five Silvers.
Once through the gates you enter a long avenue lined with vendors offering a wide array of garden related products and much, much more. Insert photos There are approximately 600 vendors at the show. You don’t hear much about the vendors. The television coverage concentrates on the floral and garden aspects but without the vendors Chelsea might not happen at all. I spoke with a gentleman across the way from our stand whose company, Whitehouse Greenhouses, designs and restores historic greenhouses. A family owned business, this was their 70th year at Chelsea. I asked him if they were given any recognition for their support. He said that no such acknowledgements were ever extended to “the trade.”
As I mentioned before, I was at Chelsea at the invitation of Sue and Barry Aylett. Their company, Earthworks London, Ltd. www.earthworkslondon.com is our agent in the UK and Sue has designed a line of pottery, hand tools, rustic wicker baskets and folding garden furniture in muted earth tones. This is their second year at Chelsea. Last year Earthworks London was given the 'Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Presentation and The RHS Chelsea Sundries Trophy, awarded for excellence of presentation at the Chelsea Flower Show 2004’. That’s like hitting a home run on your first time at bat in the major leagues. It was an exciting experience to talk with the throngs of gardeners that came to the stand. I was also pleasantly surprised to have so many women come up to me and mention how much they loved Foxgloves. Many had received them as gifts from friends and relatives in the states and they were thrilled to be able to find them available locally. Back to the show….
Chelsea has several distinct portions. There are the designed gardens, insert photos some of which occupy the space of a regulation basketball court while others were 10’x10’ vignettes. As I mentioned there are vendors aplenty, selling many products that gardeners can find here in the States, others products are distinctly British. Also be prepared for a distinctly British cuisine ranging from Harry Ramsden Fish and Chips and stuffed jacket potatoes to champagne and seafood in gracious dining tents. While you are there please be sure to try a Pimm’s. This is high on the list of favorite drinks and they consume incredible quantities of it. According to the show’s website more than 18,000 glasses of Pimm’s are consumed along with 6,500 bottles of champagne and 5000 lobsters.
My favorite part of Chelsea was the Great Pavilion, a space about 12,000 sq. meters in size, where more than 100 nurseries and other floral exhibitors display plants of all kinds. Many of these participants use Chelsea to launch or showcase new species. http://www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea/2005/exhibitors/plants/index.asp However one of this year’s very special plants was the Wollemi Pine, thought to have been extinct for 200 million years. http://www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea/2005/news/greatpavilion.asp This find has sparked a major conservation project. Less than 100 mature trees are known to exist in the wild and the exact location of the Wollemi groves remains a secret. It is known to have been discovered in 1994 in a remote area of the Blue Mountains in Australia.
The Great Pavilion is full of collections that include masses insert photos of hybrid Russell Lupines, delphiniums, a gigantic foxglove pyramid, narcissus, pelargoniums, clematis, bonsais, evergreens and ferns. Walking by one of the entrances to the pavilion I was seduced by the fragrance of sweet peas only to be enticed even more by the sweet smell of a great tower of strawberries a little further on. While speaking of olfactory delights I must mention the roses, lilies and peonies that produced a special touch of heaven all their own. An Iris hybridizer from France displayed his blossoms for the first time this year. And this was the first time in 50 years that there was a display solely of hydrangeas (or Hortensias as they are called in Europe).
Equally amazing were the collections of plants from other parts of the globe, one group in particular having traveled all the way from Sri Lanka with their human escorts in 60 boxes on a passenger jet. It was an incredible assemblage of carnivorous plants indigenous to that area. Insert photos Some were large enough to benefit from the occasional stray rodent or small lizard that chanced to fall into their oversized sacks.
A most charming and powerful display of vegetables won its tenth gold medal in as many years. Insert photos Medwyns of Anglesey www.medwynsofanglesey.co.uk vegetable arrangement is the epitome of the Chelsea show and, in fact, Medwyn Williams based his display on descriptions and line drawings in literature from some of the earliest flower shows. The art of arrangement was just the final stage in a labor of love that started from seed many months ago. I try to imagine the effort made growing the plants, harvesting, selecting the most perfect, storing, cleaning and preparing. Not to mention dealing with the heat or cold and any other unexpected changes and challenges. Medwyn’s favorite quote says it all, “I strive for perfection but settle for excellence.” Medwyn Williams said this would be his final year at Chelsea. He wants to pass on his knowledge and wisdom to young gardening enthusiasts.
