Random takeaways from Chelsea
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Garden of the Year - The Campaign to Protect Rural England Garden: ‘On the Edge’
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The Kings Foundation Curious Garden
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Burncoose Nurseries
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Raymond Evison
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Taylors Bulbs - Gold perfection
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Nick Jones and Alan Roper in the Blue Diamond Garden
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Marc Hanheide of University of Lincoln
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Presentation of Diddly Squat rose to Lisa Hogan (far right)
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Sparsholt College
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Gardenforum takeaways from the Show Gardens:
- Crushed rubble and stone paths, some resembling old clinker paths, have replaced paving as sustainability is the chief requirement for any show garden.
- Lush green planting, natural.
- Screeching green parakeets spoil the atmosphere and are not the birdsong you want in a garden.
See the photos.
In the Great Pavilion
Blue Diamond Group of Garden Centres: An immersive walkthrough of its home-grown collection – GOLD Medal
The Blue Diamond stand, the biggest on the Great Pavillion was a green space designed by Peter Dowle of Leaf Creative, whose business was bought by BD earlier this year. The garden was zoned into areas such as the Exotic Shade Garden, The Tapestry Garden and the Dry Garden. It was praised by expert visitors for the range of unusual plants on display. Most were grown in one of BD’s 6 nurseries that cover over 100 acres.
Managing director, Alan Roper presented the Diddly Squat Rose to Lisa Hogan, Jeremy Clarkson’s partner, watched by Gloria Hunniford and Alan Titchmarsh. This presentation is expected to be followed by the announcement of further links between the two organisations within a week or so.
Blue Diamond also won 3rd place in the Plant of the Year judging with Hydrangea Velvet Night Red Lace.
Harkness – Silver gilt medal
Launched 3 roses:
- Youth without limits supporting the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme
- Parkinsons Resilience, which is planted in the Arit Anderson’s Silver medal winning Parkinson Garden
- Stems of Hope to support the international register for stemcell transplants
Raymond Evison - Gold Medal combined more than 2,500 flowering clematis with Channel Island heritage, to unveil three major new cultivars.
Burncoose - GOLD Medal presented a dramatic, immersive woodland‑edge planting scheme built around rare shrubs, specimen trees and bold architectural foliage, showcasing the breadth of their mail‑order collection.
Gold Medal for Taylors Bulbs. Taylors worked their way through yet another nerve racking and tense build-up to put on a gold medal winning display of daffodil flowers at the Chelsea Flower Show. This Gold Medal is the companies 33rd at Chelsea Flower Show and their 31st consecutive Gold with the first being won in 1986.
GOLD for David Austin Roses Ltd: Roses and Frank P Matthews ‘Malus blossom from bud to full bloom’
Silver-Gilt for Kernock Plants, Majestic Trees and Sparsholt College Group ‘Washday hues’
Plant of the year
- Hosta RED NINJA Supplied by Fairweather’s Nursery, Exhibited by Sienna Hosta
- Hydrangea paniculata GROUNDBREAKER RUBY Exhibited by Hare Spring Cottage Plants, supplied by Suttons
- Hydrangea VELVET NIGHT RED LACE. Exhibitor: Blue Diamond Garden Centres. Supplier: Van Son & Koot.
Where next with technology
UK Centre for Ecology, is promoting citizen science with the app ‘iRecord’. Create and record biological records from the field and sync them with the online record list. Who saw it, what was seen and the GPS location. Also on show was a fresh water acoustic monitor that identifies fish and insect life in ponds, rivers and the sea. It is being used tin the study of Arctic Char whose stocks are declining.
University of Lincoln demonstrated a robot system that phenotypes plants. It offers a scientific way to measure plant characteristics and so identify traits that, for example, will increase drought resilience. It could become an important way to build data sets to help future research on breeding.
There was no tech on display Defra and Forestry Research, but a sniffer dog that is being trained to identify phytophthora ramorum in woodlands. It can distinguish between different types of phytophthora and find diseased plants before there are physical signs.