Monday Vase: Amaryllis and Hellebore

Joining in with Cathy’s meme In a Vase on Monday, over at Rambling in the Garden

and

Cee’s Flower of the Day

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I’ll be going to Chelsea Flower Show with my sister again this year, I was just looking at their website to see information about this year’s gardens and – there we are! On the 2017 RHS Chelsea website!

Here

https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/At-the-show

and here

Shopping

We were on the ‘Chive’ stand, I do like their vases. I have a couple of square ones which have featured in IAVOM before, here and here in July 2016and a Giraffe vase, yet to make it’s debut.

We were chosen for the photograph because of our colourful attire – see, we fit right in –  and because we looked like we were having fun – we were!

We were told by the photographer that we might be in this year’s catalogue, but I never thought we would end up on the website – twice!

FUN!

We’re thinking of wearing the same things this year.

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Lampshades at Chelsea

Although the TV coverage of Chelsea Flower Show is excellent, one of the things you don’t get to see are all the wonderfully inspiring stalls selling all manner of goodies from around the world. One of my favourites was this one from Germany with products by  Rosemarie Schulz , she also writes a blog . I just loved all the dried natural material and how they were framed.

The large moss-covered lampshade was about £350, I have to admit to being tempted by it to go above my dining room table, but am wondering if I can produce a similar effect in crochet or knitting – I’m thinking I could make the moss with chenille yarn, I’d probably add some fern leaves as well and then it would be a homage to my favourite Artisan Garden, the Senri-Sentei-Garage Garden that won a gold medal and the Show’s President’s Award.

Designer Kazuyuki Ishihara

It was great to be there just as the team of gardeners and designers were celebrating their win.

In a Vase at Chelsea

What a strikingly colourful display in the Grand Pavilion! See those vases?

I wish I’d looked more closely at this stall now but I was on the hunt for alliums to add to the few I have in my garden and spotted a spectacular display by the Dutch specialist, Warmenhoven.

The tall white at the back is called Mount Everest. The whole stall was full of alliums and amaryllis

I liked the look of the pink allium – Twinkling Stars

and this shorter white

for a large more open head – Purple Rain

and for some height Ambassador

for a bit of quirky pzazz, how about these (not easy to photograph against all the others)

but if I buy one of these alien looking creatures I think it would have to be this one called Art

They look so silly – a bad hair day for Alli -they’d be great for a future Vase on Monday.

Joining in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden

and

Cee’s Flower of the Day

and my IAVOM : aguilegias, plantain, sweet cicely and that stripy grass I don’t know the name of.

The vase is a jam jar dipped in the same paint I painted the walls with. Colour = Quilted Calico4

It is Aquilegia time in my garden, no named varieties just scattered seeds from previous years. Always a wonderful surprise mix of colours. I’m on the look out for a bright pink and a pure white to liven up the palette.

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Chelsea, more show gardens

From the immaculate Chelsea Barracks Garden

to the geometric retreat of the Husqvarna Garden

with that interesting shrub in the foreground, which I was disappointed to discover will not grow in this country. The garden is a replica of one in Melbourne, Australia.

The soft underplanting however was made up of European perennials

I noticed quite a lot of angelica in the planting this year, I planted one in my garden last year, but it is yet to show. It is a nice compliment to the ever present alliums popping up in so many of the gardens at Chelsea. I saw on the BBC coverage that at night this garden had up-lights beneath the clipped trees and LEDs set within the hedges, in a well-spaced row half way up the hedge – it looked magical.

In almost direct contrast…

the bonkers kaleidoscope of colour and planting that was the Greening Grey Britain garden.

I LOVED it and the concept behind it. It was hard to take it all in – there were about 10 gardens in one, just look at this Plant List.

Then go to this link to see a really heartwarming video about the garden and its future.

Growing things on roofs is the way forward!

Look at those orchids, amazing.

For even more craziness you can always rely on the showmanship of Diarmuid Gavin and his Harrods British Eccentrics Garden with another massive plant list.

The planting was a fulsome riot of colour, the bay trees twirled, the box balls rose and fell, the border round the house travelled round, the roof went up along with the window boxes. I can’t say I liked it but for novelty value it could not be beaten.

I did like the little ballerina roses (at the top left of the picture below) spilling over the edges and wonder if I could recreate that in my front border, but Ballerina roses are climbers and grow to 5′ or more, so would they work in that situation? Any thoughts?

Could they be kept small? or is there a suitable substitute?

I’m really loving sharing my day at Chelsea with you  – next up the smaller gardens – now I’m off to do some more weeding – hope you are having a glorious weekend!

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Chelsea

I’m itching to tell you all about my day at the Chelsea Flower Show – Oh what a blissful day!

BUT…… ever since I got home I’m newly inspired to be out in my garden, with not much time for putting a blog post together – so this is a bit rushed but I just had to get a snippet out to you.

My sister got the tickets on Members Day (Tuesday) and we got there at 7.45am, ready to be let through that gates at 8.

One of the first things we saw was Jo Swift being filmed doing interviews

He seemed to be doing them for most of the morning. (click on any photo to see them larger) Sadly my Nikon isn’t working so I only had a little pocket camera with me.

We did a quick whizz round the 17 show gardens before the crowds arrived, here are pictures of just two…

This one by Chris Beardshaw will be installed as a roof garden at Great Ormond Street Hospital as a soothing retreat for the parents of the children in the hospital.

Going to the show is such a special experience as you can appreciate all the intricate details that are everywhere you look, like this gorgeous screen of oak leaf cut-outs.

The one below was my personal favourite designed by Andy Sturgeon:

I just love the sculpture and how the colours blended together. When I have a quiet moment I must look up that orange spiky plant, there are plant lists on the show website.

and the garden was awarded Best in Show.

Have you been watching Chelsea on the TV? Did you have a favourite garden?

to be continued……..now I must get back to the weeding….