A Show of Hands

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Chelsea Fringe, cut flower patch, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Show of Hands

Show of Hands – Chelsea Fringe

I have been meaning to take part in Veg Plotting’s brilliant project dedicated to the hardest working part of most gardeners – their hands –  for the last few weeks but I keep getting distracted, generally by gardening. It appears though that I have managed to sneak in my contribution just before the project ends. A ‘Show of Hands’ is part of the Chelsea Fringe, a festival entirely run by volunteers, which celebrates the quirkier, edgier side of horticulture. It runs during May into June and coincides with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The idea of the Fringe is to show that gardening and growing are open to anyone. Gardening does have a reputation for being the preserve of the older generation and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show creates a certain air of exclusivity. The Fringe wants to turn those thoughts on their head. The first Chelsea Fringe took place in 2012 and it’s proved hugely popular. This year there have been over 250 projects with events not just in London but in other UK cities and even further afield in Europe.

Michelle asked people to post up a photo of hands in the context of gardening. It didn’t have to be their own, they didn’t even have to be human. Anna, for instance, on her Green Tapestry blog, posted an image of a sculpture depicting hands which she came across in the gardens of Sudeley Castle. All manner of social media has been put to use with people participating using Twitter, Facebook and blogging. Once the Fringe for 2014 draws to a close, on 8th June, Michelle will create a map showing where all the images have originated.

So, for my contribution Wellyman took a photograph of me holding a bunch of flowers picked from the cut flower patch. It gets you thinking when you focus on something. I probably take my hands for granted. They are so fundamental in my gardening, and writing about gardening; I really should look after them more. I don’t moisturize enough, I’m normally so tired when I get into bed that I forget. But I do have a degree of vanity when it comes to their ‘maintenance’ – I do try to keep my nails looking nice.  I rarely garden with gloves. I should wear them more – it would certainly make cleaning them at the end of the day much easier but I find them cumbersome. It’s impossible to sow or take cuttings wearing them so I might start wearing them but inevitably once I have removed them for one task I forget where I’ve put them. My one concession is if I’m planting or weeding in the garden as I’d rather not put my hand in a pile of cat mess.

Increasingly I suffer from allergic reactions to plants. Borage brings me out in a nasty rash and last year during a spot of weeding I discovered echiums and I don’t seem to like each other. My hands were quite a sight, covered in weals and burning like I had never experienced before. It wouldn’t have been so much of a problem if I hadn’t had a photo shoot the next day where my hands would be captured for posterity. Thanks to the wonders of antihistamines my hands were restored to normal by the morning, which is just as well as I think there’s only so much you can do with Photoshop.

I chose this picture because it sums up how much my hands mean to me. They give me the chance to grow beautiful flowers which give pleasure to me, my family and friends. The hands which sow and grow so many plants allow me to also write about my passion for plants. When I think about it they really are fantastic.

Thanks to Michelle for such an inspired idea. If you’d like to join in there’s still time.

Plant Perfection, Celebs and Booze

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Chris Beardshaw, Great Pavilion, Ishihara Kazuyuki, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

Marc Quinn sculpture RHS Chelsea Flower Show

I’ve focussed quite a bit on the design element and the show gardens in my previous Chelsea posts. In this, my final post about my visit I’d thought I’d share the plants that caught my attention and something of the atmosphere on press day.

J S Pennings De Bilt Hyacinths

The Great Pavilion is truly enormous. The flower marquees at both Malvern and Hampton Court shows are impressive but this place was like an aircraft hangar. If the focus on design outside isn’t your thing then the nursery stands inside the pavilion could certainly absorb you for a whole day. These are plants and flowers at their peak and prime; nurtured over previous months by their nervous growers in the hope that they will be ready in time. All sorts of techniques are employed to achieve the stunning displays and I’m impressed that with one of the coldest springs on record everything looked so remarkable. I could have done with more time to wander around the pavilion and feel I didn’t give many of the stands enough attention. Of those I did see, one of my favourites was the incredible J S Pennings De Bilt hyacinth stand, which I smelt before I even saw it. The perfume really was incredible even on such a cold day. I loved the National Collection of dahlias which showed perfectly the wide range of flowers and forms that are available. I particularly liked the single varieties, especially this ‘Twyning’s Revel’ with its dark stems and foliage and gorgeous pink flowers.

