post-chelsea

Cleve's West's BUPA garden (Gold) winner of BBC/RHS People's Choice

Now it is all over there is time to perhaps reflect on Chelsea 2008. A very 'green' Chelsea - with many of the major show gardens having green as the dominant colour - I was therefore not surprised when the BBC RHS People's Choice winners were announced. The shortlist for the large Show garden comprised of Cleve West's fab BUPA garden, Geoff Whiten's lovely garden - Realf Life by Brett (couldn't understand why this only got a Bronze), the Marshalls Garden and the George Harrison garden.

These four gardens deserved to be in the People's Choice line-up and they all had colour! It is very nice having a beautiful neat and artistic garden but if one feels that you dare not sit in it or walk in it for fear of damaging something - in other words it might not be a place where we really feel comfortable and want to sit in - then what is the point! Some of the gardens reminded me of a rather house-proud person who frowns when you crumple the cushions on the sofa. They shout - do not touch.

Green gardens can be restful I agree but for me a garden is full of colour, it might have its cool places and green shades, but for a garden to be comfortable, I want to be able to walk through it, find a little niche to sit in and just be able to admire!

So the people spoke and I think they gave a big thumbs up for colour. The choice of the Shetland Croft as the BBC RHS People's Small Garden was also right on the mark, again a delightful garden, one you can warm to and feel enjoyment from.

We are delighted for Cleve who produced a simply superb garden with an important message. I also liked Andy Sturgeon's garden for Cancer Research as well, he used plenty of green but he also had various levels and little dells which invited you to go down and have a look - that is the difference.

Andy Sturgeon's garden for Cancer Research (Gold)

I think that the public also want to see gardens to which they can relate - over the past few years some of the gardens at Chelsea have been more artistic statements than gardens in my opinion. This opens the door for the whole argument about art versus gardening - is gardening an art form or not? I don't intend to get into that argument, suffice-it-to-say I like colour, I like variety and I like a garden to look like a garden - it might be simple, it might be colourful, it might be green, but it needs to be a space where you can feel comfortable in, want to spend time in and relax in.

Cleve West certainly achieved that with his garden for BUPA and how wonderful that it is going to be re-sited at a home in London after the show. In fact, this year, several of the show gardens will be re-sited and that has to be good news.

I also thought that David Domoney really broke through some barriers with his Underwater & Tropical plants feature int he Grand Marquee. He was awarded a Silver-Gilt and justly so for a very innovative idea.


David Domoney's Underwater and tropical plants.

The big day

Monday 19th

Well we are finally here for the big day. We get in early, the morning is still and the light just perfect. It is at this time of day that you really appreciate Lady Arabella Lennox-Boyd's fantastic garden (above). The stillness of the water is awesome and I could stand and look at it for hours except that I have over 40 odd gardens to get around not to mention all the fantastic stuff in the Great Pavilion.

People are putting the finishing touches to everything now and the nervous tension is rising a bit. Some of the designers look as though they are about to be taken to the guillotine others are neurotic in case someone with shoes walks on their carefully cleaned paving!

As the morning wears on the celebs start turning up - I found Chris Tarrant hiding behind a bush, or so it seemed, but he has in fact come to open the Savills garden - not minus shoes - well nobody told him to take them off!

I wonder whether the hairdryer wheeze came off in the Great Pavilion and if the Irises opened. I then run into Matt James, the City Gardener, and there is a bit of banter.

Imelda Staunton and her husband Jim Carter pose for the Reckless personality page - lovely couple - and then we collide with the Skandia Team GBR who are out in force to launch the Hillier Stand. We always get fantastic chocolate on the Hillier stand, Mr McIndoe and his team know how to woo the journalists!

After a confrontation with a couple of Wombles, well I knew one was Uncle Bulgaria but the other's name escaped me and I didn't know it was Wellington - I come across the George Harrison tribute garden. Like this very much but can't say the same for the Italian jobby round the corner, all columns and hard landscaping.

