Chelsea reflections

The final curtain has fallen at the Chelsea Flower Show and the public, celebrities and television cameras have melted away. All that remains is for a small army to pack up while we reflect on this year’s crop of show stoppers.

The big ideas

Many big issues were echoed in the show gardens from Alzheimer’s disease, to global water management to the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers, each highlighting the sponsor’s own special area of interest. Aside from those heavyweight ideas though what was on display that might help inform us in our own gardens?

Water, water

Water was almost universal as twelve of the sixteen show garden designers sought to add that extra wow factor. Just as in ‘real-life’ gardens the inclusion of rills, streams and pools can add so much with their movement, sound and reflections, and even the smallest feature will help to create a special ambience. Many of the show gardens demonstrated that even relatively small spaces can accommodate large bodies of water, heightening the dramatic effect but without unbalancing the composition.

Water was also often used not just to create atmosphere but to convey some meaning – whether a journey (as in A Garden for First Touch at St George’s which was inspired by the journey of premature babies and their families), bomb craters (as in the WW1 centenary garden No Man’s Land) or the night sky.

Control, naturally

The combination of bold, structured designs with loose natural planting played a big part. Nothing new there perhaps but it is a style that remains as popular as ever. For half of the gardens this meant a rectilinear design with dominant straight lines created by paths, rills and hedging that heightened the contrast with soft, lush and exuberant planting. The control and the naturalness combined, like an unshaven man in a designer suit, to say ‘I am in control but have not lost touch with my wild side.’

Some gardens chose simpler, more traditional geometry, such as the BrandAlley Renaissance Garden, the Telegraph Garden (also inspired by the Italian renaissance) and the M&G Garden (inspired by the paradise gardens of ancient Persia) while others used a contemporary, asymmetrical, style such as the Brewin Dolphin Garden, the Cloudy Bay Sensory Garden and Hope on the Horizon (Winner of the People’s Choice Award).

Wild English

Naturalistic planting was not just used as a foil to robust linear schemes but was also evident elsewhere in more easy-going gardens. The Homebase Garden – Time to Reflect (in association with the Alzheimer’s Society) and Vital Earth The Night Sky both dispensed with any discernable geometry and used freeform shapes and a wilder planting to create comfortable and relaxed gardens.

Best in Show

The Laurent-Perrier Garden, which won Best in Show, trod its own path and conveyed a style both modern and traditional, with the planting playing a more subtle role. The contemporary feel was tempered by a layout that reflected the traditional courtyard gardens of the Middle East, with a large central pool and rills dissecting the space. Large, organically shaped boulders set in gravel and characterful trees with twisting trunks casting soft dappled shade brought to mind Japanese Zen gardens, while two densely planted blocks of herbaceous perennials added an English twist. This garden was an exercise in thought and control, and one for quiet contemplation or a sophisticated drinks party rather than a beer and barbecue. In the traditional of many interesting gardens it took time to absorb and appreciate.

The usual suspects

Plenty of old favourites were invited back. There is a reason why iris, foxgloves, multi-stemmed trees and yew, box and beech hedging are such common participants at Chelsea. They always look good at this time of year. However much plants may be manipulated in hi-tech climatically controlled warehouses (so we are told), the finished gardens are still essentially a reflection of the prevailing conditions of the season. For this reason too fresh greens tend to dominate.

The penchant for large vertical slabs of stone, usually set into boundary hedges, and for cubes of oak or stone was a strong as ever. The injection of sharp edges alongside soft planting always looks good but it felt like these elements have had their day.

Mini adventures

Sometimes it is the little ideas that are easiest to carry home. The Extending Space, inspired by pine forests in Switzerland, included a beautiful multi-stemmed pine. Who knew a conifer could look so good? The RBC Waterscape garden used a mosaic of concrete pieces to represent cracked earth to great effect. Who know concrete could be so versatile? And the Homebase Garden, designed by Adam Frost, used stone from the same quarry throughout the garden in many different forms from raw boulders to walling stone. It also used a sawn paving that either was or could have been from the same quarry. The idea of repeating materials throughout a garden to create harmony is not new but this took it a step further thereby adding a real narrative to the visual one.

Surprise, surprise

Little suggestion was made of the connection between gardens and the growing of food. Cleve West, in the M & G Garden, included a vine as a subtle reference but with the Grow Your Own movement well under way it is perhaps surprising there was not more of this. Maybe creating a ‘vegetable garden’ worthy of a Chelsea show garden is too risky a challenge, or perhaps the theme is just not compatible with big money sponsors. Food for thought.