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Chelsea 2019 gold medal?

cindyspeedfreakcindyspeedfreak Posts: 20
in Garden design
I must be so out of touch  but I just can't understand how the seed head garden got a gold medal. It just looked dead. Am I just being ignorant or is it merely a matter of taste? My understanding of a garden is that it's a living thing and the challenge and enjoyment is to keep it that way
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  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    The gardens are judged on several aspects including the brief and how closely it was followed, the quality of the construction, the quality of the plants, attention to detail etc.  If the brief says the garden represents a post apocalyptic event or a desert garden or other such arid landscape then yes, plants will look dead and dry and it will be judged as such.

    It's not about whether the judges like or dislike it.   

    Have to agree tho.  I have really disliked the trend in recent years to include barren or dry landscapes.  Except in parts of Essex and uplands too cold and exposed to grow much at all they are not relevant to British gardening and even there Beth Chatto made a superb lush, floriferous dry garden in a part of Essex with less annual rainfall than the Sahara.   Most of the UK has enough rainfall for green gardens full of healthy foliage and flowers and I have really enjoyed all the greenery in the gardens this year.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    I must agree that I wasn't struck by the dried garden either, it looked like a disaster had struck it.  My late mother always had a vase of dried stems and flowers, seed head etc. and although it could be classed as artistic, given the choice I would rather have the vibrancy of fresh flowers any day. It certainly would not have been my choice of a gold medal winner.
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    It's ironic, because when it was introduced as "The Salutation Garden", l thought "ooh, lovely" as it's a garden l've always wanted to visit. I was slightly stunned when l saw it, although l appreciate he was trying to do something different. Give it a couple of months and l will be able to produce a very similar look 😁.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    This is informative - 

    https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/exhibit-at-a-show/judging-at-rhs-shows 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    I can't see a garden that matches the comments above. Which one are you guys talking about? https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/awards
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • cindyspeedfreakcindyspeedfreak Posts: 20
    Hi WillDB Ive looked and I cant find it either. AnniD thinks its called the Salutation Garden but I was so un enamoured I didn't take note of the name. It was on last nights BBC coverage show if I remember right and it was an indoor exhibit. Basically it was a load of dries flowers and seed heads. All brown. All dead. 
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Thank goodness we all have different tastes.
    I loved it.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • PurplerainPurplerain Posts: 1,053
    edited May 2019
    cindyspeedfreak said:
    I must be so out of touch  but I just can't understand how the seed head garden got a gold medal. It just looked dead. Am I just being ignorant or is it merely a matter of taste? My understanding of a garden is that it's a living thing and the challenge and enjoyment is to keep it that way
    I was on train today and saw all sorts of woodland and seed heads and thought "that would win a gold this year at Chelsea".  A garden is a challenge, and is an artistic peaceful and beautiful one in my opinion. Leaving it to nature is not my idea of the best thing to do with that privileged space some of us have. It certainly does not include easily self sown weeds. I think Chelsea has lost its grip on actually growing plants this year because that is the real challenge. Making something exciting, beautiful and bountiful, home grown by the gardener from seed for the family, birds and bees which is so rewarding. Wildlife can, and always has done that for itself.
    SW Scotland
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585

  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    @WillDB l couldn't find anything on the RHS site, but the above photo is from the gardener's Twitter page.
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