The RHS Chelsea Flower show 2019

It's Bank Holiday Monday, and the early morning sunshine disappeared ages ago. I'm in and out of the garden dodging the short, sharp showers as I try to catch up on some weeding.

My garden needs quite a lot of attention, but as I look out over a few swathes of cow parsley and the "wild area" at the side of the cottage where the bees are madly buzzing in and out of the hardy geraniums, lemon balm and forget me nots, I don't feel as guilty as I normally would.

Why? Well, I can see hints of this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show in my own garden.

This time last week I was at the outstanding, the most must see flower show in the world. It was Press Day and once again there was that familiar flutter of excitement and anticipation as I walked through the gates.

The first garden to view was the Wedgwood Garden, a quiet oasis designed by Jo Thompson to mark the 260th anniversary of the pottery company.

Arches, water and a pleasing pastel palette of blues, pinks, creams and apricots made a welcoming and peaceful impression - but there was great excitement when a young woman wearing nothing but a Wedgwood blue, embroidered body stocking arrived to pose for photographs.

On Main Street all the gardens are of a very high standard... triumphs of design and in the past I've seen some very showy gardens, some designs of such form and precision. This year though, the gardens are so much more naturalistic and wild, so much more accessible with  the key themes of gardens being havens to escape into, to relax and to have fun.

There was no time for relaxation or a leisurely stroll through the show though... there were interviews to do and features to record, so I didn't take half as many photos as I wanted to.

I adored the eye-catching and oh so evocative "Welcome to Yorkshire "garden featuring a canal and lock gates, a vegetable plot and a cottage garden. Beautifully done, as was Andy Sturgeon's M and G garden - a vision of woodland, water and new growth.

I was particularly taken too with the Resilience Garden which celebrated a hundred years of forestry, with its message of how trees and forests will have a leading part to play in the fight against climate change.

Another garden that stood out was the CAMFED Garden. As soon as I saw the packed red earth path winding its way through a vibrant garden full of edibles, I was immediately transported to Africa. To Zimbabwe, where the Campaign for Female Education is helping girls in poor rural communities to stay in education. Banana trees, sweet potatoes, cassavas, ground nuts and grains were all jam packed into huge oil cans in the soil, just like in Zimbabwe, where they are showing how women are being taught to grow their own food and develop their own agricultural businesses... this was an inspiring garden.

In the Great Pavilion, perfection and plantsmanship were celebrated as always by around eighty different nurseries... I loved the Stihl Hillier garden which won a gold medal.

From the pastels to the vibrant colours on the Grenada stand... and this Richmond Red knocked my socks off.

So did the aroma of all the spices from this lush Caribbean island. The designer Catherine John certainly knows how to win another gold.

Whizzing outside again, my heart sang when I caught sight of this completely riotous and glorious 

display near the artisan food stalls, 

My heart missed a beat though, as I found the D-Day 75 Garden.

It pays homage to the last surviving Normandy veterans, and the centre piece is a statue of Bill Pendell who died in December. He's seen looking across the shingle and sea thrift at a statue of his younger self with his colleagues, as they rushed up the beachhead at Arromanche all those years ago.

Stark and poignant and so sincerely done, many of us looked on quietly.... and I'm so pleased that this garden is now being rebuilt overlooking Gold Beach in France as a lasting legacy.

By now it was time to leave and on the train home to reflect on such a different Chelsea this year. Oh and to look back through the photos I took... one of my favourites being this one on the Sarah Raven stand. I was about to interview Joanna Lumley when Rachel de Thame appeared... happy air kisses and a short chat later, Carol Klein popped up and they all wanted a photo together. Three wonderful, talented and lovely women enjoying the moment, and enjoying Chelsea.

So did I... a wonderful day at a a fantastic show which highlighted the natural, the wild and as always,  the beautiful.

Press Day at Gardeners' World Live

This year's BBC Gardeners' World Live at the NEC near Birmingham is a milestone - the 25th year of the show. It's also just happens to be the best one I've been to here.

I know that's quite a statement, but for me, the show which celebrates 50 years of BBC Gardeners' World on our television screens, is a delightful celebration of our British gardens through the last half a century.

Also this year, you won't be able to miss some of our best loved television gardeners , they're here every day on stage at the BBC Gardeners'World Live Theatre, in the potting shed, and at the Demo bench in the Floral Marquee. Carol Klein, Monty Don, Alan Titchmarsh, Joe Swift, Adam Frost , Toby Buckland, Uncle Tom Cobley and all will be around the show. You'll be tripping over them...we were on Press Day !

But what about the actual gardens? Well, there are some absolute delights and the show garden which made me smile and took me straight back to my childhood was the Nostalgia Garden.

