Gold for Warmenhoven.
Amaryllis upside-down on a lighting gantry
Warmenhoven alliums are on Facebook too.
The Diamond Jubilee Award was awarded to Dutch nursery, bulb specialist Warmenhoven, for their amazing alliums, ornithogalum and amaryllis. Their alliums are cleverly planted in tiers. A lighting gantry is an imaginative way of displaying inverted hippeastrum amaryllis, and is a sensational sight to behold in the Pavilion.
Frenchman Patrick Blanc, well-known for his vertical gardens, is currently working on upside-down gardens so this may be a new trend.
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| Mahonia eurybrachteata subsp. ganpinensis ‘Soft Caress.’ |
The RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year 2013 was won by another Dutch nursery Van Son & Koot with a mahonia: It is planted in the charity Seeability’s garden for blind or partially-sighted people.
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| A close-up of the miniature Buddhas. Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden in the Pavilion. |
The idea of having gnomes this year was a good publicity stunt. They were allowed in for this year only, to raise money for the RHS charity to get schoolchildren into gardening.
In actual fact any figurines but gnomes have been tolerated in the past, and in previous years miniature animals, ornaments, tea bags hanging from trees, plasticine flowers and Buddhist statuettes somehow slipped past the RHS censors, which seemed rather discriminatory against gnomes.
In actual fact any figurines but gnomes have been tolerated in the past, and in previous years miniature animals, ornaments, tea bags hanging from trees, plasticine flowers and Buddhist statuettes somehow slipped past the RHS censors, which seemed rather discriminatory against gnomes.
The Chelsea Flower Show has been snobbish about gnomes, but all the fun of the fair is there nonetheless. Main Avenue may be the Bond Street of the show: read Henry Wallop in the Daily Telegraph about the naffness around the corner.
Crufts has gone the whole hog, as this year it let mongrels compete, or cross-breeds as they are now called in this PC world of ours: they will allow them to compete in the future too, unlike gnomes at the Chelsea Flower Show.
There seemed to be less decking this year thank goodness, and more muted colours in the show gardens: a sign of austerity perhaps?
There seemed to be less decking this year thank goodness, and more muted colours in the show gardens: a sign of austerity perhaps?
Diarmuid Gavin a "celebrity" gardener, has been churlish about this year's Chelsea Flower Show, and has slammed the Sentebale garden, calling it "bad", but without explanation as to why. Prince Harry's garden is to raise money for vulnerable children in Lesotho.
Last year Dubliner Gavin had the most ridiculous garden at Chelsea; a poor effort at a vertical garden; moreover who would want a such a thing in theirs? It could be used at Blackpool or similar though. It had a lift, a cafe, greenhouses, a slide and a bare patch at the top. He won the most Creative Garden Show award for it in 2012. His 2004 effort featured lollipops.
Westland Magical Tower Garden 2012
Silver Gilt. 2004. Colourful Suburban Eden. D Gavin
Best Show Garden. Selection of exotic plants
from Trailfinders' Australian Garden by Fleming's.
This is sadly Fleming's last year at Chelsea.
Gold: Telegraph Garden . Yew, box and beech
designed by Christopher Bradley-Hole
Silver Gilt: Jinny Blom's Sentebale B & Q Garden:
Cow parley, campions and forget-me-knots
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| Gold:The Laurent-Perrier Garden Ulf Nordfjel's garden was inspired by the Mediterranean |
Best Fresh Garden Category
Silver Gilt: Massachusetts Garden.
Columbines, peonies, poppies and flowering dogwood trees.
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Best Artisan Garden: Japanese Alcove (Tokonoma) Garden.
designed by Kazuyuki Ishihara
The Tokonoma is an alcove for important talks in the ancient Japanese culture.
and ercheums
Arthritis Research UK garden
"The open texture of the wire gives a sense of freedom and release as a person with arthritis learns to manage their condition and live their life to the full."
Cirrus Trees by Guild.
S. flava var. rubricorpa Gold
Silver Gilt: Juxtaposition: Jack Dunckley, 20,
Birchfield Nursery in Sussex.
Jack's imaginative garden was shown on the BBC last night. The juxtaposition is between desert and tropical conditions, shown on either side of a printed perspex screen. The contrast is a bit like the Eden Project in Cornwall, when you go from the Mediterranean dome to the lush tropical zone in the other dome close by.