The passion of these plants people is obvious when one stops to ask a question or offer compliments to the person on the stand. I had a most interesting conversation with a fellow from blah that grew nemesia from tissue culture. He was the foremost hybridiser of these petite plants that are related to snapdragons and foxgloves. He apologized for the fading color in the blooms of his delightful puffs of posies, and assured us of stronger hues in full sun, and delightful fragrance. He was happy to share his knowledge and time with anyone who showed an interest.
The designed gardens seem to garner the bulk of media attention. Maybe that’s partly due to the amazing amount of money invested in their creations. As I mentioned the largest of these cover basketball courts and cost over half a million dollars to create. They have 4 weeks to build these landscapes. Most utilized water and topography in their work. There were modern gardens using plants to embellish cutting edge hardscape, formal gardens using traditional design language of plant material, a vineyard vignette from California, a boreal landscape of the northern woods and evocative gardens, like the Best in Show garden entitled “A Soldiers Dream of Blighty” which I mentioned earlier. The designer, Julian Dowle, built a diorama that started with masses of Flander’s Poppies and a weathered fence as the datum, moved through the space with a small pond, a victory garden and a thatched roof pub (complete with traditional pub sign) where one could always spy a pensioner or two. A lovely use of space, superb plant material and excellent craftsmanship combined to make this garden the winner in so many ways.
Not to say that any gardens were losers. Well, except one. This is a judged show and competition for awards is always tough. There are four levels of merit; Gold, Silver-Gilt, Silver and Bronze. There is no limit on the number of medals that can be awarded. There were 19 show gardens and 18 received awards. Ouch, that must have hurt. Of course which designs win don’t always match personal opinions. Some designs left me scratching my head wondering why and how they got in the show in the first place. That’s another part of Chelsea. Like the English themselves there is an air of the eccentric about the show. It’s rather enjoyable in its own way.
The only designer I had the opportunity to speak with was Diarmuid Gavin who designed the Hanover Quay Garden. This garden was predominated by spherical “rooms”fabricated from concrete, gently sloping terrain and curved walkways. He was awarded the only Silver Gilt of the show. Diarmuid was also co-presenter for the BBC and could be seen filming in the different gardens every day. Diarmuid has a reputation for, shall I say, a distinctive gardening style. His designs certainly get attention. Last year his design for Chelsea used a series of multi-colored metal spheres (which earned him a nickname of bubble boy). It had a “Jetson’s” feel to it. Diarmuid’s wants to provoke reaction. Insert photo He is serious about plants and gardening and wants to push the envelope, to expand the concept of “garden” and its applications.
The weather in England in May is unpredictable. It had been a cold wet spring in the United Kingdom this year and much plant material arrived at the show in tight bud. Exhibitors were trying many tricks to get them to flower. Hairdryers and heat lamps were warming up reluctant blossoms. The first day of the show was very cold and I had to wear just about everything I had brought with me. I thought it would make for a horrible day on the stand but I was very wrong. It was so cold that women were buying Foxgloves and putting them on to wear around the show. We had a banner day breaking all previous sales records. However the fourth day of the show the temperature rose up in the 90’s and it was the hottest day in London in May in 50 years. No one wanted to shop very much. They were all looking for cool drinks and shade.
And when you are there, don’t forget to watch the BBC coverage of the show,http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/flower_shows/chelsea_2005/ airing every night. It adds great dimension to the experience. They work very hard to present garden trends, interviews with the garden designers and detailed highlights of both the new and old in plant material. Alan Titchmarsh, one of the most recognized faces in UK gardening, presented the day’s thrills and chills for an hour each evening from 8 to 9PM. While some of it is over the top they do give the inside story on the garden designs, plant material and people making news in the gardening world.
Also be sure to go to the Royal Horticlutral Society’s website www.rhs..... Where you can view some of the gardens using a panoramic camera that allows the viewer to look at the gardens from many different perspectives. It’s almost as fun as being there
The dates for Chelsea Flower Show 2006 are 23-27 May.
