RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2019… a glimpse

View this post on Instagram

Early start for me today on the last day of #rhschelsea2019tbere is nothing quite like the moment you come through the Show Gates and realise that this is indeed a building site. Elegance and big transport, fork-lift trucks and trolleys full of choice plants set the tone for the day as the excitement of seeing the judging groups making their way around the gardens becomes palpable. @the_rhs @gdnmediaguild @GdnBloggers

A post shared by Garden Writer (@barbarasegall) on May 19, 2019 at 12:23pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

The Tree house centre piece of The RHS Back to Nature Garden makes a bold statement and takes me back to illustrations of woodland houses in childhood books. The garden is co-designed by HRH Duchess of Cambridge and Landscape Architects Andree Davies & Adam White (davieswhite.co.uk). The natural world, as well as key memories are the triggers for this garden’s central elements. After the show, reflecting the emphasis on physical well-being and emotional health, much of the planting and some of the landscaping will go to an NHS Mental Health Trust. #rhschelsea2019 @the_rhs #RHSChelsea

A post shared by Garden Writer (@barbarasegall) on May 19, 2019 at 12:40pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Last year I was enchanted by Jonathan Snow’s accurate recreation of an assemblage of a South African wine estate garden, the Trailfinders South African Wine Estate Garden. This year he set off on another journey with Trailfinders in his Undiscovered Latin America show garden. He told me the journey began with his deepening interest in Botany and his wish to show that through knowing where a plant thrives you will find the right place for it in a garden, and get the best results. During his visits to Chile researching plants and ideas he travelled through a series of valleys with hot water springs and pools. Some were connected by rough and ready red scaffolding walkways: here interpreted by a sinuous red walkway that makes you want to step onto it to discover the plants and watery landscape of this garden. Jonathan said that the garden has been challenging in that many of the plants have spiny stems, making underplanting a big risky! And then there are two different waterfalls along the length of his stylish red walkway structure. In the build-up week he has had a team of 7-15 volunteers from design schools. Many of the plants that thrive in the cool wet conditions of Chile’s temperate rainforests such as the monkey puzzle tree, gunnera and solanum, are familiar in our gardens. The plants were sourced and grown by Kelways and the contractors are Stewart Landscape Construction. his red walkway threads through the garden taking you on a great plant-hunting journey… @the_rhs @jonathansnowdesign @trailfindersuk @stewartlandscape @kelwaysplantslangport #rhschelsea2019

A post shared by Garden Writer (@barbarasegall) on May 19, 2019 at 1:59pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Earlier this year along with other garden writers I was I invited to a lunch at Petersham Nurseries, Covent Garden, to hear Paul Hervey-Brookes talk about the art and plants that inspired his design for Viking Travel’s The Art of Viking Garden. Today at RHS Chelsea Flower Show it was fascinating to see how these ideas, his sketches and plant palette, had become reality. The water-side plantings overhung gentle streams and inlets.The paving (a Chelsea first for use of glazed concrete) was inspired by two Norwegian artists, ceramicist Annette Krogstad, and painter Jakob Weidemann, both whom have created art for Viking’s fleet. The splash of watery blue reminded me of waves and spray, elements of boat travel. Plants that I loved seeing included bog myrtle, Salix ‘Nancy Saunders’ and meadow sweet. Large sculptures created by Paul from aged and blackened metal have taken him on his own journey into new artistic skills. @the_rhs @herveybrookes @vikingcruises

A post shared by Garden Writer (@barbarasegall) on May 19, 2019 at 3:08pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Details are so important: they build and build to make a coherent whole. Jilayne Richards and Charlotte Watts were school friends; they lost contact For about 20 years, as you do, then about a decade ago they found they had gardens that backed onto each other and their friendship resumed! They talked about Chelsea and when asked, Jil, now a garden designer, said she would want to do a garden for a charity. Now Professor Charlotte Watts, Chief Scientific Officer for the Department for Internationsl Studies(DFID), introduced Jil to the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year – and their path, rather like the red dirt path in the garden, was set. Every detail has been so well thought out, down to the musical instruments and bowls of dried material. And even a sloughed snake skin (courtesy of Chatlotte’s husband and London Zoo)! I grew up in Southern Africa so the red soil of the road running through the school’s garden resonates with me. It certainly did so for several visitors yesterday, including Sinikiwe Makobe and Clarah Zinyama, visitors from Zimbabwe… who felt they had not yet left home! Many of the edible plants were grown specially by the Eden Project: the rocks were sourced by CED Stone Group, the Solar Pump came from FuturePump, the biofortified maize and beans came from HarvestPlus and the soil from AllGreen Group. The landscaper who drew the threads together was Conway Landscapes UKLtd. Jil told me how the scene-setting details came from markets, auctions,skips, EBay -all upcycled and re-used! #SeeGrowth Campaign @the_rhs @camfed @jilaynerickards @rhs_chelseaflowershow @chelseaflowershow2019

