Chelsea Flower Show

LynfromSea

I’ve suddenly lost interest in the Chelsea Flower Show after all these years which is really sad but the constant focusing on rewilding has left me cold! 

I have a three quarter acre garden of which a third is flower borders, another third vegetable garden and the rest is lawn. My flower borders are overflowing with pollinating plants which feed my neighbours beehives so why do I feel I’m not doing enough for the environment if I don’t invite weeds into my garden and let my lawn go wild?
I realise gardens have to change over time but somehow it’s taking all the pleasure out if it for me. Does anyone else feel the same?

WAMS

It's a trend. A preachy, sanctimonious one. Only the greatest eco-warriors dismantle beavers' dwellings and reconstruct them twig by pious twig for that authentic "hovel in an abandoned field" look.

Like you, I do plant for bees and butterflies, I do enjoy lovely colourful beds, and I do have a fatal clematis/rose/fuchsia habit. I bet we both have nicer gardens to sit in with a book and a glass of wine, beaver-free zones though they may be. 😉

alfharris8

I thought one of the nicest ones only received a silver medal so I must be totally off trend.

zugenie

@WhereAreMySecateurs I don’t think that’s a fair description
“A pool dammed by beavers – with wood-sticks, woodchip and tree debris scattered around their lodge. These are constructed from debris removed from beaver sites as part of the beaver management process.”
https://rewildingbritain.org.uk/support-rewilding/rhs-chelsea-flower-show

——

I don’t get the issue with people doing something different at chelsea, surely that’s the point!! I’m also not sure why people feel so personally attacked by a garden about rewilding

Mrs-B3-Southampton,-Hants

I take the Show Gardens in particular with a pinch of salt. It's like the Fashion Shows in that it provokes, in some cases, comments of 'I'd never wear a dress like that!'.

nutcutlet

so glad I don't watch all this stuff  

punkdoc

Loving it.
Remember it is a show, it is theatre, it is not supposed to be like your garden at home, BUT it is full of ideas, beautiful plants and some great experts.

As I have said on another thread today, it is totally disingenuous to say beaver dams were damaged to make that garden, THEY WEREN'T.

Fire

Chris Baines brought a rewilded garden to Chelsea in 1985 and wildiness has had a presence there ever since. It seems you are going out of your way to take personal offence at someone's garden. I think of the creators are part of "a community of passionate response" - loving and excited in what they are doing - in the same way as those who build travel gardens at Chelsea or support charity messages. Those gardens are part of the whole show every year too. Are those people who support Mind or the RNLI "sanctimonious" and pious too or just enthusiastic?

"Why do I feel I’m not doing enough for the environment"?

 Why do you feel guilty? I don't know - I guess you would have to reflect on that for yourself. When there is a crisis, it's hard to know when we are doing enough - whether it's in addressing poverty or insect collapse or disaster relief.

I personally don't think gardening remains a mainstay of people's lives unless it brings joy. Guilt - not so much. Wildiness and joy often go together - in elements - as it sounds like it does for you too. I find 'beavered' landscapes a cause for celebration. It's a fast moving field where people are doing great work. It's not a 'trend', it's the culmination of thirty years of hard work in the UK to foster reforested, revived landscapes.

A 60% collaspse in insect populations is not something marginal tied up with 'eco-warriors'. Chris Baines' message from 1985 is the same as he is writing about today. Most people weren't listening then and they are still not listening now.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/problem-solving/chris-baines-my-garden-has-given-me-more-rewarding-encounters-th/

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/may/uks-flying-insects-have-declined-60-in-20-years.html

Hostafan1

I switched off this afternoon's programme when they started talking about dying fabric with nettles and rhubarb roots.

GardenerSuze

Started viewing part wat through one of the programmes , was blown away by the planting. Then realised it was Chris Beardshaw's garden. I personally think his planting schemes are the best seen in Chelsea history.

Jellyfire

I love the rewilded garden, much as I’ve loved the Welcome to Yorkshire gardens the last few years, many of the more formal or modern garden designs leave me cold, but that’s the whole point surely, a range of designs and ideas to appeal to all sorts of gardeners.

Monty was questioning whether it was actually a garden the other day but I wholly disagree, if I had the money, space, knowledge and time my garden would look something along the lines of a mini landscape by Mark Gregory