1 of 5
Lavender in Rows
Lavender in Rows
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Paint a wall grey
Paint a wall grey
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mini-canals
mini-canals
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Semperviviums on a wall
Semperviviums on a wall
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Lavender in Rows
Lavender in Rows
Garden Design - May/June 2013
Is Chelsea Flower How Relevant?
By the time you read this, preparations for the 100th Chelsea Flower Show will be in full swing. The showground opens to visitors in less than three weeks, on the 21st May, and contractors will be starting to build the large show gardens any day now.
The statistics for the show are impressive:
• 3 times as many applicants as there are spaces for show gardens are received.
• Planning for each show starts 15 months in advance.
• A show garden takes at least 9 months
to plan.
• 35,000 visitors visit the show each day. 157,000 over the course of the show.
• The BBC alone broadcasts about 11 hours of coverage and reaches an audience of some 2.2 million viewers.
• The Great Pavilion is so large that you could park 500 London busses in it.
• The showground takes 800 people 33 days to build, starting from bare grass.
So how might all of this be relevant to a ‘normal’ garden?
Chelsea Flower Show is unique. It represents the epitome, haute couture if you will, of garden design and horticulture. Whilst the gardens created cost many (hundreds of) thousands of pounds and would not work in reality, there is a vast body of inspiration and ideas to be found – if you think laterally. Just like high fashion. This is why, as a designer, I happily go and join in the circus every year.
Perhaps the most important thing is not to be overwhelmed by it all and to look for small details that could be reused.
The devil is in the detail. Don’t be afraid to have a go. After all, I expect the colour of your socks was indirectly influenced by the catwalks of Paris or Milan.
First Published July 2013 By The Dart
Colette Charsley 01803 722449
