Friday 27 May 2011

Chelsea Images














M & G Garden - designed by Bunny Guinness - Silver Gilt Medal


Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen in the M & G Garden waiting for the film crew















M & G Garden








 Still the M & G garden



M & G Garden




























All the above the M & G garden




Principality of Monaco Garden - Gold medal Winner












All above A Monaco Garden


Jekka McVicar plants











Royal Bank of Scotland New Wild Garden


B & Q Garden













Chelsea Flower Show 2011

On wednesday, popped up to London to the Chelsea Flower Show with good friend Jane, who is an RHS member and very kindly got the tickets.

Camera batteries ran out within first 10 minutes, and replacement batteries were not properly charged so only gave me another 5 minutes - how disappointing (and disorganised - yet I thought i'd got it covered!! ) is that!

So was unable to get photos of most of the gardens except a few, or of any of the incredibly beautiful flowers in the large covered halls.

In retrospect, this was no bad thing from my point of view as it meant I could concentrate on what I was seeing rather than just doing a David Bailey, but sadly from a blog sharing point of view it stinks - as did the bark they had everywhere on the ground between the undercover stalls! 

It made Jane feel quite nauseuous, and was a rather unpleasant underlying smell to the beautiful David Austin roses, and the wonderful Peter Beales roses.

NB: have deliberately left some of the photos overly large and spilling out so as to enjoy the larger pictures




Highlights for us:
The above mentioned roses! Magnificent - every rose more beautiful than the last

The large purple Alliums! Every shape and size appeared in most every garden!

All of the wonderful gardens - the plantings were fantastic this year, very soft and cottage gardenish!

The beautiful soft pinks and mauves of the plants in the Laurent-Perrier garden designed by Luciano Giubbilei - what a hunk! Also a Gold Medal Winner and one of my favourite gardens here this year

The M & G garden with beautifully arranged  fruit and vegetables (and lurking celebrity!) - another favourite of mine, it was so magical with the dappled shade and sunlight - many of the photos above are from this garden.

The wonderful little Artisan Gardens - they were all fantastic, especially the "A Postcard from Wales" ( Laugharne is my very favourite place in Wales and I especially enjoyed the BBC coverage of the making of this garden with the designers)

The Gold Winner of the Artisan gardens was the Hae-woo-so  (emptying ones mind) Garden.
"Hae-woo-so - is the Korean word for the traditional Korean toilet. The inspiration behind the garden is that for centuries the Korean people believed that going to the toilet was a cathartic experience and considered it to be highly spiritual." Quote from the RHS website! Go see the pictures here, its a lovely peaceful little garden with a little wooden loo!

Seeing Diarmuid Gavin sitting in his Irish Sky garden with a child (presumably his?) on his lap, and watching the "eye pod" being raised and lowered

The atmosphere at lunch time with the Jazz band dressed up in top and tails singing jazz numbers, including the Charleston, very Jeeves and Woosterish, whilst we picknicked on the grass with the multitudes!

Go and visit the RHS website for details of the Chelsea Flower Show , for 360 degree tours of all of the show gardens together with a wealth of information!

NB: If you read this before 4pm GMT Friday 27th May, you can vote online for the People's Choice Award by going to the RHS website



M & G Garden


What's your favourite garden (s) from what you've seen on TV , on the RHS website, or at the Show??

(My fav Show Garden - the M & G kitchen garden
My fav Artisan Garden - A Postcard from Wales)

26 comments:

  1. I do not garden but am an avid viewer each year. Must be great to see it all in the flesh as it were, talking of which, I saw LLB once and was shocked at how small he is. He looks so tall on the telly.
    Glad you enjoyed yourself.
    xx

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  2. Wow I could have stayed forever and soaked up all the beauty!
    just bliss!

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  3. You were so lucky being able to visit Chelsea, that is one of my dreams!
    I loved the Monaco garden and I really, really loved 'The Postcard from Wales' garden, it was my favourite!
    Vivienne x

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  4. Thanks for sharing the lovely Chelsea pix, Gill! I've been watching it on tv every night and my favourite artisan garden was...The Postcard From Wales too!! I enjoyed seeing how it was planned and created too. I didn't have a fave of the show gardens - I liked different bits of each one, but I always adore the 'little' gardens best. One of the (previously known as) courtyard gardens at Tatton Park RHS show years ago really inspired me and made me see what was possible. Lovely to see all the flowers, isn't it? Not nice to experience the bark though!
    Have a lovely weekend.
    Helen x

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  5. This must be heaven! I'll get there soemday. It's on my bucket list. Have a fabulous time. Blessings...Mary

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  6. Lovely pics Gill thankyou. Do you perhaps have a little thing for Lawrence? I haven't seen any of this years Chelsea, I will have to catch up on the i-player. It all looks wonderful and how fantastic that you were able to go. Thanks for your comments on Pinterest, I know exactly what you are saying, there is such a lot to keep up with on blogger. I think I will have to reserve Pinterest as a bit of a treat when everything else is done! Love Linda x

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  7. Hi Gill,

    You went to Chelsea! I wish I could have joined you. The photo's look so inviting. Lucky you to have visited with you friend on the RHS members day. It looks less crowded than a normal day. I visited Chelsea two years ago, but it was so incredibly busy. We could hardly see the show gardens. I loved the atmosphere though!