Dahlia ‘Twyning’s Revel’

The display of alliums on the Warmenhoven stand were dramatic and theatrical and gave me a few ideas for containers of my own next year. The Hillier’s stand was incredible. The colour and sheer energy was impressive particularly on such a dull, overcast day, although there was nothing subtle about it. They transport nearly 3,500 plants to Chelsea to build their stand from birch trees so tall they almost scrape the top of the pavilion to the smallest of perennials.

Ishihara Kazuyuki’s An Alcove Garden

I must mention the artisan garden designed by Ishihara Kazuyuki called ‘An Alcove’ or ‘Tokonoma’. The design recreated an area within a traditional Japanese tatami room, somewhere where meetings would take place with important people. Sometimes the gardens that evoke somewhere come in for stick with the accusation that they are a bit clichéd and not cutting edge. I loved it. I have always wanted to visit Japan but I’m not sure I’ll ever get there, so to see a part of their culture up close was a real treat. Mr Kazuyuki’s attention to detail is incredible – the cobbles, the moss, the acers, it was a delight and deservedly won ‘best in show’ in the artisan garden category.

Where were all the gnomes?

For the 100th anniversary gnomes had been given special dispensation and were allowed access to the site. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed I didn’t see any. The two men wandering around in gnome costumes didn’t count in my opinion.

By lunch time the frantic buzz around the show gardens from the press photographers had waned, but as the celebrities who are invited arrived, flash bulbs started to go off once again. Spotting Ringo Starr and his wife, Bond Girl Barbara Bach, I attempted to subtly get a shot for Wellyman of his teenage crush. Barbara Bach of course, not Ringo. Unfortunately I was muscled out of the way by a much more experienced photographer and ended up with a shot of the back of their heads. I did manage to sneak on to Chris Beardshaw’s garden, behind Anneka Rice, when it was opened up for the celebrities to have a wander around. Not because I was particularly interested in her but it did mean I got a much better look at the garden and plants. Another of Wellyman’s crushes he’s rather gutted he wasn’t able to go.

Alcohol was flowing by the time I left, whether it was champagne, Pimms or Mark Diacono’s cocktails. If you were a member of the build team for the Trailfinders Australian garden I think it might have been flowing a little earlier. I was stood next to one of them at 9.30am and he already had a pint of something in his hand. They were all dressed in matching outfits which meant they looked like they were all on a stag do. I can only imagine what their celebrations were like the following day when they found out they had won gold and ‘best in show’. I, on the other hand, was a bit like the rabbit in the advert that didn’t get the Duracell batteries. After only two hours sleep the night before my energy levels were running low by about 2pm and I didn’t think it was wise to partake myself. I would have loved another trip around the Great Pavilion, but my legs wouldn’t take me any further and, with a long drive back to Wales, I wandered out of the show ground just as the police arrived to secure the area for the arrival of the Queen.

I loved my first visit to Chelsea. There are elements of it that are elitist and out of touch with how most of us live and garden. I’d like to see more variety in the designs, more edibles and grow your own on display but it’s good to have something that’s glamorous, exciting and inspiring every once in a while. And, ultimately, Chelsea Flower Show is a great showcase for horticulture.

A Garden for Show

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Chris Beardshaw, Nigel Dunnett, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Roger Plats

Roger Platts’ stunning garden

It tends to be the show gardens that attract the most attention at Chelsea. Large sponsorship budgets and top garden designers combine with the intention of creating the wow factor. Show gardens can take a year to 18 months in the planning and 3 weeks to build. Then, on the first Monday of Chelsea the designers step back as the world’s press enter Main Avenue and the criticism and plaudits begin. A hush descends on a garden as the RHS judges enter and the designer looks on nervously. Gardens are awarded medals – gold, silver-gilt, silver and bronze on how well the garden meets the brief that was initially submitted, overall impressions and the quality of plants and the build. There is no quota for each medal so, technically, every garden could win a gold medal. Designs are also judged purely on their own merit and not compared to other gardens in the show. The results of the judging are then announced early on Tuesday morning.

Judging on the East Village Garden

Of course, everyone has their own opinion and it was interesting to be there on press day as the judging was taking place and hear the thoughts and predictions as to which gardens people liked the most. If the comments on twitter were anything to go by I wasn’t the only one to be surprised that 10 out of the 15 show gardens won gold. For me it wasn’t that gardens were badly designed or unattractive but some of them just didn’t do it for me. Whilst the judges might assess the gardens individually I would say that most people including myself tend to compare each garden.

