Growing for gold at Chelsea Flower Show
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A Kent man has been chosen to design
the main sponsor's show garden at the prestigious
Chelsea Flower Show.
With one month to go, KM garden writer
Lesley Bellew found Roger Platts'
nursery is a hive of activity.
The
Wealden sandstone pond edging had just arrived from the quarry.
Roger Platts rips open the
plastic wrapping like it's Christmas to reveal curved slabs of
still-damp biscuit-coloured stone, twinkling with specks of black
and silver.
"Well, that's beautiful. Fabulous. It
will look even better with the alchemilla just softening the
edges," he declared, delighted with his rather extravagant
order.
"This is really quality stone. We
wouldn't normally be able to use it, but as this is a Chelsea
garden I could justify it. Old reclaimed stone cut into a
contemporary style - very exciting."
Quality is the by-word for the
Celebration of the Traditional show garden Roger will create at RHS
Chelsea this year.
His trademark natural planting schemes
made him the front runner to design and build the main sponsor's
garden in the main avenue.
M&G
Investments is a global company and is sponsoring the garden to
highlight its ethos of "nurturing expertise" while upholding the
traditions and values of M&G and the RHS. The quintessentially
English show garden will take prime position on Main Avenue (plot
MA18).
Roger has been gardening most of his life. He won gold at
Chelsea in 2002 and returned to the Great Pavilion last year to
receive silver-gilt for his floral exhibit.
This year he will need 4,000-5,000
plants to choose from for his show garden. From those he will
probably select 2,000-3,000.
Of these, 80 per cent will be grown at
his Edenbridge nursery. "I live on site, so I can keep an eye on
the plants all the time," he said.
"When you order in plants that can be
stressful - because once they arrive, that's it. By growing so
many here I have more control and can watch the plants evolve and
keep a constant eye on their growth."
With one month to go, Roger is at full
tilt - inspecting and moving plants from greenhouse to
greenhouse to either bring them on, slow them down or simply hold
their growth; the electricians are in to finalise their work and
achieve a safety certificate; the hard landscaping and tanks are
laid out in the car park; the phone never stops ringing; deliveries
arrive; the BBC needs its daily diary update and yet Roger remains
calm, relatively unrushed and totally focused.
So the Celebration of the Traditional
show garden plan is laid out - but it is not all cast in stone. It
will be interesting to see what makes it into the final scheme and
what other surprises Roger may pull.
Roger Platts and Jenny
Noscoe go through the final M&G show garden design
Only the highest quality planting will
achieve the RHS Chelsea Gold medal and by the look of what's
growing at Platts Nursery it must be worth a bet.
- RHS Chelsea Flower runs from May 24-29. Tickets range from £14
for RHS members and £19 for non-members. Tickets must be bought in
advance on the
Chelsea Flower Show website or call 0844 209 1810.
- If you can't make it up to Chelsea, Roger Platts will be
opening his own garden at Leydens, Edenbridge, as part of the
National Gardens Scheme on Sunday, August 8, noon to 5pm. See The
Yellow Book 2010 for more details.
Friday, April 23 2010
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