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May 25, 2005
Chelsea 2005
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We at Citygardenguide have developed a peculiar fascination with flower shows, and have been to the Philadelphia Show as well as New York's own Macy's Flower Show this year. Both visits left us exhausted, but not particularly horticultural enriched. So we thought we should go to the mother of them all, the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show in London to see if we could get a grip on the flower show syndrome. What did we learn? First, Chelsea is an unbelievably (to Americans) huge deal in the UK. The BBC devotes an hour every evening of the five-day show to its Chelsea broadcast. The papers are full it, with articles on gossip and gardening personalities as well as plants and gardens.
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We all know that gardening in the UK is more than a national pastime, but it's hard to understand the obsession until you rub shoulders with the hundred thousand visitors to Chelsea. It's so crowded that pedestrian flow in the aisles inside the big display tents are all one way to keep the traffic moving. There are hundreds of exhibitors, and an endless number of plants. The big show gardens, and there are about 19 of them, cost in the area of 100,000 pounds each. It's all a little overwhelming for a New York gardener who is used to encountering puzzled or condescending looks when explaining her passion for gardens. At Chelsea, everyone is a gardener, from tweedy couples down from the country for the day and smart young thirty somethings keen to be part of the latest trend, to our personal favorite, two middle aged guys, obviously a couple, dressed in full black leather, with studs and chains, many piercings and black leather cowboy hats, who were standing in front of a particularly old fashioned cottage garden display, earnestly discussing its combination of perennials and wondering whether they could replicate it at home.
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There are three main categories at Chelsea. There are the show gardens, there are the plant displays, and there is the stuff. The stuff ranges from tractors to bespoke leather gardening boots, with every range of garden tchocke in between. The plants, in a huge (really huge) central tent, are abundant, luxurious and addicting. This is where the specialty nurseries make their new introductions and display their choicest treasures. The big hit this year are some new Clematis that only grow to about four feet so are ideal for patio pots. It’s a little frustrating for North Americans because some of the introductions won't be available to us this year, but it certainly makes plant lovers drool.
The show gardens are over wrought, from sentimentally traditional to, if not quite cutting edge, at least contemporary. But the focus is on plants and it's good sport to try and spot overall trends in planting design.
Herewith are a few trends Cityardenguide spotted at Chelsea:
1.Naturalistic planting is very big. Modified meadow planting is everywhere, no more traditional English borders. There are lots of wand like flowers waving in the wind and lots of spikes and balls floating above a green base. Aquilegia, astrantia, and iris, are used frequently as dots of color above the green. Grass is used very sparingly and rarely mowed. (Bad for the mower salesmen)
2. Recycled materials are used extensively, especially for paving materials. All the gardens stress ecological awareness.
3. Color- Dark burgundy is in. The darkest red aquilegia, Barlow Black and the darkest red astrantia are particular favorites.
4. Iris are back. (You might not have known they had gone)
5.Every garden has a pool- most often a rectangular one.
6. Sadly this seemed to be a universal trend - bad garden art. Every garden seemed to have to have an "art" object, and most would have been much better without it
Posted by gardenguidenyc at May 25, 2005 07:06 PM