This was a loving recreation of a garage, with a village shop and  nursery attached from the 1960s and 70s.,. The attention to period detail was superb

Gardening photographer Julia Stanley and I were admiring the hump back bridge over a stream in the foreground....and there was even an orange flymo left in the long grass, which was a clever touch which made us giggle. No wonder this garden designed by Paul Stone won a gold medal.

The garden which caught my heart though was Wyevale Garden Centres: Romance in the ruins. Partly broken brick walls, pergolas wreathed in fragrant roses, this was a wistful, romantic notion of the faded grandeur of castle ruins.

The subtle , muted colours, the layout, all were so evocative of what was and what is. There's so many castle ruins still in our country, and this was a homage to them all I feel. A stunning design by Claudia de Yong who oh so rightly won the award for Best Show Garden.

I spoke to her briefly while she sat on the grass opposite about the roses she chose....the white Desdemona, Albertine , Wedgewood and the Generous Gardener rose which is one of the most highly scented..

I wish I could have taken more photographs and spent more time in this garden, but there was so much filming going on in there, I didn't get a chance. Unlike radio, where I can slip in and do a fairly quick interview, telly has different demands -and they're very time consuming.

Close by was the Anniversary Garden ;A brief history of Modern Gardens . This has been designed by Professor David Stevens - he's the one who's won oodles of gold medals and four best in shows, and again he's got another gold medal.

The garden was divided into five small sections, each one representing a decade from the 1960's to the present day..

The  first one reminded me of my grandfather's garden at the back of his Victorian terraced house , the line post cutting the garden into two, with the shed, and bedding plants. Ooh they loved their bedding plants back then didn't they?  Neatness, precision and crazy paving ruled.

Demonstrating that the vintage lawn mower worked ( I have virtually the same model in the shed next to our piggery) was Peter Dowle from Howle Hill Nursery who's done well this year after getting Best in Show at Malvern earlier this year.

No wonder he looked rather happy as he relaxed

I wandered up along APL Avenue as it's called...where members of the Association of Professional Landscapers showcase their work.

I did like Big Fish landscapes "Wetland Plants- the idea of Wilderness Garden".

All so often a wilderness garden can look ....well, wild and rampant. Here, this wilderness garden is a contemporary garden which would work anywhere yet would still encourage biodiversity.



 

 

 

 





Here you can see the quote from Edward Abbey the American writer who was a passionate advocate of environmental issues who died in 1989.

Further along, the Pro Gardens "Clic Sargent "Garden was awarded a silver gilt medal. Straight out of a children's picture book, this is a place to definitely be a child again. Something that children with cancer don't get the chance to be ...they're too busy trying to survive and be brave.






A very popular , and award winning gold garden was Living Gardens "It's not just about the beard" .

It got my vote for the most intriguing titled garden in the first place! Now, you can't ignore Peter Cowell and Monty Richardson who are Living Designs. Both with bushy beards and braces, you couldn't miss them on Press day..

And the irresistible aroma of barbecued jerk chicken led people by their noses to their garden  which uses reclaimed construction materials and featured a bar as well as the barbecue. A hipster garden for sure, but one which really worked as a garden to relax and entertain in.

I really liked this living wall of thymes ..so tactile, and as I brushed past the wall, they released their lovely tangy Mediterranean fragrance.

 

 

But BBC Gardeners'World Live isn't just about show gardeners, there's so many accessible displays here with new, quirky, simple ideas which work so well.. The Beautiful borders category for instance,
 the Meal in a wheelbarrow feature for instance and there's so many plants to buy.

Let's not forget the Floral Marquee either.On Press Day, many of the stands were still being built, plus there was still so much titivating to do to make each plant was perfect....

Judging didn't place until yesterday, but I'm not surprised that Barnsdale Gardens won a gold for their wonderful display with a bust of the legendary and much loved Geoff Hamilton at its centre. What an inspirational gardener he was to thousands of viewers over the years on Gardeners' World.

My favourite stand in the Floral marquee though was this one from W.S.Warmenhoven. It stood out for so many reasons...the stark simplicity, the oh so precisely placed alliums, the plants at their peak of desirability...I loved it. Unfortunately when I was there , there was no one to talk to on the stand....I had so many questions....

But a five o clock, we all gathered outside for a photo...not of the press you understand, but a photocall of all the Gardeners' World presenters.

It was herding fish trying to get them all together.....and even when they were just about posing perfectly, everyone had to wait while Carol Klein adjusted her bra strap which was just peeping out from her dress. Obviously none of the others had a similar problem.

This show has so much to offer..as the weekend is set fair (it's going to a scorcher tomorrow) why not venture along to the NEC and celebrate the last fifty years of gardening here in Britain?