Chelsea Flower Show Review 2010

Traditionally the end of May heralds the commencement of the gardening show calendar with the Chelsea Flower show.

Whilst it was not quite as glitzy as it used to be, the 2010 show was a feeling of optimism all around and even the RHS judges awarded 8 gold medals for garden design compared to just 3 in 2009. The show was as popular as ever with touts selling tickets for up to £1000 a ticket.

The 15 main show gardens were all fantastic in their own unique ways and it is inconceivable as to how much work the designers and their assistants put in to make the Chelsea Flower show as special as it was. Many of the exhibitors spend much of the working year in preparation for the show with many suppliers using the show as an opportunity to launch new strains and hybrids of plants, seed and bulbs.

The 26 themes this year ranged from biodiversity to contemporary, to cottage style to more traditional (and not forgetting 'urban').

This year, the Tourist Malaysia garden design drew much attention and was not surprisingly full of large lush exotic planting and it had a 'living' wall. There was plenty of structure and water which seems to be a major theme in garden design at the show this year.

The M&G garden was a beautiful romantic English garden, with reclaimed brick paths, pergolas and rambling roses tumbling everywhere. It even had an old animal trough as an added water trough to the pond.

The Daily Telegraph garden design also won an award. This garden was really visual and seemed to have more flowers than some of the other contenders along with unusual steel columns in between. A mixture of cottage and contemporary.

The Eden Project garden design was probably one of the most talked about and most highly anticipated. The Project had put together a greenhouse out of masses of plastic bottles, totally sticking to their strict 'green' garden design ethics. There were many homeless people who were involved with the building of this garden and there was a great sense of camaraderie between them all allegedly.

The one thing that did seem quite surprising considering the historical prominence of lady horticulturists and their influence on gardening in Britain was that so few women designers exhibited at Chelsea Flower Show in 2010. Out of the main 15 show gardens, only one of them had been solely designed by a woman, while one other was a male/female partnership. This coincides with the all of the hard landscaping and popular use of structures in Garden Design so maybe this is seen as a male realm?

As well as all these stunning gardens and of course the smaller ones too, the marquees and the Grand Pavilion were as popular and as interesting as previous years, filled to the rafters with everything imaginable ranging from cut flowers to vegetables (even giant vegetables!) to conservatory tender plants to palm trees. The marquees were cool and the smell was wonderful, even if the weather outside wasn't quite so Spring like.

The amazing flowers and plants lifted one's soul and filled you with a sense of wonder at their beauty. There is so much to see at the Chelsea Flower show that it is not surprising that the opening times are from eight in the morning until eight in the evening and that people leaving look happy but very, very tired...

On the final day there is the great plant sale, almost a tradition now in the UK Horticulture calendar. People in the know head straight to the Great Pavilion, (which this year was also a haven from the unrelenting rain) and start their negotiations early with the exhibitors. The plants officially go on sale when the bell rings at 4pm but the majority of the stall owners tend to let people reserve their plants and pay for them in advance, so it's always a good idea, if you have come across something you really want, to go and secure it.

However if you are less sure about what plants you really want, you may be better off to wait until the end of sale as most exhibitors are keen to sell their products rather than have to take them home with them, especially after a week of hot weather, which will have taken its toll on a few of the weaker-stemmed flowers such as the beautiful yet slightly depleted tulips.

Each year during the Chelsea Flower show, there seems to be plants that are more fashionable than others and sell more. This year it was the Mexican Feather grasses, common Myrtle, Salvias, Sea Hollies and the Alpine mint bushes which were amongst the more popular.

The Chelsea Flower show is one of those places that every home garden designer should visit at least once, but remember to buy your tickets well in advance, wear comfortable shoes and be prepared to take it easy the next day!