Reflections on Chelsea 2017

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.

In late May, many of us look forward to seeing social media posts about the Chelsea Flower Show. The timing of this event is a reminder that there are many perennials that benefit from a late spring cutback, commonly known as the “Chelsea chop.” Many perennials that bloom in midsummer, late summer, or fall can be pinched or cut back early in the season to increase flower production, limit plant size, extend or delay bloom time, create novel flower combinations, and minimize flopping or lodging. While the chop is generally timed to coincide with the famous flower show, it’s more important to time the trimming for a point when a significant amount of vegetative growth has occurred. For the Mid-Atlantic region, this can be any time from midspring to early summer.

Chelsea is always inspirational but there are some years when the excitement ramps up a notch, and this is one of those years. There are so many superb show gardens to steal ideas from, so many important messages to absorb, that it has been difficult to narrow it down. The plantsmanship is breathtaking, the designs imaginative and the themes thought-provoking, many of the gardens demonstrating how we can garden more sustainably in this era of climate change. From Cleve West’s atmospheric ruined house to Chris Beardshaw’s immaculately planted woodland glade, there is so much at the show to learn from. Here is my pick of the crop.

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!

Hmm……… Not everything at Chelsea is beautiful – it was a close run thing to choose the object that I most objected to, but this year’s award goes to this pig seat!

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

There are always certain plants that put in repeat performances throughout the show gardens at Chelsea.  Three years ago you couldn’t buy Silene fimbriata anywhere (a friend dug a clump up for me) but this year it was evident in several gardens and on the stands in the Grand Pavilion. It’s a great plant for shady places, doesn’t mind the dry and spreads to form attractive clumps bearing fringed white flowers in late spring. In gardens where the mood

Although you can’t buy plants at Chelsea (except for very little ones) there are plenty of shopping opportunities – and if you don’t feel like lugging your purchases round with you, with most things you can window shop and buy them later online. Here’s my eclectic pick of some of the products that caught my eye. One of a series of charming or tho

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

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