Michael Portillo walks past and then I spy Mrs Bucket, sorry Boquet or should I say Patricia Routledge, a gracious lady with a lovely smile. After a bit of banter with the girls from the Liverpool City stan, who seem to have brought along a 200 year old bloke called Roscoe, we set off to discover some of the smaller gardens.

The smaller gardens include a seaside theme and a delightful croft from the Highlands. There are some excellent gardens here. (See pics below).

The standard is very high this year and it is difficult to be able to pick who will be the overall winner. Certainly in the larger gardens my money is on either Tom Stuart-Smith or Arabella Lennox-Boyd but Cleve West's garden is just something else, a warm delightful and inviting space that says, sit in me!

The highlight of the afternoon seems to be the visit of Ringo, who arrives driven by Damon Hill in a little psychedelic mini, every photographer that lives and breaths descends on the garden. Emma always uses elbows to good effect and she gets off some good shots. I am fortunately in the right place at the right time and get my own pic of Ringo. If this had been 40 years ago I probably would have died to have been so near, but your bus pass tends to change your outlook somewhat and I am completely calm.


We are all shown the door at around 3pm for the visit of the Royal Family but by then the feet are saying, save me, and the stomach is saying feed me. The visual senses have been edified, the memories will linger for another year and the hard work writing up the copy just begins.

Chelsea Build-up

Shetland Croft House garden

Sunday 3.00pm

Nerves are always fraught as the last minute build-up begins on the Sunday before Monday judging at Chelsea. The weather is good, the sun shining and there is a light breeze keeping everything and everyone calm.

It is our first opportunity to view the show gardens - some of which look finished already and pretty cool - Cleve West's Bupa garden is looking sensational, Tom Stuart-Smith's garden for Laurent Perrier has trees to die for, Diarmuid Gavin has ome sort of metal flower thingies in his garden, Arabella Lennox-Boyd has perfectly captured the English Zen and Robert Myers has produced a simply superb garden for Cadogan Estates.

There is tough competition this year and certainly in both the large and small gardens the standard looks exceptionally high. One always expects this at Chelsea, because it is Chelsea, but I have a hunch that several designers have really excelled this year.

I look in wonder as an exhibitor in the Great Pavilion brings out a hair dryer to open up her Irises and we stand and watch the NAFAS girls getting their superb exhibit together (above).

This year there seems to be lots of silvers, greys and subtle colours, no 'in your face' harsh shades, just peaceful and relaxed colour moods.

We meet up with several old friends and check on their progress. The David Austin Rose stand is a riot of colour and wonderful aromas, the Hillier Garden once again has centre stage in the Grand Pavilion and is just stunning.

We find Phillippa Probert (featured in our run-up to Chelsea) putting the finishing touches to her garden 'Green Living' - this is her first Chelsea, so we wish her well - then we stop for a well earned sit down and a drink of coffee before launching off again to see what's going on in the courtyard gardens.

There are some exceptionally well thought through and designed gardens here and I really do feel that this year the standard is better than ever. The Shetland Croft House Garden for Motor Neurone Disease is a gem and the Dorset Cereals Edible Playground garden - seeks to encourage schools to develop small kitchen gardens for growing, learning and eating -is delightful. The Good Gifts Garden features a sandy beach and a pair of deckchairs and is complete with water feature which gushes periodically to simulate the sound of waves on a beach - these designers think about everything.

The forward-planning for tomorrow over we make our way out past Olivia Harrison's garden 'From Life to Life' - designed by Yvonne Innes for the Material World Charitable Foundation and Olivia Harrison.

The garden seeks to tell the life story of the late George Harrison - I loved this, well I would coming from Liverpool and being a child of the Beatles era - but there was so much I could identify with in a garden which has several strands to it. There are some vibrant colours here but also some subtle shades and perfectly balanced with the rest of the planting.


We wander back past the NAFAS stand where the ladies are still working hard. NAFAS (National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies) always have a superb exhibit and this year looks to be another exceptional one with their floral arrangement of Nature's Kaleidoscope.

We are sufficiently excited at tomorrow's prospects and can now only hope that the weather stays fair and dry.