Perhaps in reaction to this perceived homogeny of design, the main show
gardens at this year’s Chelsea exhibit far more stylistic diversity than
usual. For the most part, the planting is still following the recipe
outlined above, but the themes of the gardens are more wide-ranging.
Take Cleve West himself. No one would have guessed that he was going to branch
out into the world of topiary, but that is what he has done with his
predominantly green-and-white garden for Brewin Dolphin (MA15), replete with
sculpted 8ft-high yew sentinels. The garden cunningly reprises West’s
winning formula from last year – remember those classical columns? – in that
it features stonkingly bold forms (including an old French ironwork gate and
drystone gate piers halfway down the space) juxtaposed with natural
plantings. But the feel will be more dewy Gloucestershire than sun-baked
Libya this time.
Topiary is also an important element in Arne Maynard’s garden for
Laurent-Perrier (MA19), which includes a copper-beech stilt hedge all the
way down one side of the long rectangular space, a gnarled pear tree and
variously shaped box topiaries dotted among a deep sea of perennial
planting. An interesting idea is the introduction of domes of hazel branches
to support climbing roses within the informal plantings. As ever with
Chelsea, when it comes to medals it’s all about the planting – and the
designer has cannily given himself plenty of scope.
Andy Sturgeon recently “outed” himself as a traditionalist after years of
working as a modernist designer – referring to his belated appreciation of
the impact of Arts and Crafts gardens such as Hidcote on his style. His
garden for M G Investments (MA18) still looks basically modernist but
honours the “garden of rooms” tradition by the use of three textured Purbeck
stone walls and a long rectangular pool, together with fairly traditional
perennial planting featuring lots of umbellifers (cow parsley again).
It’s as if the English garden of the 2010s is finally relaxing into itself a
little more, coming to terms with its herbaceous past, after a decade or
more of frantically chasing after planting trends imported from the
Netherlands and Germany.
Join the plant community
The buzz term in garden design right now is “plant community” – as in the work
being produced by the Sheffield school of designers, who are creating the
Olympic Park. Sarah Price is working with them, and something of that look
will be transposed to Chelsea in her garden for the Telegraph (MA20). It’s
already clichéd to describe Price’s planting style as delicate, but it’s
also accurate in its way – this designer is not afraid to use “less is more”
or “smaller is beautiful” as guiding principles. Her garden is based on the
idea of a marshy wild-flower meadow – a “plant community” – with
wild-looking multi-stemmed birches at the edges. A pair of copper-edged
pools and a distressed limestone pavement add atmosphere and imply a human
dimension.
Nigel Dunnett is a Sheffield designer with strong eco-interests (again, not
too much of that in evidence this year). His garden for the Royal Bank of
Canada (MA21) is set in the Puglia region of Italy – lots of martagon
lilies, thalictrum and Iris latifolia – and has a water-conservation
dimension courtesy of the swales for rainwater (also a feature in the
Olympic Park).
The plant community evoked by Adam Frost in his richly planted (over-rich?)
garden for Lands’ End UK (MA3) is the Fenlands, with plenty of tough and
familiar perennials on display.
Chris Beardshaw has chosen a challenging plant community to honour – the
woodland rhododendron glade – in his design for Furzey Gardens (RGB9).
Rhododendrons and other ericaceous plants are certainly not in fashion at
the moment, so this may provide a refreshing counterpoint. To the
hardy-perennials brigade, however, it may be a complete turn-off.
So modern
The clean-lined modernist look also has a good showing at Chelsea, though in
these straitened times the conspicuous consumption it embodies has led to a
certain fuzziness creeping in at the edges. Accordingly, Joe Swift is
offering a kind of rustic modernist aesthetic in the Homebase Teenage Cancer
Trust Garden (MA16), with four massive cedarwood arches and numerous
multi-stemmed Cornus mas trees throughout the “urban” space. His plant
selection, including euphorbias and orange geums, is jolly and bright.
Patricia Fox is making a “rooftop workplace of tomorrow” for RBS and Walworth
Garden Farm (RHW37) with a glass-walled, green-roofed office and an outdoor
work station. The green wall is old hat, but the idea of it growing tea
leaves (Camellia sinensis) is certainly novel. This genre is still dubbed
“futuristic”, but of course the modernist aesthetic is almost a century old
now.
The boys from Australia are back with a Sydney-themed garden as this year’s
welcome offering from Trailfinders/Fleming’s Nurseries (RHW33). It’s a
modernist outdoor living space, as one would expect, with a hot tub and
firepit. This time the patriotic Australasians are allowing subtropical and
European plants to rub shoulders with native species such as tree ferns.
Cottages and beyond
The sole cottage-garden entrant this year, and therefore surely a shoo-in for
the “people’s choice” award, is Jo Thompson’s garden for the Caravan Club
(MA6). Taking pride of place is, you guessed it, a caravan – a tiny weeny
one, called Doris, apparently. No toilet tent in sight, but a romantic
tangle of rambling roses, verbascums, salvias and signature plant
Mathiasella bupleuroides ‘Green Dream’. Tall birches (not the now-clichéd
silver variety) and vertical timber posts create a sense of structure around
said Doris.
Chelsea show gardens are all about fantasy, in the end, and several whisk us
off to foreign climes. Tom Hoblyn’s elegant garden for Arthritis Research UK
(MA17) is inspired by Italian Renaissance gardens, and features tall
cypresses, an old cork oak and a trio of water features: a cascade, a pool
and a fountain.
L’Occitane Immortelle garden by Peter Dowle (RGB10) transports us to the
middle of the Corsican maquis (a rather uncomfortable place, I recall) with
what is described as a “small lagoon”, while the World Vision garden from
Flemons Warland Design (MA10) takes a rippling circular pool as its theme,
surrounded by tree ferns.
Perhaps the most intriguing garden of all at Chelsea this year – if the least
likely to be replicated – is the DMZ Forbidden Garden (TR3, sponsored by
Muum, Korean Air, The Dowager Viscountess Rothermere and Gardenlink).
Surrounded by barbed wire and featuring old trenches, a watchtower and other
military detritus, it evokes the demilitarised zone between North and South
Korea, an untouched buffer zone that is celebrated by botanists for its
plant life.
Finally, there is the offering from Diarmuid Gavin for Westland Horticulture
(RGB12), a great pyramid of seven terraces with stairs and a lift to the top
and a steel slide to come down on. Yes, it’s gimmicky, but it’s also great
fun. What’s more Gavin demonstrated last year that he is more than capable
of putting plants together to create an atmosphere. So while no one is
likely to try to reproduce his zany contrivances, the ferns, hostas and box
in the shady garden he has created at ground level – well, they’re just a
few clicks away on the computer.
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