The show gardens are quite an odd concept. Appreciating a garden fully only really happens when you can immerse yourself in it, wander through it, touch and smell the plants. Show gardens however provide a two-dimensional experience. Judges and some members of the media can get access to the show gardens but the rest of us have to view from a distance. Of course it would never be feasible to allow the numbers that visit these flower shows full access to the gardens but it might be one explanation as to why the opinions of the judges and the public so often differ. Then there is creating a garden that will look perfect for the third week in May. For most of us the challenge is a garden that will look good throughout the year. Plants need to be placed much closer together than you would ever do in reality to create that feeling of abundance and impact. And what about the practicalities of such a designs in the real world. I looked at the beautiful polished golden York stone path on Roger Platts’ garden having muddy footprints wiped off it before some filming was about to take place. It’s honeyed tones were stunning but it did strike me as being the horticultural equivalent of the white-painted lounge and a toddler with a chocolate bar.

Trailfinders Australian Garden – ‘Best in Show’

Criticisms of the show gardens often focus on the lack of originality. Occasionally there’ll be a Diarmuid Gavin design which stands out or there was the plasticine garden created by James May. These gardens gain a huge amount of publicity which I get the feeling annoys the ‘serious’ designers. Whether you think such gardens should be allowed into Chelsea or not they do offer something different. I’m not suggesting the gardening equivalent of a theme park but a little more variety would be nice. Perhaps it isn’t so simple though. A show garden comes with constraints and limitations before the actual design process has even started. The size and shape of each garden is restricted by the needs of the show-ground access to the site, and services such as underground cables and pipes. Then there’s the need to allow visitors to see as much of the gardens as possible without creating bottlenecks or possible damage to the gardens.

Often there is a story behind a design. Sometimes this can be quite obvious, for instance Nigel Dunnett’s rooftop garden with the idea of showing how with increasing pressure on urban land we should be looking at the potential of our roof space for planting and creating new habitats. For me Jinny Blom’s garden was harder to ‘understand’. I loved elements of the planting but was left a bit cold by the areas of hard landscaping and the stone structure at the back. It was only later that evening when I saw her explaining a bit about the garden on TV that the design made more sense. Inspired by the landscape of Lesotho she had wanted to capture the rocky terrain and buildings that reminded her of the country. Unfortunately this rather passed me by on the day.

Jinny Blom’s Sentebale Garden

It didn’t take long on Monday for me to spot the theme of naturalistic planting which was a feature in so many designs. It has been popular at Chelsea for several years now and is the kind of planting that really appeals to me. I love grasses, poppies and umbel flowers and use that kind of planting in my own garden but you can have too much of a good thing. Just as Dianthus carthusianorum was everywhere last year at Hampton Court, it is the turn of cow parsley to be the ubiquitous plant of Chelsea 2013. This was probably one of the reasons why Robert Myers’ garden disappointed me, by the time I got to it I’d had my fill of wafty, floaty planting.

Another trend in recent years has been the use of greenery and minimalist planting. It was visible again this year although I’m not sure it was so intentional this time around with the weather playing its part. The concept of minimalist planting is an anathema to me. For me the dilemma is there are so many plants I want to grow and just not enough space. There is something a little strange about having a garden and then choosing to restrict the plants and colours in it.

Verbascum ‘Violetta’

One of the reasons for such differing opinions between judges, designers and the public is that we tend to want different things. Judges are looking for adherence to the brief, designers the opportunity to express themselves and the public simply want something they like to look at, something they would want in their own garden. This is perhaps why Chris Beardshaw’s garden and his vibrant planting proved so popular with those I spoke to on Monday.

In many ways, as visitors and viewers on TV, we need to suspend our disbelief and see the show gardens for what they are, a showcase. Big budget sponsors and top class designers are always going to want to create high-end gardens which most of us struggle to relate to but would we want to go to Chelsea and find something we could see in our own village or town? Probably not. Chelsea is about polished floors and walls made from copper, frame-less glass cubes and sunken seating areas. Every year there will be gardens that divide opinion and a garden that the public loves. But enough with the floaty planting, for one year at least.

A Question of Taste

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Chris Beardshaw, Jekka McVicar, Piet Oudolf, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Tom Stuart-Smith

Walking past the trade stands of any of the large flower shows this year it’s clear to see that taste, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder and that money doesn’t necessarily buy it. How is it that crazy paving and rock gardens were once so fashionable and yet, now, are design no-nos? Why are gnomes banned from Chelsea and who thought a plastic meerkat skiing would make a great garden ornament? I am fascinated by what appeals to one person can repulse another but I am in no way setting myself up as an arbiter of taste.

