Now Chelsea’s been and gorn what sticks in my mind?
1. I should invest in a nice umbrella. But how do you hold an umbrella and a camera?
Alan Titchmarsh wins best umbrella at Chelsea. I’m not so sure about that coat.
2. There never seems to be much good container planting at Chelsea. Which seems odd to me for a London show, where so many people garden in window boxes and pots in small yards.
If you want to find interesting container planting at Chelsea it’s best to look on the trade stands. This was at Schellevis.
Floral headdress by Okishima and Simmonds at the Hillier stand.
3. I should dress more adventurously. Maybe a floral headdress would help.
Rusty colours and, er, rust were used really effectively in the Dark Matter Garden by Howard Miller Design Ltd
4.This year rusty colours are in. I remember the days when Chelsea used to be all purple and silver with the odd splash of magenta.
More rustiness on The Great Chelsea Garden Challenge garden by Sean Murray
Zantedeschia ‘Morning Sun’ on the Brighter Blooms stand
Paeonia anomala on the Tale Valley Nursery stand
5. But clear, soft pinks are holding their heads high.
6. I still don’t like Tulipa ‘Cummins’, it looks like someone put their frilly pink knickers in a hot wash with an indigo tablecloth.
Tulipa ‘Cummins’ on the Bloms stand.
Meconopsis ‘Barney’s Blue’ on the Harperley Hall stand
7. I wish I could grow Meconopsis.
8. Gardens carry messages and memories beautifully.
Ghostly statue in John Everiss’s Evader’s Garden – a tribute to his father and the members of the resistance who helped him.
Eremurus himalaicus on The Telegraph Garden by Marcus Barnett
9. I want some Eremurus.
10. This year is all about circles and swirls and spirals, last year was all about rectangles.
Slinky plays the role of pathogen in Sarah Eberle’s Beyond Our Borders Garden
11. Very clever things can be done with water – absolute precision is required to carry them off.
Brilliantly executed water tricks on the World Vision Garden by John Warland
12. Yew blobs are breeding fast. I think some of them were scuttling between gardens. They have out-competed the box balls at last.
Yewbiquitous. Lurking in the Rich Brothers’ Cloudy Bay Garden
Cedric Morris and his watercolour-toned irises.
13. Painted backdrops can work. Usually I hate them, but the murals and planting on the Howard Nurseries/National Collection Sir Cedric Morris Irises stand blended extraordinarily well.
14. I can see the attraction of building up a big collection of one type of plant.
Victorian Violas
Hippopottering Nursery’s Acers
15. But I still want a bit of everything. I think our horticultural lives should gather a wide variety of plants along their garden paths.
Charlie Albone’s autobiographical garden, The Time In Between.
A PARROT'S NEST 
I want everything in your photos! Especially the violas. And the meconopsis. And the zantedeschias. And the acers. But I’ll pass on the Hillier’s hat. 😉
LikeLike
Oh surely you don’t want those awful tulips! And with a handle like The Chatsworth Lady I think you need a fancy hat…
LikeLike
LOL, well, the tulips definitely would be a curiosity! I’ve ordered a few in my day that caused a “what on earth was I thinking?” reaction the following spring, LOL.
Do you think I could get away with the Hillier’s hat at Royal Ascot??
LikeLiked by 1 person
The zantedeschia are my favourite, not sure about the tulips either, the rest are very beautiful (including the hat) 🙂
LikeLike
Yes there were lots of good Zantedeschia, Gill, I must try them again, had some for a while at WP. Perhaps we should all wear hats like that. Not great for cartwheeling in though…
LikeLike