Kent blooms in Chelsea

RHS Chelsea (Kent) Flower Show 2009 will be the title of this year's biggest event in the horticultural calendar.

The county is spectacularly represented across the whole exhibition, through plantsmen, landscaping, design and inspiration.

After years of focus on the exotic and an overkill on extravagance, Chelsea has gone back to its roots this year.

Marshalls, the show's sponsor, with its head office in Sittingbourne, is paving the way forward with environmentally friendly hard landscaping.

Its Living Street show garden, designed by Ian Dexter in his second year Chelsea (he was last year's Silver medal winner with the Garden that Every Kid Wants), uses permeable paving - it not only allows rainwater to drain directly into the subsoil, it is formulated to improve air quality by counteracting the effect of air pollution through a chemical reaction on the surface.

Ian's show garden continues the eco-theme with four gardens to the front of four contemporary homes - each one a reflection of the residents' differing needs and aspirations.

The young family at No 1 are short of space so they grow their plants horizontally on the ground and the roof, and vertically - the wall planting survives through a hidden water system. "There is an irrigation system that zig-zags across the wall," said Ian, clearly pleased with the result. (See pic).


Another Kent hard landscaping company, Willerby, based near Four Elms, Edenbridge, is the backbone of Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins' sensational perfume garden. This huge show garden embraces sustainable design through rainwater harvesting, a wind turbine and the conversion of daylight to electricity.

It is a fusion of ultra, ultra modern architecture against a reflection of planting from the 1600s when Elizabeth I ordered perfume to be created for her. The sweet-smelling lavenders, roses, herbs and ferns (yes, ferns, the rhizones yield an oil that infuses masculine scents) weave paths to the 10m high perfumery where white spires burst from its heart, held by petal -like canopies.

This is the work of a plantsman and an architect who think differently but pool their talents to fuse low tech with hi tech. "The perfumery lights up at night," said Laurie. "It will be purple and pink to echo the planting." That's not the only colour you will see - the whiff of gold, not just perfume, surrounds 'the' exhibit of the Chelsea (Kent) 2009.

Willerby is also the contractor for Robert Myer's Cancer Research UK garden. The elegant ornamental garden has a large reflecting pool has a practical side - the ripples across the figure of eight pool have a secondary purpose as urban drainage.

Wander from the main exhibits to the Courtyard Gardens and Kent's presence continues to dominate.

Demelza, a garden designed for the children's hospice in Bobbing, Sittingbourne, introduces gentle musical sounds to a garden. A water harp, a Japanese sui-kin-kutsu (an underground water chamber), introduces mysterious echoing sounds while aluminium chimes in the flower beds give children the chance to make their own music.

Merriments Garden, in neighbouring East Sussex, has created a swathe of colour around the seating area of the garden, including the new red iris 'County Town Red' and dazzling orange geum Prinses Juliana. This beautiful garden will be recreated at Demelza House at the end of the show.

In the same Courtyard area, The Pilgrim's Rest, designed by Chris O'Donoghue, from Cranbrook, is a small but perfectly formed photographer's delight. Against the backdrop of a 'ruined monastic building' a wheelbarrow, thatched dovecote and straw bee skeps take visitors to the middle ages when monks held an encyclopedic knowledge of herb lore and plants for curing ills, flavouring food and dying cloth. The planting includes angelica for indigestion (angelica is one of the popular plants of the show - perhaps because it seeds so easily) and elder to combats colds.

You have probably got the planting drift by now - back to basics is very much the essence of this year's show and the Garden of England is therefore back in vogue - the message is clear - we can longer take nature for granted we must put back into the earth what we take out.

In the Great Pavilion, Kent champion plantsman Roger Platts makes his return to the show for the first time since winning best garden at Chelsea in 2002. His 'Plantsman's Palette' is a delicious display of traditional country garden planting. There are no gimmicks, no shining steel sculptures - the plants do the talking in a soft, natural way with old-fashioned roses, delphiniums, tradescantia, nepeta and geraniums flowing effortlessly to what must be a place in the medals.

Simon Charlesworth, of Downderry Lavender, Hadlow, near Tonbridge must also be hopeful of being in the medals, having gained four golds in the last four years with his specialist scented plants that do so well in warm, dry positions and can survive in pretty poor soil, too.

Scotney Castle, the National Trust's romantic castle and gardens in Lamberhurst, near Tunbridge Wells, is the focus of Centrepoint's garden in the Continuous Learning area - with the theme (you've guessed it) Climate Change.

So how do Scotney and the Centrepoint charity come together? One stands for beauty, history and romance, the other a last-chance hotel accommodating those who may have lost their way.

Centrepoint is marking its 40th anniversary at Chelsea with a garden that has been inspired by the young people who are supported by the charity and have been part of its horticultural training scheme.

Each year groups of Centrepoint young people attend a course at Capel Manor College, in London, but as part of their course they work in the grounds of Scotney Castle as volunteers. During the last two years their focus has been on the renovation of Scotney's Victorian vegetable garden.

Many of the young people staying at Centrepoint have been learning new skills via the National Trust.
Designer David Arkly has been working with the young volunteers to create this little bit of Scotney. He spent many years as a fibre optic designer but knew that was 'just to make my way'.

The South African threw it all in and took a garden design course at Capel Manor. Next thing, he was working with the Centrepoint young people.

"There are so many skills needed to bring together this show garden," said David.

"We needed to cut down trees to make the raised beds. The sweet chestnuts are from sustainable plantations at Scotney but we had to consider the size we needed for the height of the raised bed before we got the chainsaws out.

"It was no good saying that's too big or small, the tree is cut, you can't put it back."

The variety of skills gave the Centrepoint youngsters a chance to shine in various areas. Some were happy to do the planting, others found that the electrical wiring or carpentry was their forte.

"We also considered the carbon footprint," added David. "We did not want gravel from the coast - a long journey and then it was full of salt to kill off the plants.

"We sourced it from local gravel pits. All that sort of thing has been thought through with the young people. Nothing has been easy."


And that sums it up - the underdog is fighting back.

The mini Scotney vegetable garden says everything about this year's Kent show, sorry, I mean Chelsea: let's stop the waste and get back to earth and garden for England - yes, the Garden of England.