Showing posts with label chelsea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chelsea. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Grand Pavilion
I love the Grand Pavilion at Chelsea - its got everything from floral displays, exotic plants, orchids, fruit and veg displays - difficult to describe, so here's a few photographs.
Chelsea
Last week it was our annual visit to the horticultural event of the year - Chelsea Flower Show. Travel down on train afternoon before, with a good picnic lunch washed down by some nice wine. Quick hop across London to our hotel, where this year we were met by two of our friends who'd had their booking lost by the agency , we ended up with 6 of us in 2 rooms. The room with 4 in was quite cozy! Nice evening stroll through Pimlico down some lovely back streets where we saw evidence of WW2 shelters.
A couple of beers, a visit to the Ale and Pie House, and off to bed reasonabley early, for an early start - we made it to the main gates by about 0815.
That way we get to see the show gardens before the rush. One of my favourites was the M and G Windows Through Time garden which had luscious planting and a ruin that looked like it had been there hundreds of years, not 3 weeks.
Of course I have to mention the Blue Water Garden designed by our very own Professor Nigel Dunnett which was designed to be a sustainable city roof garden and won a well deserved gold medal.
A beautiful garden with a swathe of white cala lilies next to blue irises was the East Village garden - one of my favourites:
Its always interesting to see what flowers are popular, and this year the gardeners had huge problems getting things to bloom because the weather has been so bad. we saw lots of buds, especially of poppies and irises. One flower which had bloomed and was in many gardens was mecanopsis:
and quite surprisingly, cow parsley was there in abundance. Although perhaps not so surprising as you can guarantee it will be out at this time of year.
When we're looking at the gardens, it's nice to imagine what they would be like to have, and a must for me is somewhere to sit and eat, and this was the winning dining area for me:
As well as gardens, there's always a good display of floral arrangements, and this was one of the gold medal winners, quite complex but I quite liked it!
After a coffee and sit down we tend to start on the smaller gardens, of which there are several categories. This year there were Fresh ones, which illustrated more innovative gardening ideas. I liked the Jackson Pollack inspired one which was plated with splashes of colour
and one on a raised platform on a mirror which made it look as though the garden went right underneath.
Chris Beardhsaw's Arthritis research garden was stunning, and we were lucky to catch him in it.
There's always a bit of celebrity spotting goes on!
After a lunch stop, which was wine and fish and chips, there were Artisan gardens to see - more small gardens in a woodland setting. Highlights were a Japansese garden which won best in show for small gardens:
A Hebridean weaver's garden:
A garden call One Stone which had been made from one large stone from a quarry and had some great dry stone walling
And of course, A Yorkshire Garden, representing the start of the Tour de France in Yorkshire next year.
I'm really pleased that it won the People's Award - must have been lots of visitors from Yorkshire voting for it! Nestling in the corner of the garden was the rarest plant in the UK, the slipper orchid. We did wonder how long we'd last if we whipped out a trowel and a bag....
My favourite garden of them all was the one that won Best in Show - the Australian Billabong. Difficult to get good photos of it, but it was fantastic.
So, we had a jug of Pimms, a snip at £22.50, looked round the hundreds of trade stands at things we couldn't afford, and saw the gnomes which has been let into the show for the first time :-)
It was colder than normal, and not quite as colourful because so many flowers were still in bud, but it was still a great day out. Finished off as usual by a meal at St Pancras and a quiet train journey home!
The only thing I haven't mentioned is the Great Pavilion, but that will have to be another post. This one's too long already.
A couple of beers, a visit to the Ale and Pie House, and off to bed reasonabley early, for an early start - we made it to the main gates by about 0815.
That way we get to see the show gardens before the rush. One of my favourites was the M and G Windows Through Time garden which had luscious planting and a ruin that looked like it had been there hundreds of years, not 3 weeks.
Of course I have to mention the Blue Water Garden designed by our very own Professor Nigel Dunnett which was designed to be a sustainable city roof garden and won a well deserved gold medal.
A beautiful garden with a swathe of white cala lilies next to blue irises was the East Village garden - one of my favourites:
Its always interesting to see what flowers are popular, and this year the gardeners had huge problems getting things to bloom because the weather has been so bad. we saw lots of buds, especially of poppies and irises. One flower which had bloomed and was in many gardens was mecanopsis:
and quite surprisingly, cow parsley was there in abundance. Although perhaps not so surprising as you can guarantee it will be out at this time of year.
When we're looking at the gardens, it's nice to imagine what they would be like to have, and a must for me is somewhere to sit and eat, and this was the winning dining area for me:
As well as gardens, there's always a good display of floral arrangements, and this was one of the gold medal winners, quite complex but I quite liked it!
After a coffee and sit down we tend to start on the smaller gardens, of which there are several categories. This year there were Fresh ones, which illustrated more innovative gardening ideas. I liked the Jackson Pollack inspired one which was plated with splashes of colour
and one on a raised platform on a mirror which made it look as though the garden went right underneath.
Chris Beardhsaw's Arthritis research garden was stunning, and we were lucky to catch him in it.
There's always a bit of celebrity spotting goes on!
After a lunch stop, which was wine and fish and chips, there were Artisan gardens to see - more small gardens in a woodland setting. Highlights were a Japansese garden which won best in show for small gardens:
A Hebridean weaver's garden:
A garden call One Stone which had been made from one large stone from a quarry and had some great dry stone walling
And of course, A Yorkshire Garden, representing the start of the Tour de France in Yorkshire next year.
