Holding the Chelsea Flower Show in London is a global event and almost a national holiday. Light frenzy covers Chelsea and Kensington, Belgravia and Knightsbridge — all restaurants, galleries, and boutiques decorate their shop windows and grounds with flowers and floral installations. Before the show closes, when the interviews have already been recorded and the winners have been announced, the gong sounds — and to Rossina's overture to the opera "Wilhelm Tell," the entire exhibition is sold out literally within an hour.
Lyudmila Beloded, landscape designer, director and founder of Beloded Landscaping bureau
While the show is on, visitors cannot take the plants, but many buy them in advance and reserve them. And now, as soon as the signal for the sale is given, a queue is formed in front of each exposition. In the hands of English ladies, what we call sewing bags suddenly appear, which are instantly filled with huge two-meter delphiniums, collectible peonies, and meconopsis. And from the side of the embankment there are so-called flower buses that take visitors to the nearest metro station free of charge. Bunches of flowers hang from all the windows and upper platforms of these buses. A stunning sight! At these times, of course, the metro stations are fully booked. Literally after a while, the exhibition becomes empty - there are no people or plants left. This is the English tradition.
The Chelsea Flower Show is a catalyst for the "green" industry in Great Britain and around the world
I will tell you a little about the specifics of the organization of the show. Gardens in Chelsea are evaluated in several nominations. Show Gardens — gardens created by famous designers and their teams; Artisan Gardens demonstrate an innovative approach to the use of traditional practices, materials and craftsmanship; Space to Grow is about the possibilities of creating a garden in small spaces. And the Feature Gardens nomination was introduced for special gardens, such as The RHS Back to Nature Garden, a garden created under the curatorship of Kate, Duchess of Cambridge. By the way, the prize was not awarded to him for ethical reasons, so that the judges would not be accused of involvement. Kate Middleton's garden is a classic family garden with a tree house and swings for children. It's cosy, green, wet and obviously designed by the duchess in collaboration with Davies White Ltd. with love and care for children.
In each category, the best garden from the jury's point of view and the garden most liked by the audience are awarded. Gold, gilded (as strange as it sounds), silver, and sometimes bronze medals are also awarded. There is an award marking the best gardens from the point of view of construction and engineering works — Best Construction Award. As part of the Chelsea Flower Show, florists are also awarded, whose works are exhibited in a separate pavilion. Floristry is a separate discipline, and the participants of the show annually demonstrate to us the highest level of mastery in the use and combination of plants for interior design. In short, the majority of participants return with awards, and this is very stimulating.
Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton at the opening of Chelsea Flower Show 2019. Image source: royal. Uk
The Chelsea Flower Show gardens cannot literally be called designer gardens, as they are not named after a designer. We don't say 'Andy Sturgeon's Garden' - we say 'M&G Garden'. This is a huge investment company that sponsored the creation of this garden and paid all the expenses. Such an approach, when the focus is on sponsors, is a very competent step on the part of the organizers, it ensures the viability of the entire event. The show is supported by large technology companies, insurance funds, and usually such partnerships last for years. I noticed that this year Laurent-Perrier, the producer of champagne wines, is not among the sponsors, and many regulars do not imagine their visit to the Chelsea exhibition without a glass of sparkling wine. Laurent-Perrier have supported the RHS show for the past few years.
Environmental friendliness and sustainability are important aspects of a modern garden
The СROCUS company, a landscape works contractor, chose our partner company's plant nurseries from Germany and Holland as a supplier of plants. For designer Andy Sturgeon, who created this year's M&G Garden, and Sarah Eberla, who designed The Resilience Garden, which won the Best Construction Award, they supplied rare specimens of Zelkova serrata, calocedrus (Calocedrus) and hornbeam (Carpinus).
Perhaps, if we had adhered to such a rule, we would have been able to hold large-scale shows. Everyone would win - sponsors, designers, owners of nurseries and greenhouses, everyone involved in the industry. And the audience, of course.
