And so the Chelsea Flower Show is coming to an end for another year. All the awards have been announced and the flowers are beginning to fade.
The medals were harder to pick this year than in previous years. Best in Show went to the Muscular Dystrophy Forest Bathing Garden, by Ula Maria. Ula is a very talented designer, winning the RHS Young Designer of the Year in 2017, and combined with the perennial-winning Crocus build team, it was a best of the best formula.
Whilst her garden didn’t grab me quite as much as some others, there is no question that it was very beautiful and well put together. I am looking forward to Ula returning in future years, particularly as I know we share a lot of thinking around sense of place and the emotional response gardens can evoke.
Apparently the big award these days, however, is the People’s Choice Award. Not necessary the best technically designed or implemented garden, but the one most voted for by the public. I’m not entirely sure if this award generally goes to the public’s favourite garden, or if it goes to the garden with the best social media campaign, but this year, I think these two dimensions probably overlapped.
Ann-Marie Powell won with her Octavia Hill Garden, in association with Blue Diamond nurseries and the National Trust. This was the extremely cheery garden, full of colour and blooms, which also won the Children’s Choice Award. Ann-Marie is enthusiastically receiving her award from 3 school children here:
My friend described to me how just as with a Paris Fashion Show, people who live and breathe garden design, are looking for something a bit different at Chelsea, compared to the typical gardener. An avid designer will be excited by something new and innovative, however outrageous or unwearable it really is. Whereas the member of the public who likes fashion, or gardens, will be looking for something they can wear or put in the garden themselves.
Ann-Marie’s garden was indeed relatable, and perhaps more in line with the Chelsea of old – the joy of gardening for gardening’s sake. The WaterAid garden that I loved was perhaps a little harder to relate to in terms of the average home garden, but I took from it interesting planting concepts, perhaps not what everyone is out for.
Tom Stuart-Smith’s National Garden Scheme garden also won Gold and drew a lot of attention, as did the World Child Cancer’s Nurturing Garden, in the smaller Sanctuary Garden category. Designer Giulio Giorgi won the RHS Environmental Innovation Award for his drought tolerant planting set with perforated clay block raised beds. Whilst I was excited to see some Australian natives, such as Dodonaea, overall this garden didn’t spark joy for me as with some others.
But Chelsea is about so much more than medals and awards. Even before you arrive at the show, the streets of London are full of flowers this week. Lloyds Bank having a mobile vegetable stall, for example.
And of course we love to see the Chelsea Pensioners in their handsome formal uniform, whilst for some the Great Pavilion is the highlight of the week, with specialist nurseries, floral exhibits and charity gardens cheek by jowl.
Two moments I particularly loved, was seeing a lady taking a quiet moment to check her emails, in the most beautiful setting imaginable.
And on the Highgrove stand, representing the King and Queen’s Gloucestershire garden, I couldn’t quite get over the display of flowers on the table. Hard to show the scale in a photo, but it was quite the most immense and beautiful, yet natural vase of flowers I have ever seen.
Chelsea is nothing if not the best of the best of the best of all things flowers and plants. Bring on Chelsea 2025!