Several years ago, I mentioned to a fellow student on a horticulture course I was doing, that my garden was looking like an homage to Barbara Cartland, as I had planted quite a lot of plants with pink flowers. Her reaction, as she visibly recoiled, surprised and amused me in equal measure. Apparently, the colour pink would never be seen in her garden; she didn’t ‘do’ yellow either. I later got to see her garden which was beautiful, tasteful and with no pink or yellow to be seen but I’m sure it could have been equally as lovely with some sunflowers or phlox mingling with the other plants.

What’s wrong with pink?

Gnomes are often derided, seen as the pinnacle of bad taste within a garden. First introduced to Britain in the 1860s from Germany by Sir Charles Isham. He was so enamoured with them he built a rockery in his garden at Lamport Hall in Northamptonshire and filled it with gnomes. I can feel the colour draining from the faces of many a garden designer at the thought of rockeries and gnomes. Since 1990, gnomes have been banned from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, although in 2009, multi-award winning herb grower Jekka McVicar did sneak in her ‘lucky’ gnome, Borage.

I quite like a gnome, his cheeky, cherry little face peering from behind some foliage. I’m less keen on them en masse and even less of a fan when their paint has flaked off and they’ve been repainted using whatever leftover paints were lurking around in the back of the garage. I came home from school once to find repainted gnomes that had developed shocking dress sense, looked a little flushed and one of them appeared to have 2 black eyes. Mum, what were you thinking?

In fact, there is much from the decades of my childhood, the seventies and eighties, that wouldn’t stand the taste test now. Rockeries, conifer gardens, shrubberies and the centrifugal garden with the lawn in the centre and everything else flung out into narrow borders around the edge; it all seems so incredibly dated. Then the nineties and the era of the TV makeover garden brought with it instant gardens, coloured wood stain and the phrase ‘water feature’. One of my own bugbears is the identikit garden assembled entirely from a DIY store or garden centre. There is a street nearby, where there are 3 gardens that all look the same, with their spiky cordylines, large blue ceramic egg-shaped things and metallic planters. For me, personality and individuality are so important in a garden.

Often, it is the scale or number of items that you use in your garden that can tip something from the quirky to the tasteless. I love vintage and recycled bits and pieces. I have 2 zinc baths planted up with herbs and an enamel baking dish full of succulents but I’m well aware that I should limit these items, otherwise ‘rustic chic’ could quite easily become ‘scruffy scrapyard’. For me its plants that are the stars in my garden and everything else should enhance them not detract from them.

One of the biggest puzzles for me is the desire to adorn gardens with a variety of plastic animals. The oversize and podgy blue tit, is possibly the most disturbing creature on display at my local garden centre. There must be a demand for such products though, since a veritable menagerie is on offer.

Piet Oudolf designed garden at Pensthorpe in Norfolk

According to the Horticulture Trades Association, the garden retail market was worth £2.6 billion in 2010. Gardening has become like the fashion industry with the media telling us what plants are in, how we should be using our gardens and companies selling us the latest, must-have products. Plants used in show gardens will spring up in gardens across the country. Garden designers have the power to change our ideas about planting and the whole feel and style of our gardens. In the last decade or so, the Dutch designer, Piet Oudolf, was at the vanguard of introducing us to plants such as echinacea and heleniums and showing us how to use grasses in herbaceous borders, all of which are now considered the height of taste. This more naturalistic planting and meadows and wildflowers are the gardening zeitgeist.

Furzey Gardens, designed by Chris Beardshaw. RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012 (photo courtesy of picselect)

More traditional plants such as rhododendrons and azaleas have fallen out of favour, so much so, that when garden designer, Chris Beardshaw, used them in his Chelsea show garden this year, he was worried the garden would prove less popular because of his retro style plants. They certainly didn’t stop him winning gold and, much as I love the fluffy, natural style of planting that has proved so popular at Chelsea in recent years, I personally found his garden a refreshing change.  So, does that mean that there will be a shift in what is considered tasteful, planting wise? Will we now want to start growing some of the plants popular 30 or 40 years ago? I’m not so sure but I’d love to see a Chelsea designer try to make conifers cool once again.

Personal taste also has the ability to change with time. I’ve noticed in recent years that I’m seeing plants that I have disliked ever since I can remember in a new light. Irises, for instance, really never did it for me at all but last year I bought the first ones for the garden with plans for more purchases. Sometimes it’s about widening your plant knowledge. I don’t like big, blousy pelargoniums but I’ve discovered the more delicately flowered scented leaf varieties, and the exquisite species, both of which I love.