Green Switch, designed by Kazuyuki Ishihara, Chelsea Flower Show 2019. Photo: Hannah Stephenson/PA
Another commercial component is the representation at the exhibition of a huge number of brands and manufacturers. Here you can see new garden furniture, tools, vases of both classical and avant-garde forms, garden sculpture, innovative lighting. Clothing for gardeners is also presented - there are three large companies that annually exhibit their new collections. A special pleasure - trying on all these aprons and hats. Representatives of the Irish brand, which produces professional footwear for work in the garden, put on their exclusive boots and stand in a basin for half an hour, proving that they do not get wet. Such purely English entertainment.
Not only British designers and brands take part in the exhibition. There are participants from former colonies - from Myanmar, India, South Africa. Their expositions are distinguished by exotic luxury, richness of colors and forms. It's easy to lose your head with the variety of nursery products on display in the central pavilion. The finest delphiniums, lupins, foxgloves, hydrangeas, irises, and daylilies create an incredibly colorful palette.
The Resilience Garden, designed by Sarah Eberly, Chelsea Flower Show 2019. Photo: Neil Hepworth/RHS
The construction of gardens for the show begins a month and a half before the exhibition. On the first day, it is visited by members of the royal family and the press, on the second day by members of the RHS, then by everyone else. But the popularity of horticulture here is so great that in Great Britain almost every second is a member of the RHS, so there is no discrimination.
Back to nature
It should be understood that the gardens of the Chelsea Flower Show are high art. I would say art for art's sake. Each garden has its own carefully thought-out legend. Even if it is completely naive or scientific, like, for example, water recirculation in the space of the garden. But the idea, the concept of the garden must be declared.
For example, the opportunistic Facebook: Beyond the Screen, designed by Joe Perkins, had a very complex concept based on the positive influence of social media on the lives of young people. And there are about 1,5 million gardeners in the profile British FB group! Running water, according to Perkins' idea, symbolized the state online, and the quiet backwater - offline. The garden was awarded three awards at once — a gold medal, an award in the Space to Grow nomination, and the Best Construction Award. I found the comment very relevant: "If you want your garden to look bigger, then arrange the main element diagonally."
Facebook: Beyond the Screen, designer Joe Perkins, Chelsea Flower Show 2019. Photo: Neil Hepworth/RHS
As a practitioner, I believe that the idea is still secondary. In fact, the jury first of all evaluates the talent and painstaking work to create a single space, which is formed from inert materials - stone, metal, glass - and from living plants. British designers have an amazing sense of composition and selection of textures and colors. The background is very important, for example, the Morgan Stanley Garden demonstrates how impressive a red beech fence looks. At the same time, the designer must understand which plants support this background or stand out favorably against the contrast. This is what mastery is all about.
The idea, concept of the garden must be declared
What I want to note is that most of the gardens this year showed us a purely English style. Cottage garden style. At the same time, a large assortment of perennials, wildflowers and grasses is used - so that the garden has a lush, picturesque and slightly "wild" appearance: cow parsley (Anthriscus), marsh milkweed (Euphorbia palustris), angelica (A. Archangelica) and others.
The naturalness of English gardens, their maximum closeness to the natural landscape, their slight carelessness and unkemptness are the result of jewelry work that begins with the creation of very detailed drawings. But even detailed sketches will not allow you to copy such a garden exactly. In order for it to meet the principle of Nature knows best ("Nature knows best"), great experience and flair are necessary. That is the skill - to make a man-made landscape as natural as possible.
The best of the best
Of course, all the gardens presented this year are interesting and original. I pay attention first of all to how the gardener works with materials, in what ways he organizes the space.
M&G GARDEN
Andy Sturgeon's M&G Garden has collected several medals and the highest award for Best in Show. This is already the fourth victory of the authoritative designer from Sussex at the Chelsea Flower Show and the 8th gold medal in the ego collection.
