Inspiration

After being glued to the BBC coverage of the Cheslea Flower Show since Sunday I finally got to see everything in the flesh yesterday.  I always get there when the gates open so that I can take in the show gardens at my own pace without having to wait forever to have even the slightest chance of a front row seat and there was so much inspiration to wallow in yesterday that my early wake up call was a distant memory by the time I’d normally be making my mid-morning cup of coffee.

Some of the show gardens this year were simply stunning.  The Laurent Perrier garden designed by Luciano Giubbilei (below) was one of my favourites. Strong simple design, perfectly balanced.  The natural stone, timber and aggregate worked together perfectly and the whole garden was held together by the beautiful harmonious planting.   I knew a little bit about this garden before the run up to Chelsea because I am good friends with the joiner who made some of the timber elements in the garden – I was so looking forward to seeing it…and I wasn’t disappointed!

This year’s Best In show Garden was designed by Cleve West for The Daily Telegraph.  I’d seen it on TV and heard about it too, but it wasn’t until I saw it in the flesh that I really got why it was deemed to be the best garden of the show.  Everything about the garden just worked.  The design was strong and 3-dimensional with amazing attention to detail – it worked from every angle.  The planting too was brilliantly put together, the overall calm feel created by the way the structure and colour of the plants had been placed, and then there were little pockets of drama that somehow demanded attention without distracting you from the rest of the garden, like the Dianthus in this top right hand picture…

Sarah Eberle’s Monaco garden was also one of my favourite large show gardens.  Spatially it worked really well and I loved the fact that you couldn’t see the whole garden from the front, you had to walk round the side to get a real sense of how the space felt.  The contrast between the timber, stone and aqua blue of the swimming pool was fantastic and the planting was vibrant and perfectly pulled the whole garden together.  I was completely transported to another place.

I couldn’t possibly write everything that inspired me in one post – well I could, but it would be FAR too long….so I’ll be back tomorrow with a few more highlights.

(Photographs: Lisa Cox)

I spent a very lovely afternoon last week with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona at the Chelsea Physic Garden, a peaceful haven in that big City that we call London.  What a truly wonderful garden, full of history and interesting plants, not to mention the gorgeous cafe in which we not only indulged ourselves in a scrummy lunch, but also had to return for one of their magnificent cakes before we left! Read more

Yesterday I went through the same dilemma that I always have on the Sunday evening before the Chelsea Flower Show opens – do I watch the pre-show BBC programme to get a glimpse of what’s in store or do I keep my eyes closed until I arrive at the gate?  Well, last night I decided to watch and I have to say that it has got me very excited about what’s in store for my visit on Wednesday. Read more

Last week I was very honoured to be invited to a special garden event at Loseley Park after they had seen my blog post about the garden earlier in the month.  We were given a fabulous tour of the gardens by Head Gardener, Burney, who has developed them over the past 17 years.  We then finished the day with a scrummy lunch in the new restaurant and a tour of the house by owner, Michael More-Molyneux. Read more

Last weekend I went on a 13 mile circular walk with a friend of mine around Alton in Hampshire.  It was one of the best walks I have ever done, such variety in the landscape, amazing vibrant colours that only Springtime brings and gorgeous weather too.  The landscape varied from farmland with fabulous views to English woodland with anemones and bluebells – just gorgeous! Read more

Have any of you been watching Monty Don’s Italian Gardens?  I finally had the opportunity to watch the first one yesterday and it really got me thinking about how different the general approach to gardens is in our modern world. Read more

I love the garden at Loseley Park and we popped in there today after visiting the Grow Your Own Show that was being held in the grounds. You may remember me blogging about Loseley Park before, but I thought I’d share some pictures of how it looked today, which was so amazingly different to June last year! Read more

On Sunday I went to visit Chestnut Lodge in Cobham, Surrey, which was open under the National Garden Scheme (NGS).  The description in the Yellow Book sounded quite intriguing…a 5-acre garden surrounding a late Georgian house with formal areas near the house, specimen trees, wisteria and rare exotic plants as well as a naturalised pond and an aviary walk with a fine collection of tropical birds. Read more

Yesterday I went to visit Vann Garden near Godalming in Surrey which was open under the National Garden Scheme (NGS).  The house is just gorgeous, steeped in history and parts of it date back to the 16th Century. Read more

Last weekend I went to Norfolk for my cousin’s wedding and on Sunday we decided to visit Pensthorpe Nature Reserve where the BBC programme Springwatch is filmed.  The main focus at this time of year is the lakes and the water birds that reside there, but throughout the year it is possible to get close to all forms of wildlife that frequent the riverbanks, meadows, woodland, farmland and gardens as well. Read more