    I see Lawrence hasn't changed a bit. I used to watch his program on tv. It was one of my favourites!

    Have a lovely weekend!

    Lieve groet, Madelief

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  8. The question is...did you see THE Alan Titchmarsh?! Love the photos! What a great experience! Cx

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  9. Tee hee, just pulling your leg about LLB, I like him but I am not too sure if he has a sense of humour, which is essential I think. Thanks for your tips about Wednesday nights program, I will watch. Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for the lovely comments, love Linda x

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  10. It looks like a wonderful day with blue sky and sunshine! Thank you for sharing the highlights of your day with us without having to experience the smelly bark chips!!! x

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  11. All your pics are wonderful - almost like being there. As for LLB - he's very likeable and actually quite down to earth in spite of that dandy image he has, and funny too. I am quite a fan.

    Lovely post Gill.

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  12. Glad you enjoyed your day at Chelsea...it must have been very inspirational! :0)

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  13. That is a beautiful post, Gill and it looks as if you had a fabulous time. I love the M&G garden too. I have never been to Chelsea but would love to visit one year xxx

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  14. PS Re the honesty seed offer...Thank you dear Gill, that is so kinid. Please can you email me so I have your email address so I can email you my address!!! x

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  15. It looks like you had a wonderful time, I've been watching all the highlights on tv from the comfort of my sofa. There hasn't been a garden this year which has really grabbed me. I think my favourite would have to be the B&Q garden, I like it's message that you can grow your own anywhere.

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  16. Thank you so much for the award Gill, I am very flattered.
    You have captured the mood of Chelsea perfectly with lovely photos and description of your own highlights, a mixture of beautiful gardens, celebrities, plant stalls and crowds. It has made me more determined than ever to go myself next year.
    I think my favourite is "A postcard from Wales".
    I know exactly what you mean about enjoying it more without worrying about photos though, so I think it was a good result all round, we got a lovely taste of Chelsea and you still enjoyed your day. x

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  17. What a lovely time you had. It must have been wonderful to see so many inspiring plants and garden designs. I think I would have come back with the most ridiculous plans for my own garden! The B&Q garden looks very disappointing. We have a better variety of plants at our local B&Q!
    Becky x

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  18. Thank you very much for your lovely coment on my blog.
    it has been a crazy week here so I'm a little late here.
    I just love this post , you sure must have had a wonderful time.
    All the photo's are lovely.
    I't fun to see Lawrence as I always loved watching the show he was in.
    Have a lovely weekend.

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  19. Lovely photos of Chelsea Gill. Would love to go one year. Catherines asking the right question, did you get to see Mr AT? You must have had a wonderful day. I really liked the Hae-woo-so garden, just something peaceful about it. Have a good weekend. Lesley x

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  20. Beautiful and very colorful shots!

    God bless you and have a great weekend :-)

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  21. Thanks for sharing! I loved watching the coverage and really wished we'd gone this year as I loved so many of the gardens. The Welsh one did look fabulous. I liked the look of the B&Q one but that didn't get much TV coverage.
    Lisa x

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  22. I'm coveting your experience Gilly...smelly bark and all! What a lovely time...and lovely place! There's nothing like D.A. roses....nothing!
    Thank you for sharing...
    xo J~

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  23. Thanks for all your interesting comments!
    It was an inspiring day.
    Despite the rather numerous pics of LLB I don't actually have a thing about him (Lindas teasing me here!)!!! Just not many photos of the day that I had to spin out by cropping etc - sorry folks!
    AT much more my type (and in fact my daughter used to think "Daddy" looked like him although Mr G is now rather more portly( sorry Mr G!) than AT - not enough digging!)
    Catherine and Lesley, sadly I didnt see AT - now that would have made my day.
    Its a great place to go, tickets a bit pricey but if you are RHS member or have a friend who is, the tickets are a bit more reasonable - but it is so worth it for a sensational day out if you are a keen gardner or love flowers.
    Gill xx

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  24. Lovely photos - wish we'd gone this year. We've been a few times, but the last time 2 yrs ago,
    it was so crowded and you could hardly see anything. I think the gardens were excellent this year overall. Abby x

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  25. Fabulous photos, I'd love to visit Chelsea one day. Thank you for sharing with us! x

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  26. aaarrrggghhh have accidentally deleted your email! Can you please email me again????? xx

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Thanks for visiting and for taking the time to leave a comment - I love to read them!
Gill x