M&G Garden, designed by Andy Sturgeon, Chelsea Flower Show 2019. Photo: Neil Hepworth/RHS
Andy Sturgeon used very complex plants and complex elements — charred wood fragments symbolizing natural rock outcrops. I can't say that this design is absolutely innovative, I have seen a charred tree in the garden format before. Designers of this level use the developments of different eras and periods, the main thing is that they cause an emotional response. In the early 2000s, there was the installation "Fisherman's Hut" - actually a moss-covered hut with elements of charred logs. It creates a mood, evokes emotions. There are large trees in the M&G Garden, and moisture-loving, shade-tolerant perennials have been chosen to form the lower tier. Since the image of a garden in the coastal zone was created, everything is very appropriate. Sculptural charred fragments look very contrasting against the background of saturated green Rogers, Brunner, ferns, anemones, aquilegia. Andy Sturgeon's garden is very bright, but I prefer the aesthetics of The Morgan Stanley Garden, created by Chris Birdshaw.
The Morgan Stanley Garden
The Morgan Stanley Garden stands out for its harmonious organization of space. There are large-sized and clipped topiaries, which immediately take on the role of main landmarks, and among them are planted unpretentious wildflowers and garden perennials - peonies and irises. In my opinion, such a balance between natural nature and the landscape, which is regulated by man, is ideal. The use of multi-stemmed trees is another confirmation that the fashion for plants still exists. A very stylishly decorated recreation area, gazebo or pavilion - in the descriptions it is called simply "structure".
Morgan Stanley Garden, designed by Chris Birdshaw, Chelsea Flower Show 2019.
Photo source: telegraph.co.uk
Leaning pine here simply bribes. This is an exclusive copy. Under the ground is a huge lump of earth, fixed with metal anchors, the use of which, by the way, we are now trying to introduce into our landscape culture. And the wooden support plays the role of an emotional dominant, illustrating care and support from the person. Plants that are used in show gardens in Chelsea are rarely returned to nurseries, most often they are also bought, and, I am sure, this pine has already gone to its permanent place of residence, becoming an ornament of some beautiful garden.
The garden helps to disconnect from the stresses of urban life
Pay attention to the red beech back. These living walls act as borders between gardens and are constructed from fragments of hedges that can be purchased in nurseries. The landscape industry today anticipates all our requests and whims. To create an ideal living hedge, there is no need to grow it for years and master the subtleties of regular shaping and cutting. Today, all of this can be bought as a fragment of the constructor. A hedge made of red beech is a purely English feature, since in contrast to the green of endless English meadows and pastures, beech trees always look like a bright dominant.
Green Switch
Magnificent Green Switch garden, which received a gold medal in the Artisan Gardens category. Japanese designer Kazuyuki Ishihara is also a multiple medalist of the show. Ego garden is characterized by a high degree of naturalism and fidelity to Japanese traditions. Here the name speaks for itself: Green Switch is designed as a place where you can disconnect from the stresses of urban life.
Green Switch, designed by Kazuyuki Ishihara, Chelsea Flower Show 2019. Image source: rhs.org.uk
The architectural and color dominant feature is two pavilions: one with a tea room and a parking space, the second with a shower room. Kazuyuki Ishihara had previously used the bright color of the sea wave in his projects, in which the horizontal lines and supports of the pavilions are painted. Apparently, this color is symbolic for him. The plants are selected to match the national context: the designer uses mosses, swamp grasses, maples, larch and a rare specimen of a large pieris. And, of course, a Japanese garden is impossible without water — there are as many as two small waterfalls and a series of small ponds. Pay attention to the crystal water: quite complex engineering was used to create this garden.
