Katharine C: Chelsea Flower Show 2016

What to look forward to at the Chelsea Flower Show 2016

22 January 2016 • 7:00am

The RHS announced its plans for Chelsea 2016 last Wednesday at the city headquarters of show sponsor M&G. On hand were RHS ambassadors Alan Titchmarsh and Mary Berry, a double whammy of TV demigods that underlines the popularity of this week-long horticultural extravaganza. The show opens to RHS members on May 24; Berry will be launching a rose named after her by Harkness.
The tally of show gardens stands at a healthy 16, three more than in 2015. A handful of heavyweight designers is joined by a flock of ambitious up-and-comers.

 

 

The RHS hopes to breathe some excitement and urgency into its Greening Grey Britain campaign with a garden designed by Ann-Marie Powell. The plot (not part of the Show Garden competition) will provide inspiration for city gardeners who’d like to green up their street.
In the absence of any wellie-clad young royals the headlines in 2016 will no doubt be grabbed by Diarmuid Gavin, still the Damien Hirst of garden design. Harrods – a sponsor made in heaven – is backing his Eccentric British Garden inspired by the national gift for zaniness, in particular cartoonist Heath Robinson. Apparently we can expect a show on the garden every 15 minutes: “Box balls set amid the floral drifts bob up and down… Conical bay trees begin to twirl… small troughs rise from the ground by means of scissor lifts to dress the first floor windows.”
Talk about stealing the spotlight.

The Modern Slavery garden

Serious horticulturists may slink quickly past the twirling topiary to seek out two distinguished plantspeople each trying their hand at a show garden for the first time. Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants has won 20 gold medals in the Great Pavilion for her sublime plant displays in the tradition of great British plantwomen such as Carol Klein and Beth Chatto. Rosy’s first show garden, Forever Freefolk for Brewin Dolphin, highlights chalk streams, in particular the River Test which flows through Freefolk, Hampshire.
Also flying the flag for plant-centric gardens is Nick Bailey, curator at the Chelsea Physic Garden, whose plot for Winton Capital is themed around the Beauty of Mathematics.
The Show Garden field as a whole then divides fairly evenly into designers you’ve heard of and those you haven’t: among the veterans is Cleve West (for M&G), with a sliver of ancient oak forest remembered from childhood holidays on Exmoor; a fellow previous Best Show Garden winner Andy Sturgeon is back for the Telegraph. He also dips into childhood memory (a trip to the Natural History Museum) with an adventurous Jurassic “captured landscape”.

 

Papworth Trust garden

 

Hot on their heels are designers to watch: James Basson is back with a celebratory garden for L’Occitane (it’s their 40th anniversary). Basson won hearts last year with his beautiful rendition of a countrified Provencal plot – expectations will be high. Hugo Bugg for Royal Bank of Canada, a young gold medal winner, is still building a reputation so will want to prove his credentials on the theme of sacred water. Jo Thompson (one of several women designers, an improvement on 2015), has designed a highly polished communal city garden for Qatari Diar, developer of the Chelsea Barracks.
Last among the veteran designers is Chris Beardshaw who presents the Morgan Stanley garden for Great Ormond Street Hospital, to be rebuilt at the hospital after the Show.
The remaining show gardens are typically backed by new sponsors partnered with lesser known, but up-for-it designers. Glasshouse specialists Hartley Botanic have wowed Chelsea-goers for many years with their stylish commercial stands. Their first show garden is designed by Catherine MacDonald, a gold medallist at Hampton Court. Its central feature is a glasshouse (surprise), attached to a walled garden that acts as a folly and retreat.

 

The Harrods show garden

 

The unofficial award for youngest designer meets unknown quantity could be divided between Sam Ovens, for Cloudy Bay, and Hay Hwang for LG Smart Garden. The first sponsor has won Chelsea gold before and has form backing young talent. Hay boosts the number of women first-time designers – we can expect elegant, modernist Zen.
Welcome to Yorkshire, a sponsor familiar from the Artisan category, has found the ambition this year (and the cash) to support a show garden by designer Matthew Wilson. Oz TV gardener Charlie Albone won silver gilt last year – he is back with sponsors Gardena-Husqvarna. Paul Martin for Vestra Wealth has a wealth of experience as an Irish show gardener, but is a dark horse at Chelsea. Finally, a Japanese team, Chihori Shibiyama and Yano Tea for Watahan, promise a mix of East and West – new faces for a familiar concept.