I'm really pleased that it won the People's Award - must have been lots of visitors from Yorkshire voting for it! Nestling in the corner of the garden was the rarest plant in the UK, the slipper orchid. We did wonder how long we'd last if we whipped out a trowel and a bag....
My favourite garden of them all was the one that won Best in Show - the Australian Billabong. Difficult to get good photos of it, but it was fantastic.
So, we had a jug of Pimms, a snip at £22.50, looked round the hundreds of trade stands at things we couldn't afford, and saw the gnomes which has been let into the show for the first time :-)It was colder than normal, and not quite as colourful because so many flowers were still in bud, but it was still a great day out. Finished off as usual by a meal at St Pancras and a quiet train journey home!
The only thing I haven't mentioned is the Great Pavilion, but that will have to be another post. This one's too long already.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Chelsea Flower Show, the rest of the day
After lunch it was time to do the Grand Pavilion. One of the highlights of Chelsea, it's enormous. It took us over an hour just to walk round the perimeter of it. It's a mixture of displays from horticulturalists, specialist growers, and displays from different societies. I love it and never tire of walking round.
As always, the NFU had an amazing display of fruit, flowers and vegetables
Interflora had sponsored a display, you couldn't call it a flower arrangement, called In Perspective. It was very, very good, but I'm not sure any photo is going to do it justice. It was made up of 7 rectangles, each one decorated with flowers of a different colour, and slightly offset, so you got an interesting view when you looked down them. Difficult to describe, but stunning.
Growers of all sorts of plants have displays, and everything is all out at the same time, and all in the best condition. Daffodils, tulips, gladioli, sweet peas, cacti, passion flowers, insectivorous plants, aquilegas - all there. You can't buy plants from Chelsea, but most growers will sell you seeds, or give you a catalogue.
One of the most amazing exhibits from from Thailand. It was enormous, extremely colourful, and everything on it made from flowers. Again, I doubt that this couple of photos will do it justice, but here goes
There were lots more highlights of the pavilion, including the young florist of the year competition where the theme was a jockeys colours, and this was the winner
There were also displays of water plants, tropical plants and strawberries, the best smelling stand in the place!
Then it was off to Ranleigh Gardens, a grassy, wooded area where picnics are had, and the Artisan Gardens are. One of my favourites was the Yorkshire garden, complete with iPad like frame
And one based on a Korean outside toilet!
After several hours, we were ready for another sit down, and a jug of Pimms on the grass was called for
We sat outside the champagne tent, and watched people coming out with bottles of champagne at 65 quid a time, we even saw one guy carrying two magnums, at 125 a go.
One last look round, and it was time to catch the shuttle bus back to Victoria, and the tube to St Pancreas. As usual we had a meal in the Betjeman Arms, then back home.
It was a great day, and one of the best Chelsea's I've been to. Of course, it helped that the sun shone, but the gardens were particularly good. Definite themes this year were sustainability, green walls, green roofs and insect houses were everywhere.
When I got back I discovered I'd taken 249 photos. Too many to post here, but if you want to see more, they're here. Not had time to edit or sort them, they're just as I took them. Will get round to labelling them soon!
As always, the NFU had an amazing display of fruit, flowers and vegetables
Interflora had sponsored a display, you couldn't call it a flower arrangement, called In Perspective. It was very, very good, but I'm not sure any photo is going to do it justice. It was made up of 7 rectangles, each one decorated with flowers of a different colour, and slightly offset, so you got an interesting view when you looked down them. Difficult to describe, but stunning.
Growers of all sorts of plants have displays, and everything is all out at the same time, and all in the best condition. Daffodils, tulips, gladioli, sweet peas, cacti, passion flowers, insectivorous plants, aquilegas - all there. You can't buy plants from Chelsea, but most growers will sell you seeds, or give you a catalogue.
One of the most amazing exhibits from from Thailand. It was enormous, extremely colourful, and everything on it made from flowers. Again, I doubt that this couple of photos will do it justice, but here goes
There were lots more highlights of the pavilion, including the young florist of the year competition where the theme was a jockeys colours, and this was the winner
There were also displays of water plants, tropical plants and strawberries, the best smelling stand in the place!
Then it was off to Ranleigh Gardens, a grassy, wooded area where picnics are had, and the Artisan Gardens are. One of my favourites was the Yorkshire garden, complete with iPad like frame
And one based on a Korean outside toilet!
After several hours, we were ready for another sit down, and a jug of Pimms on the grass was called for
We sat outside the champagne tent, and watched people coming out with bottles of champagne at 65 quid a time, we even saw one guy carrying two magnums, at 125 a go.
One last look round, and it was time to catch the shuttle bus back to Victoria, and the tube to St Pancreas. As usual we had a meal in the Betjeman Arms, then back home.
It was a great day, and one of the best Chelsea's I've been to. Of course, it helped that the sun shone, but the gardens were particularly good. Definite themes this year were sustainability, green walls, green roofs and insect houses were everywhere.
When I got back I discovered I'd taken 249 photos. Too many to post here, but if you want to see more, they're here. Not had time to edit or sort them, they're just as I took them. Will get round to labelling them soon!
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