A Glass Act

victorian greenhouse with canopyHad I the money and the space I would love this greenhouse and its glazed canopy extension from Hartley Botanic in my garden. It will never happen, but it is nice to dream.

More About Hartley

hartley-botanicHartley have been making greenhouses for almost as long as the Chelsea Flower Show has been going. That’s a 100 years in case you hadn’t heard. Here’s one of their ads from the RHS Journal in 1965. Such is the popularity of their design they still make this model today.

Take a look at the Hartley Botanic site to learn a little bit more about their range of greenhouses which extend from this classic example to the New Princes Foundation Glasshouse Range above.

A Golden Moment

the WaterAid Garden at Chelsea 2013I’m a keen supporter of WaterAid and the work it does in bringing clean water and sanitation to areas of the world where both are all too scarce, so I’m delighted that their Artisan garden at Chelsea was awarded a Gold Medal. Depicting a floriculture business in India, the gloriously colourful garden is hung with marigolds, roses and hanging garlands being grown and prepared for sale, with a backdrop of a simple house on stilts. By having access to clean water and sanitation people’s lives are transformed and women and children freed from the burdens and dangers of collecting water, giving them the time to earn a living and get an education. The rainwater harvesting jar (on the left) collects water in times of high rainfall, for use in times of water scarcity or when flooding has contaminated ground water sources.
rose planted alongside brass garden taprainwater harvesting jar

Star Plant of the Show

Popular plant at Chelsea 2013There’s always a plant that appears in several show gardens and catches my eye.  Last year it was Silene fimbriata a dry-shade-loving campion with frilly-edged white flowers, that is now thriving in my garden.  This year it’s Euphorbia x pasteurii   which is a cross between the lovely, honey-scented but large Euphorbia mellifera  and the handsome  Euphorbia stygiana.  As a bit of a fan of euphorbias, I have both growing in my garden, as well as E. palustris, E.myrsinites and E. schillingii, so even now one of the many seedlings around the garden may be a naturally occurring x pasteurii , but just in case it isn’t, I’m getting my order in now.  I asked Peter Clay from Crocus about it and he said it has all the virtues of mellifera  but is more compact with a more open flowerhead.  While not entirely hardy, if you can grow mellifera  without losing it, you will be able to grow  x pasteurii.

A Wondrous Wasteland

wiggly tin shedOne of my top gardens at this year’s show is Kate Gould’s garden with its inspired use of recycled materials. Flattened washing machine drums wrought into a wall panel, a deconstructed shopping trolley and bed springs used as screens, corrugated iron fences, and bits of boiler pipe used as  bench supports.  It’s not romantic or rustic, but it is really inspiring to see recycled materials used in such a well-crafted manner.plants could grow through these old bed springsclimbers could grow up this deconstructed trolleyan old pipe supports a garden benchwiggly tin contrasts with soft paper barkthis combination of green and grey works really well

A Tiny Pocket of Japanese Perfection

yellow and white flowers in the japanese garden at chelsea 2013In amongst the commercial stands on Eastern Avenue there’s a rather charming display of plants, each one encased in moss balls.  I particularly loved this daisy.  I would like to tell you more about them, but the Japanese men who were manning the stall were charming but spoke little English.