I think perhaps you are all missing one thing, the word SHOW.
There should be room for all sorts.
I love a " proper " garden, but have also enjoyed many of the more conceptual landscape gardens over the years. Cleve West's in 2016 and Dan Pearson's in 2015.
I was lucky enough to see both in the flesh and thought them magnificent.
I am sure some of you disagree, but a SHOW should cater for many different tastes.
If every garden look like Chris Beardshaw's [ which I loved ], I would find it a rather dull show.
I also liked the copper piping !
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
It's the Chelsea Flower Show, organised by the Royal Horticultural Society. It's supposed to be about horticultural excellence with plants as the main course, not as an afterthought once all the concrete, stone or whatever are in place.
We've had British quarry gardens feature on GW and also in the RHS magazine but they are nothing like the drab, arid mess of that Maltese pastiche. They are lush with trees, shrubs, water - because the UK has rain - and all sorts of plants that will glory in the conditions and make you forget it's essentially a hole in the ground.
I also think the Beeb should spend more time in the marquee showcasing the remarkable plantsmen and women who grow and develop such amazing plants in all their variety and to such high standards.
I can't be the only person not remotely interested in celebs or what they think about it all or what they do in their own gardens. The place is heaving with experts. Let them speak and inform.
Last edited: 26 May 2017 23:27:04
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)."
My guess is that Chelsea celebrates garden design as an art form, not just gardening as we ordinary mortals see it. I have mixed feelings about this; a beautifully designed garden can be pleasing to the eye and satisfying to the soul... but as with modern art, sometimes well-regarded design doesn't appeal to me, as was the case with this year's "Best in Show". Maybe if I'd been able to relate to the planting - which wasn't intended to be relevant to my gardening experience in west Yorks - I would have seen more merit in it.
I've seen gardens made in quarries which made a lot more sense to me...
However, I had a great time at the show on Wednesday. There was much to admire, and I came home with a notebook full of ideas.
Is there a thread of Chelsea photos? I don't want to duplicate anything (sorry Chicky! ) but I guess a few of us will have photos to post.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
The Maltese " garden " did contain flowers and some rare and interesting ones too.
There are plenty of flowers in both the Pavilion and on the gardens, but as Sue Biggs herself points out it is also a garden landscape / design show.
Many people loved Dan Pearson's recreation of Chatsworth, many hated it, that is sort of the point.
I don't get many of the conceptual gardens, but I know others do and love them.
As a show it is supposed to cater for many interests.
I have been a few times and have come away thinking, how the hell did Garden X win a gold and my favourite didn't.
It is like any art, you can love it, hate it, be indifferent to it, but yours is not the only opinion.
Strictly of course it has never been a flower show, as it has always had vegetables too. Personally I don't want to see vegetables, but I know others do.
As Monty himself admitted, the show needs to move forward, encompass new trends and most of all innovate.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
The gardens need to at least look like gardens, and not like concepts.
Copper piping running through that garden just looked stupid. I did once install copper piping around the tops of my raised veg beds, but that had the purpose of deterring slugs, and not to look 'arty farty'.
I can't see anything innovative or trend setting about concrete blocks and weeds. I'll eat my words though if I see folk scrambling to buy multipacks of half dead chickweed at the local garden centre.
I did see a lot of new ideas and plants though. There was a beautiful clematis and I took a photo of it but it's come out with my finger over the lense! Did anyone that went see the green and purple clematis in the tent, I think called Taigra, or something similar? It was a stunner.
Posts
It should be obvious to them from the peoples' vote but they probably ignore that.
I think perhaps you are all missing one thing, the word SHOW.
There should be room for all sorts.
I love a " proper " garden, but have also enjoyed many of the more conceptual landscape gardens over the years. Cleve West's in 2016 and Dan Pearson's in 2015.
I was lucky enough to see both in the flesh and thought them magnificent.
I am sure some of you disagree, but a SHOW should cater for many different tastes.
If every garden look like Chris Beardshaw's [ which I loved ], I would find it a rather dull show.
I also liked the copper piping !
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
That's as maybe, but Garden is also in the title.
pdoc...I can stand in my basement and see copper piping every day.
It is meant to be a flower show.
I enjoyed listening to the reasoning behind the Maltese Quarry and understood his philosophy BUT it was not suited to a flower show.
It's the Chelsea Flower Show, organised by the Royal Horticultural Society. It's supposed to be about horticultural excellence with plants as the main course, not as an afterthought once all the concrete, stone or whatever are in place.
We've had British quarry gardens feature on GW and also in the RHS magazine but they are nothing like the drab, arid mess of that Maltese pastiche. They are lush with trees, shrubs, water - because the UK has rain - and all sorts of plants that will glory in the conditions and make you forget it's essentially a hole in the ground.
I also think the Beeb should spend more time in the marquee showcasing the remarkable plantsmen and women who grow and develop such amazing plants in all their variety and to such high standards.
I can't be the only person not remotely interested in celebs or what they think about it all or what they do in their own gardens. The place is heaving with experts. Let them speak and inform.
Last edited: 26 May 2017 23:27:04
My guess is that Chelsea celebrates garden design as an art form, not just gardening as we ordinary mortals see it. I have mixed feelings about this; a beautifully designed garden can be pleasing to the eye and satisfying to the soul... but as with modern art, sometimes well-regarded design doesn't appeal to me, as was the case with this year's "Best in Show". Maybe if I'd been able to relate to the planting - which wasn't intended to be relevant to my gardening experience in west Yorks - I would have seen more merit in it.
I've seen gardens made in quarries which made a lot more sense to me...
However, I had a great time at the show on Wednesday. There was much to admire, and I came home with a notebook full of ideas.
Is there a thread of Chelsea photos? I don't want to duplicate anything (sorry Chicky!
) but I guess a few of us will have photos to post.
I still think you are missing the point.
The Maltese " garden " did contain flowers and some rare and interesting ones too.
There are plenty of flowers in both the Pavilion and on the gardens, but as Sue Biggs herself points out it is also a garden landscape / design show.
Many people loved Dan Pearson's recreation of Chatsworth, many hated it, that is sort of the point.
I don't get many of the conceptual gardens, but I know others do and love them.
As a show it is supposed to cater for many interests.
I have been a few times and have come away thinking, how the hell did Garden X win a gold and my favourite didn't.
It is like any art, you can love it, hate it, be indifferent to it, but yours is not the only opinion.
Strictly of course it has never been a flower show, as it has always had vegetables too. Personally I don't want to see vegetables, but I know others do.
As Monty himself admitted, the show needs to move forward, encompass new trends and most of all innovate.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
The gardens need to at least look like gardens, and not like concepts.
Copper piping running through that garden just looked stupid. I did once install copper piping around the tops of my raised veg beds, but that had the purpose of deterring slugs, and not to look 'arty farty'.
Last edited: 26 May 2017 23:59:36
I can't see anything innovative or trend setting about concrete blocks and weeds. I'll eat my words though if I see folk scrambling to buy multipacks of half dead chickweed at the local garden centre.
I did see a lot of new ideas and plants though. There was a beautiful clematis and I took a photo of it but it's come out with my finger over the lense! Did anyone that went see the green and purple clematis in the tent, I think called Taigra, or something similar? It was a stunner.
What is wrong with arty farty?
Unless there is change, all gardens would just be filled with a collection of shrubs as in the 1970's
Not that long ago, people said that Christopher LLoyds use of clashing colours was not proper gardening.
The use of Cannas and Dahlias, was frowned upon by the horticultural " elite ".
Piet Oudolf was ridiculed for his prairie planting: " a border should not be full of grasses ".
You may hate this form of planting, but many don't
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border