Tags
alliums, Andy Sturgeon, Bees, Chelsea flower show. 2019, d-day75, garden visit, green switch, John Everiss Design, Tom Stuart-Smith
Sloane Square, ready. Sun shining, tick. May 21st, it must be the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Alliums may not be top of the pops at the show this year but they are still number one for the bees.
Artisan gardens are hugely popular. Green Switch by Kazuyuji Ishihara rightly achieved an eleventh gold and drew the crowds.
Glorious acers and moss and room to park the motorcycle. A natural combination. Perhaps. The planting is exquisite.
The garden created by Tom Stuart Smith for RHS Bridgwater Garden, Salford Greater Manchester was full of wonderful planting combinations. Supposedly highlights of the 154 acre garden to be completed in 2020 this will most certainly be worth a visit.
Cornus kousa
The show gardens are covered in great detail by the BBC. I found their coverage somewhat obtrusive today. 
Sure the film crews have a job to do but actually they were in the way on several gardens we were trying to view. RHS you seem to have forgotten that the paying public want to see the gardens not the back of the camera man and his equipment.
The D-Day 75 garden was a poignant tribute to the last surviving Normandy veterans. I am not sure if it has had any coverage. Designed by John Everiss it is hoped that the garden can be rebuilt on a site above Arromanches by 6/6/19 as a tribute to the veterans who now are approaching 100 years of age. DDay 75 is the link to the crowdfunding page. 
M&G investments are once again sponsors of this years Show. Their garden by designer Andy Sturgeon was masterful. Described as green planting, I rather liked some of these planting combinations. 
A brief roundup of my visit. Lots of glorious sights.
To finish
Ah.
Good night. D.
digwithdorris.com 
Thanks for the round up, I didn’t go so it’s nice to catch a glimpse.
Thanks Chloris. Always a great day out, pure escapism.
Oh it looks so exciting.
It is a fun day
Great round up. I felt that the last garden you pictured – Andy Sturgeon’s – suffered by bring the first garden that people saw as they came in. A bit too subtle when you’ve arrived expecting fireworks. Ceri
Hello! That’s an interesting observation and one I did not notice as on arrival, I head to the artisan gardens leaving the main gardens to later once the crowds have eased a little. It was not a fireworks sort of show this year but lots of beauty to inspire.
Hello. Ah, hadn’t thought of doing Chelsea that way but that would make a difference. I’m very much an amateur gardener and have only been to Chelsea twice – this year and last – as treats with my son, but I did feel that last year offered a more varied range of gardens. Could have just been my perception as a newbie though. We did think that several designers saw the popularity of the naturalistic Yorkshire garden last year and so hopped on the bandwagon for this year. If so, I’m predicting a lot of post industrial/ rusting metal about the place next year. All told, a lovely show this year all the same. Ceri
Chelsea is a huge treat, pure escapism. I go every year if I can as it always offers something new. That said, I struggled with show gardens as advertising, a pastiche of a place recreated to encourage visitors( Yorkshire). It is clever and very well executed but not what I think of as a design.
I think there has been a resurgence of naturalistic planting for some years now as we urgently try to encourage pollinators into our gardens. As for rusty metal, Corten steel has been popular for many years in design.
Chelsea is addictive! See you there next year Ceri
Interesting comment about the obtrusiveness of cameras, Dorris – for those that are not there, the comprehensive (although sometimes reoetitive) television coverage is welcome, but of course we are not aware of all the camera gubbins…. a very valid point and one which will make me think differently. Thanks for sharing some of your visit and I am glad you enjoyed it ps the D Day garden was featured
I shall try to watch the coverage on catch up.
Valid point you make about how coverage is welcome for those not attending Chelsea. The compromise surely is to film earlier or later.
Oooh, don’t attempt to watch all of it, Dorris – there must have been a couple of hours or so of it every day (unless you have nothing more useful to do, that is)! I think the bit about the D day garden was probably in the one on the Sunday before it opened
Not enough hours in the day!
That’s a good point too, and they certainly have filmed early and later in the day – Adam Frost was there after dark and the way things were lit up was magical – who gets to see it like that, I wonder, except the security guards?
Not many