The Key by Paul Stone of the Eden Project at Chelsea Flower Show, echoes the life journeys that people make and aims to be completely sustainable
For several months in the run-up to Chelsea Flower Show 2009 the chatter has reflected the fact that this year there is a reduced number of full-scale show gardens on Main Avenue - just 13 as opposed to last year's 21, with several dropouts along the way. Of course it is all a reflection of… well, you know what.
But the reaction to this news has been, perhaps surprisingly, a collective sigh of relief among designers, journalists and regular show visitors. Gardeners are a sensible lot, and a consensus has emerged that it is no bad thing to have fewer show gardens this year, with generally smaller budgets. The contents of the Great Pavilion are now more likely to get a look in, while the designers might be forced back on their creative uppers.
It's not back to basics, exactly, but the prevailing tone of design this year is a reflection of a gentler, more holistic and ecologically nuanced approach. There is a sense of 'this has got to be good for us' austerity in the air, with an atmosphere in the gardens of privacy and well-being as opposed to horticultural grandstanding, with many of the designs relying on clean, clear lines and simple shapes, seen for instance in The Daily Telegraph Garden (below). From a design point of view this can only be a good thing, for even top designers regularly fall into the trap at Chelsea of trying to squeeze too many elements into their allotted plots. And perhaps sponsors, too, have realised that it might not be a good idea to be seen to be bankrolling a lavishly over-the-top fantasy in the current economic climate. All these factors add up to this year's Chelsea buzzword: simplicity.
The mood is perhaps best expressed in Nigel Dunnett's garden for Ark Design Management (MA13), an urban rain garden designed to conserve and use rainwater. At least that is the eco premise (or promise). In reality, what will be notable about this space is the fact that, with its wildflower meadow aesthetic, it reflects the current cutting edge of horticulture, the 'Sheffield School' of planting, of which Dr Dunnett is a leading light. This is the most naturalistic style of planting around, with landscape areas designed to look and behave as they might do in the wild. One interesting aspect is that the plant palette is not confined to British natives (that would be far too restrictive, they say) - and the Chelsea garden reflects that emphasis, with geums, erodiums and dianthus in the mix. The one thing all the plants have in common is that they do not need extra watering.
Chelsea stalwarts Leeds City Council (MA21), sponsored by HESCO Bastion, are also offering a rain garden this year, but in this instance in a rural setting, with a stone cottage surrounded by a more conventional planting of primulas, hostas, irises, aquilegias and geraniums in soft pastel colours.
Also walking on the wild side is Thomas Hoblyn (sponsor: Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust) with his stylised interpretation of the boglands of North Carolina (MA4). A wide boardwalk cuts through swampy plants, including Venus fly traps and pitcher plants, alongside native British rushes, and a waveform sculpture emerges from a stylised pool. The artist's impression of the garden resembles a dreamlike Marc Chagall painting and it would be admirable if something of that surreal quality survives on the ground.
Elsewhere the eco-aesthetic is integrated into some slightly more formal or modernistic designs, such as Ulf Nordfjell's Scandinavian-inflected garden for The Daily Telegraph (MA17), and Robert Myers' swirly-patterned design for Cancer Research (MA19). The latter features sinuous raised beds which are filled with painterly drifts of Liriope muscari and the black ophiopogon grass, offset by ferns and cloud-pruned Japanese holly.
Several designers this year have opted to include a canopy planting of a medium-sized tree or large shrub, perhaps in homage to Tom Stuart Smith's clever use of Viburnum rhytidophyllum at Chelsea 2006, one of the most innovative planting ideas of recent years. For Robert Myers it is multi-stemmed Rhus typhina 'Dissecta' while Adam Frost has opted for simple field maples (Acer campestre) to shade his decorative natural garden for QVC (MA11).
Even designers known for a particular style have given their work an eco spin this year. Luciano Giubbilei has built a reputation for uber-chic metropolitan style, and the clean lines of his design for Laurent-Perrier (MA18), featuring three oblong blocks of clipped hornbeams, is just what his fans will have been waiting for. But he is also making the right eco noises with simple block plantings of grasses (Calamagrostis), Iris germanica 'Deep Black' and peonies. The flower planting may prove just a little too austere for Chelsea's judges, however.
Conceptualism is one of the most exciting new forms of garden design out there, and for the first time at Chelsea it makes a good showing in the main show garden arena. Tony Smith has garnered a strong reputation for his emotionally powerful gardens at Hampton Court's new(ish) conceptual section, and for Quilted Velvet (RHW31) he has created a garden which explores the concept of touch, with spiky cordylines and yuccas contrasting with a cushioned area with four sculptural cypresses. 'The Key', Paul Stone's garden for the Eden Project (MA20) and a phalanx of government-funded agencies dealing with homelessness, is a conceptual journey along a winding path through a jungle-like setting. And the 'Perfume Garden' (TR3) designed by Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins is a possibly over-ambitious evocation of Elizabeth I's chosen scent by means of a large stainless steel sculpture, clipped conifers and, in dramatic radiating beds, a wide range of scented plants.
Finally there are the wild-card gardens, which should not be discounted because they sometimes win outright (as the Martian Garden did in 2007). Exotic notes are provided by a Japanese-English fusion garden from designer Kay Yamada (RHW47), plus a volcanic garden from the Canary Islands Tourist Board which has the potential to be quite wonderful (RHW50).
Marshalls, meanwhile, signs off from its three-year sponsorship of the show with a garden which unashamedly showcases its products: a 'Living Street' of front gardens surrounded by a great deal of permable paving (MA15).
No doubt the RHS felt their sponsors deserved this advertisement, but this approach has until now been confined to Hampton Court and the other shows. It is a cuckoo in the nest in a year which could be either refreshingly low-key or else slightly underwhelming. Let's hope it's the former!
The best of the Chelsea show flower 2009{
Gaura ‘Rosyjane'