A post shared by Garden Writer (@barbarasegall) on May 19, 2019 at 10:49pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Kampo no Niwa (Medicine Garden) designed and executed by Miki Sato & Kazuto Kashiwakura from Hokkaido, Japan, is a calm and joyful space filled with plants selected for their beneficial & health-giving properties … and they are attractive garden plants. Kampo is a traditional Japanese medicinal system. It aims to restore balance and harmony… and that is certainly what this garden gem does for me! Miki told me that as Hokkaido is so far north there is melting snow as late as June. She and Kaz have captured what she described as the “joyful sound” of the resulting fresh mineral streams that flow from the mountains down into the land below. The water in the garden travels through narrow channels and rills to reach a quiet pool where a Japanese water lily (Nuphar japonica) blooms. Along the way there are plantings of Shisho or perilla with its dark purple foliage, statuesque valerian (it is everywhere this Chelsea) and Japanese mint, which has a very high menthol content. This makes it a cinch for use as a mosquito repellent.. as well as culinary use. @the_rhs @miki.design.studio & www.kinokaen.com @jekkasherbs #chelseaflowershow2019 #theherbsocietyuk @theherbsocietyuk

A post shared by Garden Writer (@barbarasegall) on May 20, 2019 at 1:40am PDT

View this post on Instagram

Meeting up with @tainasuonio on her Kyrö Roots in Finland garden in the Space to Grow category @the_rhs #rhschelsea2019 was particularly satisfying. I met Taina a few months ago and had seen her garden develop over the months. I liked the meadows and countryside feel that she had created, enhanced by the weather-beaten wooden barn wall transformed into a boundary wall. Taina was supported by and supported so many Finnish companies including her headline sponsor Kyrö Distillery. For them and me her garden was a perfect distillation of the herbs and flowers that bring to mind a Finnish summer in a garden. And many of them were the Finnish forest flowers and herbs used to make the company’s award-winning Napue Gin. The ‘interior’ seating area showcased Marimekko products (as did Taina in her Press Day outfit) and signature Alvar Aalto furniture.The garden will live on at the Finnish Embassy. #kyrodistillery #rhschelsea2019 @marimekko.mekko

A post shared by Garden Writer (@barbarasegall) on May 26, 2019 at 1:08am PDT

View this post on Instagram

I know @the_rhs @chelseaflowershow2019 is well and truly over but I can’t leave without mentioning one of the most pleasing gardens that shone for me. @jothompsongarden I loved hearing how your Italian student days had influenced the built landscape of your garden. The arches and columns reminded me of sketches made by travellers on their Grand European tours. It was fascinating to learn that those arches and columns which seemed so substantial were wood stained to look like marble or metal. And then the planting with what you described as the slightly risky colour combination of the roses you chose for the front of the planting: Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’ and R. ‘Bonica’ in salmon/peach and pink. Verbascum ‘Helen Johnson’ seemed to be the key plant that linked them, with valerian and huge umbels on purple-stemmed angelica offering statuesque glamour. I could have spent some time sitting on the inviting apricot chairs enjoying a cup tea with you and @wedgwood.Thank you for taking time on Build-up Sunday to show me what inspired your plant choices on your award-winning garden #graciousgarden #thoughtfulgardener #wedgwood260

A post shared by Garden Writer (@barbarasegall) on May 26, 2019 at 3:47pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

And I can’t leave @the_rhs #rhschelseaflowershow2019 without mentioning @taylorsbulbs1919, serpent gourds grown by The Robinson’s of @mammothseeds; The Green Switch by Kazuyki Ishihara winning Gold in the Artisan Garden Category; Sarah Eberle’s Gold-winning garden, The Resilience Garden; the scramble to see Dame Judi Dench on The Stihl Hillier Garden receiving the first sapling of Ulmus ‘NewHorizon’, a new disease-resistant elm; Rosy & Rob Hardy of Hardy’s Plants & Fiona Marley of Whetman’s with the new Dianthus ‘Cherry Burst’ ; Suffolk designer Tom Hoblyn’s cool & calm pool on the Dubai Majlis Garden & Steve Edney’s collection of stunning seedheads from The Salutation Garden …so much to remember at Chelsea in 2019 #rhschelseaflowershow2019 @salutationsandwich @hardysplants

A post shared by Garden Writer (@barbarasegall) on May 26, 2019 at 4:37pm PDT