2019 Chelsea Flower Show VIP Day

Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
26^th May 2019

VIP and Press Day

The miner’s had their fortnight at the end of August and I have my day in May, my Chelsea Flower Day, where I am lucky enough to go to the Show on VIP and Press Day and interview the green-fingered (and some just ‘green’) celebrities.

I love it and you are never sure who you are going to meet – and who will speak to you.  I have had the ‘Great British Brush Off’ from Mary Berry for the last three years and then this year she agreed to a quick interview.  She was quite charming – and quite small.

Nick Knowles, on the other hand, is a mountain of a man with a massive personality and voice to match.  I told him that I preferred the naturalistic style of the gardens this year, especially the Duchess of Cambridge’s garden, as that is the environment I grew up in.  He guffawed and boomed, “Feral then and feral now, eh Miss Allbutt’.

I have met a few people year after year, and now Piers Morgan, Bill Bailey, Rob Brydon, and Joanna Lumley all recognise me and say ‘Hello’ first.  I never thought that one day, Bill Bailey would call my name across Main Avenue and ask how I was.

Brendon Cole was a new ‘victim’ this year, and I politely questioned the amount of work he did in his own garden.  He equally as politely put me straight by showing me his hands and telling me that he used to be a builder and was used to hard work.

There were eleven Show gardens in the Main Avenue this year, still fewer than in previous years and apparently due to the whole Brexit nightmare and investors being wary of spending between £250,000 and  £1.5 million on a Show garden. No new designers or new sponsors this year meant that the standard was incredibly high and it was predicted that 50% of gardens would easily achieve a Gold medal.

I have been to Chelsea for the last eight years and never cease to be staggered by the amount of work, and the logistics of the construction process.  All those machines and contractors working so closely together in such a small space together, with the logistics of getting materials to site, the fragility of the plants, and the volatility of the weather all adding to the pressure; it is hard to comprehend.  Just think if these people were running the country, they would have sorted Brexit out over a weekend and probably whilst laying a patio. By the time it is open to the public, the Showground is absolutely spotless, with no evidence of the tonnes and tonnes of mucky materials that have been manoeuvred over the past 18 days  – there is more mud and leaves on my kitchen floor.

After reading the RHS spec about the Facebook garden and the IKEA one, I had decided not to like either, as they didn’t really fit in with my perception of Chelsea Flower Show sponsors.  Guess what … yup, they were my favourites.  The Facebook garden was designed to promote the positive sides of social media – interaction and opportunities – and whilst I’m not sure that it hit that brief, just like Facebook itself it drew me in despite my better judgement!  The IKEA garden was the most interesting garden I have ever seen; a futuristic portrayal of how we could be growing food hydroponically in urban environments.  It was so clever and yet unnerving to think it might be a reality, due to necessity.

I loved the Donkey Sanctuary Garden, and the attention to detail – it actually smelled like walking past a stables! And I also loved the High Maintenance for Motor Neurone Disease Garden, which showed how a once manicured garden would look if it’s guardian could no longer physically look after it. It reminded me of so many of the gardens that I have seen, and still see – mountain ash growing through tin sheds, foxgloves growing through old machinery and self seeded buddleias and other enthusiastic plants taking centre stage as nature wins the day.  The apt message next to it read, “But make no mistake: the weeds will win; nature bats last.” It definitely had a certain charm and was a good reminder that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Yorkshire Garden, or Lock Garden as everyone called it, was simply stunning.  John Bishop laughed as he told me that it was his first visit to Chelsea Flower Show, having come for inspiration, and he wondered how many people would be inspired to build a full sized lock in their garden – or introduce a grain silo as in the Resilience Garden.

After designing and creating The Really Fit Garden at the RHS Show in Cardiff over 10 years ago, I was impressed to see fitness creeping into Chelsea in the guise of the rather trendy Peloton exercise equipment.  I must have been ahead of my time. The high tech equipment, which includes a bike, rowing machine and treadmill and which streams fitness classes to an integrated screen, was very cleverly housed in a traditional garden setting but in a bespoke covered area with a removable roof and sides, which would allow for exercising in every type of Welsh weather!

It’s on my Wish List, as is another visit to Chelsea Flower Show next year.  You can hear all the interviews from Chelsea at  www.lynneallbutt.co.uk/chelsea-flower-show-2019