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.