About Me

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SW London
A semi-mature, hardy individual who tries to get away with doing as little as possible in gardening as in life, still expects the best results & wonders why she is frequently disappointed! She likes to keep a photographic record of everything, good & frequently bad!

Tuesday 1 June 2010

The not so good, the bad & the downright ugly

 

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Now I do know that Chelsea is old hat, but I had started to write this, just didn’t finish in reasonable time. Despite that I now reveal the bits of Chelsea that were not my cup of tea, or indeed my glass of wine come to that! Dear reader, ignore this if you have had enough.

So, my first question is would you want to sit in your beautifully designed garden enjoying an early evening aperitif with the setting sun throwing its dyeing rays on ….. half a naked torso! I mean what for? And not only one but lots of body parts poking their way into your petunias, buttocks in your begonias & as for your tithonias…….

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I guess it may be for some, but not me.

So, to other things which definitely did not rock my boat. I guess the first are the crowds but you get used to them, practise the Chelsea Shuffle & employ PATIENCE!

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This lumpy path is supposed to represent difficulties at the beginning of ‘the journey’ in the Cancer Research UK Garden. I am not sure why everything has to be a journey these days but I for one would not be tempted to start it with the thought that i might twist my ankle on the way!

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I first saw this wall & pots in Andy Sturgeon’s Daily Telegraph garden from the side & at the time thought they just looked so solid & lumpy amongst all the planting & soaring steel. It looked completely different from the front view.

And this paving was just too fussy; I rather liked the curves that had been cut into it but not into such intricate inter-locking slabs.

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Chelsea Flower Show 2010 098 The very frothy planting in the M&G Garden was loved by many, it did become the People’s Favourite after all, but my initial reaction was too fussy & frothy so the structure was a bit lost amongst a mass of roses & I was not keen on the stone roses either!

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Another garden which I thought was overly busy too was Kazahana where the planting seemed to detract from the beautiful, almost sculptural moss.Chelsea Flower Show 2010 113

 Chelsea Flower Show 2010 297 The Light & Colours of the Alps garden did nothing for me.

Chelsea Flower Show 2010 286  I was enjoying the Pine & Conifer Enthusiast Garden & thinking that perhaps they could make attractive gardens until I saw these silly miniature trees at the back. Yuk!

Chelsea Flower Show 2010 137 Ace of Diamonds – more yuk!

Actually, I am really only being very picky about small things as I did love most of the gardens very much. It is just I have this very practical nature so whilst I adored the pillows of box beside the pool in the Laurent-Perrier Garden, I couldn’t help thinking that it would make a mess in the pool when they were being clipped. And sometimes the concept of the garden detracts from my enjoyment of it as a ‘proper’ garden.

Whatever my views are I really do admire the designers & everyone else involved in producing the gardens in the time they have.

That’s more than can be said for some of the things on sale at Chelsea which I assume  the sellers feel would enhance our outside spaces!!

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6 comments:

  1. I agree with a lot of these. The statues in Hoblyn's garden were hideous and I really disliked the M&G garden, I didn't even bother to take a picture of it. I felt the same about the Ace of Diamonds garden and that daft mirrored monstrosity! But oh well what one person hates, another person loves, I'm sure someone out there adores them...

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  2. Having just seen the angry comments over on VP's blog I think perhaps I should retract my right to express an opinion on show gardens and run for cover before an angry mob comes to throw stones at me. Eeeeek! They were all lovely, lovely gardens xxx

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  3. Don't worry, I don't have anyone reading this who might get all protective about us making any critical comment about their gardens.

    I really enjoyed the show this year, well I always do but this year more than most!

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  4. Noooooooo RO - free expression rules, say what you think!

    Glad to see we disagree on the stone roses ;)

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  5. Love your critique Ms B, I also disliked the mirrored alps with its clumps of dead moss perched on top! In fact, several of those tiny gardens disappointed me this year, whereas the show gardens really stood out for me. Fell in love with Matthiasella bupleuroides 'Green Dream' on the Thrive garden.

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  6. Oh dear. Do you not like those bottle openers? I bought you one for your birthday - now someone else will have to have it.

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