Colour at Chelsea

Iris ‘Benton Olive’ in Sarah Price's garden

A former AIB banker-turned-gardener says he feels “like a five-year-old getting presents” after winning a major award as well as a prestigious gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in London.

The Royal Horticultural Society of London challenged everyone this year who could make a pocket-sized realistic garden, and people didn’t disappoint! Here are the best Small Balcony Garden Ideas from Chelsea Flower Show!

Do not forget the pleasures of Acers in spring and early summer. New buds and leaves are an interesting feature of carefully chosen species. Visit a good garden center or a renown public garden like RHS Harlow Carr in Harogate  We know that Maple trees or Acers have exceptional colour in autumn which is why tourists flock to New England and the eastern seaboard to see the flaming colours. Cold nights and warm days are the conditions that help turn green leaves to vibrant colours. With the falling temperatures, the lush green colours of summer have been replaced with vivid reds, golden yellows and browns.

Now in its 101st year the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the flagship gardening show in the gardening calendar. This years show is set to be another fantastic celebration for the RHS with fantastic weather on the lead up to the show and the build up, ensuring all the plants and blooms are in top condition. Last years show was focused on the celebration of

The Odd Splash of Colour Amongst the Green There’s always a lull in the borders at this time of year when the roses go over and the late summer colour is still in the wings. This is especially true this year when foliage definitely predominates over flowers, but I have got the odd good corner.

This year I planted my sweet peas in a large galvanised water tank and once they had finished flowering I planted it up with a mixed bunch of leftovers from other parts of the garden – while everything else is gently subsiding into soft autumnal shades, this hotchpotch is continuing to perform in quite a jolly fashion. .

Plants that Pleased at Chelsea I’ve been trawling through my many images of Chelsea and. Some are just for admiring – others I may well emulate. Orange was definitely the colour du jour with geums, verbascums and erysimums popping up in many of the gardens.

Gloves are always of interest to gardeners – I have an enormous collection, many of which have holes in the fingers, so I think it is time to cull the less than perfect and invest in a few more. I came back from the show with a pair of MechanixWear womens’ leather-palmed gloves (£22) which are soft, comfortable and washable as well as extremely tough. The sizing is on the small side though so it’s best to buy larger than normal. Burgon & Ball always have innovative displays on their stand – their Love the Glove range (from £12.95) were displayed under glass domes. These gloves are ultra-soft but hardwearing, have padded palm and a wrist strap to keep debris out. www.burgonandball.com Sneeboer, makers of fine garden tools have had fun with one of their garden spades that they have fashioned into a stool – it’s not for sale, but I best they get lots of enquiries about it – so who knows, in the future it may be added to the range. Just the sort of thing the hipsters love! Trugs come in every shape and size and the Trugmake

Tulip Colour Combinations by Daniel Carruthers I’d like to think I am fairly organised when it comes to the garden but last year I left my annual tulip shopping a little late. Not too late though, according to Fergus Garrett you can still plant tulips up until Christmas Day.

In my earlier post about Sir Paul Smith, I wrote about the role of green as the anchor that holds everything in place in a garden – so it’s unsurprising that the greenness was what I noticed as I looked at some of the drawings of this year’s Chelsea gardens. No doubt, when we get to Chelsea our eyes will seek out the excitement, and the actual gardens will be further enlivened by shape, texture and the play of light, but it is useful to see the contribution that green makes to each of the gardens and bear it in mind for the planting in our own garden. Jo Thompson’s Sylvan Retreat will h

Green is the Colour Chew Valley Trees garden transported me back to my recent visit to Sweden (about which I will blog in due course). Although it was inspired by the Canadian landscape it could just as easily have been Sweden with its naturalistic planting of trees, its limestone pavement and its log cabin aesthetic.