If there’s one thing that was obvious at Chelsea 2010, it was the importance of the glasshouse to growers and gardeners. For the exhibitors struggling with the late spring, there was no option other than using the protected climes of the greenhouse to force the plants and flowers into growth.
The one thing that is amazing about Chelsea is the ability of the growers to bring their plants to the peak of perfection for the whole week of Chelsea.
Summer plants are gently pushed to flower and spring plants are held back in cool storage and cold houses until days or hours before the show.
In the Great Pavilion, visitors to this years’ show will be dazzled by the array of exotic and fabulous flowers and plants on display. The taste bud tantalising scent of strawberries and the relaxing aroma of Lavender and herbs are an additional sensory delight.
It simply is the greatest flower show on earth and a wonderful experience for everyone. Despite the incredible heat of the last few days the gardens are extraordinary. Already the judges have made their decision and awarded The Daily Telegraph’s garden Best In Show.
It’s a fantastic achievement for an amazing garden.
But for me the winning garden is the Places of Change Garden.
Not only is it the biggest show garden to have been staged at RHS Chelsea, but also it is a triumph for the 500 people involved. Designed, created, crafted and staged by people who may have never gardened before in their lives, by some of the most challenged members of society who have faced extreme hardship, difficulties and some of the worst tests of real life, it is a total victory.
The whole project involved forty homeless centres and eight prisons. It created and encouraged enterprise, skills and employment for many of those that became involved and as a result of the garden a staggering 450 people now have qualifications that they didn’t already have. That to me is a total triumph.
The judges awarded the garden a SILVER medal. Understandable perhaps in terms of the ‘horticulture’ of the garden. But isn’t this just the sort of project and garden that we should be seeing more of at RHS Chelsea?
Last year, James May was awarded a Plasticine Gold Medal for his Plasticine garden. I hope this is voted as the People’s Choice, because this is the garden of the future, not just in the practical and fascinating elements that it portrays, but in the way it uses horticulture to rehabilitate and support people that have never had the privilege to garden let alone have their own garden. So in advance of the results of the ‘People’s Choice’ I would like to nominate the Places of Change garden for it’s very own special award of “The Golden Community Award’, for the garden that did the most for real people, in the real world and made the biggest changes to the lives of those involved.
Let’s hope it sets a trend for the future and isn’t just squashed back up like a ball of Plasticine, never to be seen again.