Kampo no Niwa
Another Japanese garden is Kampo no Niwa, awarded a gold medal in the Space to Grow nomination. Ego's authors, designers Kazuto Kasiwakura and Mika Sato, hail from the island of Hokkaido in the north of Japan. They decided to dedicate the garden to the traditional Japanese system of phytotherapy Kampo. The plants that are used in treatment and those that reflect the national character of the garden were specially selected. For example, saw cherry (Prunus serrula) with a specific red-brown "lacquered" bark was used. Its flowering is not as magnificent as that of modern hybrids, but it is a classic Japanese sakura.
Sketch from the garden project Kampo no Niwa, designers Kazuto Kasiwakura and Mika Sato, Chelsea Flower Show 2019. Image source: kinokaen.com
The murmur of water gives Japanese gardens a special atmosphere
But the stonework, in my opinion, still gives the garden a certain Mediterranean international accent. Although the idea of water flowing down the wall is very expressive. Designers are clearly not indifferent to murmuring - these small streams give a special color and mood. Attention is drawn to the accuracy of the execution of all joints and connections between paving and curb made of Corten steel. The wood color of the pergola harmonizes with the stone - they are finished in the same warm color scheme as the metal. The surfaces of polished limestone in the layout visually make this small garden quite spacious. It is very clean, with clear shapes and lines.
Wedgwood Garden
Another favorite of mine is Joe Thompson's Wedgwood Garden. He received only a gold medal, but he attracts with his architecture. The sculptural structure created by Joe Thompson is a direct reference to the colonnade of the bishop's palace in Siena. The architecture of Etruria so admired the founder of Wedgwood, Josiah Wedgwood, that he even named the village built for factory workers in Staffordshire after it. Thompson's image combines classics and modernity. Some of the columns and watercourses are made of "rusty" Kortenov steel — a peculiar allusion to industrial factory design. Nigra pine and metasequoia are used as living verticals here, and their "harshness" is softened by delicate irises in pastel tones, classic roses, sage, foxglove and geraniums.
From a regular garden to a landscape garden
The external neglect and wildness of British gardens, to which experts and critics first of all draw attention, is still not innovative - it is a tribute to tradition, the image of a natural English garden. Ukraine has not yet developed a taste for such landscapes. An ideal garden in our understanding is still closer to a regular one, because it looks, let's say, more expensive. In our practice, we rarely meet requests to make the garden "natural and wild", although there are such customers. One of them, for example, strictly forbade us to remove fallen needles and clean moss from stones. It is important for a person to maintain such a patina of time.
Wedgwood Garden, designed by Joe Thompson, Chelsea Flower Show 2019. Photo: Neil Hepworth/RHS
When traveling abroad, Ukrainians see shop windows, restaurant menus, expensive cars, but do not pay attention to the quality of the environment itself. After all, the naturalness of a garden or park at the design stage is even more expensive than the arrangement of parade flower beds from thousands of roses. But in the future, a natural garden requires less care, but, of course, specific care, and more in-depth knowledge about the needs of plants. For example, azaleas and rhododendrons, which have become popular in our country, need regular acidification of the soil. And such nuances are darkness.
Another difference: we want to make a garden once and for all. The English, on the other hand, are always looking for new solutions — they are not afraid to update their gardens every year. Their traditions and love of gardening stimulate the green industry, and on the contrary, a rich selection of plants and accessories stimulates gardening.
The English are not afraid to experiment and update their gardens every year
In Ukraine, there are many professionals with good taste and imagination who could adequately represent the country at exhibitions similar to those held by RHS. But to participate in such large-scale and authoritative events, serious sponsorship support is certainly necessary. If we are talking about holding similar shows in Ukraine, then today we would face a shortage of material. I did not accidentally pay attention to the fact that the participants of the Chelsea Flower Show use exclusive plants of project sizes as solitaires. So far, there are few nurseries in Ukraine where you can find project plants in such a wide assortment. But if we are talking about perennials that create the blooming magnificence of the lower tier, then we can already find most of such plants in our nurseries, and this rich living palette allows us to form flower beds no worse than those demonstrated by landscape designers and gardeners in Great Britain.