So, ultimately, we all have our own likes and dislikes, what we consider tasteful, that’s what makes life interesting, after all. If every garden you ever visited looked like a Tom Stuart Smith creation you’d soon get bored and would crave something else and this means accepting all manner of personal tastes   . . . well, maybe not the plastic skiing meerkat.

Why I Love Britain in Spring

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Abbeydore, Aberglasney, Diarmuid Gavin, Kentchurch Court, Lanhydrock, RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Anyone who is a regular Wellywoman reader will know that it has been a frustrating start to the gardening year for me here in Wales. I know I’m not alone in feeling frustrated about the rain and the cold and the lack of sunlight. The blossom didn’t last long, my tulips flopped and my lettuce are simply refusing to grow up at the allotment. It’s too wet to sow any seeds at the allotment or plant out those plants bursting out of their pots in my cold frames. It has been one of the wettest Aprils for a hundred years and May is continuing in the same vein.

It’s all quite disheartening and demoralising. I’ve even mentioned moving abroad, to warmer, dryer climes. But I was thinking the other day, I’ve tried living in another country and although it was an experience, I did miss Britain incredibly. The chances of me leaving again are slim even if the weather does suck. So to cheer myself up and, hopefully those of you out there feeling the same, I thought I’d come up with a few reasons why I think Britain in spring is a great place for gardeners to be.

Some of my favourite plants come into flower in May. I’ve always loved poppies for their delicate, ethereal quality combined with their ability to adapt well to a variety of conditions. I’ve seen them growing in the tiniest amount of soil, sprouting from the gaps between stones but also in my own heavier, wetter Welsh soil. Poppies will spring up throughout the summer but the sight of the first flowers of the year fill me with joy and once the petals have gone, you are left with one of the prettiest seed heads of the garden.

Alliums are another favourite that first appears in May. A great plant for adding height to a border without any bulk, they look great drifting through clumps of geraniums and astrantias. Creating a purple or white haze from a distance they are a fascinating plant up close, like little stars on stalks. A lot of bulbs struggle with my wet soil but Alliums don’t seem to mind.

Lanhydrock

Britain has some truly beautiful gardens and, after a winter cooped up indoors, they are the perfect places to wander and be inspired. Some of my favourites at this time of year include the restored gardens at Aberglasney, Lanhydrock and 2 local gardens, Abbey Dore and Kentchurch Court. We have such a wealth of gardening history and expertise, I really couldn’t imagine living somewhere that didn’t have the same passion for growing as we have in this country.

Diarmuid Gavin’s Irish Sky Garden Chelsea 2011 (image courtesy of picselect)

That brings me to flower shows. Spring is the season for gardening shows. They pop up everywhere from the local village hall, selling plants to raise money for Britain in Bloom to the most prestigious of them all, Chelsea. What gardener doesn’t like the opportunity to wander round stalls laden with plants and horticultural paraphenalia? The RHS Chelsea Show may have its critics and a lot of it is the gardening equivalent of the catwalk but that doesn’t stop me from being glued to the TV watching coverage of the show gardens, wondering what Diarmuid Gavin will have created this time, predicting who will get a gold and being inspired by the planting schemes.

It’s not just gardening that makes me love Britain in spring. Our stunning countryside maybe a bit soggy and muddy at the moment but the bluebells are in full bloom, creating a bluey purple haze through our woodlands and cow parsley is just starting to flower in the hedgerows with its frothy white umbels.

Sea thrift on Cornish cliffs

There is only one place I would rather be than my garden or allotment and that is by the sea. Give me some cliffs and the sound of the waves as they crash onto a beautiful sandy beach and it doesn’t get much better. It’s not long though before I’m plant spotting. Spring is the perfect time to see our coastal wildflowers, growing in the toughest of conditions with salt-laden winds and poor soils. I always marvel at how they can grow in almost pure sand or tucked into the tiny crevice of a wall. One of my favourites has to be sea thrift or Armeria maritima, a little plant which produces dark green almost grassy like clumps that send up gaudy pink flowers held above the tussock on stalks so that they resemble lollipops. It can be spotted all along the coast of Britain clinging to rocks but I most associate it with holidays in Cornwall.

So there you go, just a few reasons why, for me, even though as I write it has started to rain again, Britain is a great place to be in spring. Of course, it all looks much better when the sun shines but you can’t have everything.