Tickets will start to go on sale in November 2005
June 5, 2005Between the days that you attend the Chelsea show be sure to take the time to walk the Kew Gardens in London, or travel by car out to the countryside to visit some of the famous estates that have be designed and cultivated for decades.
We were chauffeured around by our hostess, Sue, and were able to get out to Great Dixter and Sissinghurst, two of England’s best known landscaped gardens. Great Dixter is the family home of Christopher Lloyd, purchased by his father in 1910, who commissioned Edward Lutyens to oversee the restoration of the buildings. It was gardened extensively by the first generation of Lloyds and now by their son, who is renowned world wide for his garden writing and his efforts designing and cultivating the extensive gardens that surround the Tudor style house, built in medieval times out of massive timbers with a baronial hall and fireplaces large enough to walk into.
Great Dixter is located at the edge of the tiny village on Northiam, approximately 2 and ½ hours southwest of London, a land of soft rolling hills where the main farm crop used to be hops. Oast houses dot the landscape, massive inverted cone structures resembling in profile the sails of ships, often in groupings of three or more. They were used to dry the hops and they have weathervane like cowls that turn in the wind to prevent back drafts. They are very sculptural and unique to this area.
There is an ample size car park with plastic gridding imbedded in the ground so as to allow grass to grow and to prevent impaction of the soil by too many cars driving over and over the surfaces. This way the car park area blends effortlessly in to the sheep meadow it borders. Rather new bathroom facilities are greatly appreciated by the full bladdered traveler. There is a nominal fee to see the grounds and parts of the house.
The entry to Great Dixter, where one might expect fine groomed lawn, is instead a petite meadow, with minor bulbs and native meadow flowers framed by low growing grasses. There is a great variety of plant material in pots that greet the visitor at the entrance to the manor house. It is a display that gets switched out on a regular basis so it always has the best of the plant material on display.
The image that is most associated with Great Dixter is of the topiary peacocks that perch on top of towering yew hedges, but to me they are but a tiny part of the ornamentation that weaves throughout the property. There is a delightful patio constructed of small river stones laid on edge. The freeform shape reveals two Dachshunds one laying one it side, the other rolling on its back, past pets perhaps? A large graceful circle of steps helps you to navigate the different levels. I also loved Christo’s modern furniture neatly tucked into the antiquities of his writing room.
While there be sure to visit the nursery, even if you can’t bring any plants home with you. There is a lovely gift shop as well, where they sell Foxgloves, Christo’s books and volumes by other authors, some fascinating tools by Bob the Ironmonger and small hurdles, tiny individual fence sections approximately 12” tall and 18” wide. I suppose to protect small plants, block off the end of hoop rows and mainly to remind us that most hurdles we face in life are not insurmountable.
As with any visit, you don’t get to see everything on the first visit. I did not take the time to walk into the sunken garden near the barns because there was a tour group crowding up the area and I do regret that. Walking down into the earth really gives you the unique perspective of an ant’s eye view. Have to save something for the next trip.
Looking at the map we realized that Sissinghurst was really just a stones throw away and decided to zip over there for a quick look. Even after missing a turn we managed to get there before closing (they were open until 6:30). The celebrated home of Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicholson actually occupies the site of a Saxon castle and remnants of the moat created water features that border part of the garden.
Be sure to climb the tower before you tour the property. You’ll get a great over view of the site and the surrounding landscape. You’ll also get to see Vita’s writing room, left pretty much in situ, and be sure to do a quick study of the four watercolors that show the historical development of the property from medieval times with a castle and moat to the occupation of the most recent gardeners. We did the tower last and it would have added greatly to the understanding of the layout of the gardens had we seen those prints first.
Old foundations and remnants of past occupiers of the site had significant influence as to how Sackville-West and Nicholson designed the layout of the many garden rooms. Each room stands alone within its hedged or bricked walls, most are color themed. Sissinghurst is probably most famous for its white themed garden, a concept that has been repeated by others many times. A double row of tightly trimmed yew hedges create a long hall punctuated by openings to different gardens that is both soothing and stimulating at the same time. At Sissinghurst the play of enclosed spaces with walls so high as to isolate you from the rest of the property contrasts with openness as one moves around the property creates a rhythm of movement and rest, activity and contemplation.
Owned by the National Trust (web link), Sissinghurst is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Please check the website for hours and facilities.
