Chelsea 2006

With Jamie's comments ringing in my ears I headed off to SW1 and the show grounds.

Personally I love Chelsea, the only thing that I find slightly suspect is the plant combinations that have been achieved by forcing/holding back certain plants (tulips with fully flowering stipas for example), which you would never be able to recreate naturally.

I don't even mind the crowds too much - it's all part of the experience. There was a great comment made to the show organiser Stephen Bennett which made me laugh - "You know dear, if it wasn't so crowded they'd get more people here" - priceless!

I love the show gardens, my favourites this year were the gardens by Sarah Eberle, Tom Stuart- Smith, Cleve West and Flemings Nurseries.

Here are two small details from the Cleve West Saga Garden (I love the colour in the concrete 'spinning top' being matched with that of the dianthus? flower).

I also liked the width of the deck boards which perfectly matched the adjacent pavers, and the corten steel tanks/wall with the clipped Virburnums, in Tom Stuart-Smiths Daily Telegraph Garden (the planting was stunning too!)

Dickie