I love Chelsea so much, escaping the office and burying myself in plant material is a complete joy. Taking plant material at its peak and experimenting until you get a combination that fits the brief from Andy is such fun and you often come up with combinations you would never have thought of otherwise.
I love discovering the new introductions’ characteristics too, I will have come across them in all small numbers in trials on the nursery but to get a fully fledged specimen and to be able to play with colour and textures to go with it is really revealing.
Obviously our Chelsea exhibit is big – the biggest garden at the whole show – and that means getting everything into scale. Big trees create the height but we still need some real bulk in the middle levels of the planting. Large shrubs create that mature feel; pittosporums and elaeagnus are Chelsea favourites but they tend to be rounded shapes and we need something else to contrast with this.
Acers, along with Cornus, provide this “elegant” feel to the planting. They rise from single or multiple stems then widen to form a light airy canopy perfect for underplanting with smaller subjects. The acers love being in containers and some of our Chelsea Acers have been coming and exhibiting with us for 40 or more years. They are like old friends, returning each year to create their magic.
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| Acer 'Marlot' |
George Harrison always used to pop by at Chelsea to see which acers we had on the exhibit; he had a real passion for them. He was always keen to see which new ones we had too, to see whather he could add to his collection. I can’t wait to see the new Acer ‘Marlot’ at Chelsea this year. Acer ‘Taylor’ has been the king of pink acers for the past couple of years as it holds its colour all season. ‘Marlot’, although the colour doesn’t hold all summer, has the most brilliantly strong, pink edged leaves in spring, softening in summer but reappearing as autumn approaches.
It also seems to be a good robust plant that will stand tougher conditions in the garden. Its ultimate height promises to be about 5 foot tall, ideal for the average garden. I think it will be at home in our Feel Good garden among all the soft, pastel pinks and mauves.
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| Acer 'Shaina' |
Another Acer making its debut with us at Chelsea this year is Acer ‘Shaina’. The colouring is just like Acer ‘Bloodgood’; rich, deep plum becoming more vivid red when the leaves first unfurl. It has a wonderful compact growth habit perfect for small gardens or in a pot. It loves full sun and unusually holds its rich colouring all summer.
It is particularly attractive in summer when the older leaves mix with the flush of new leaves to give a wonderful tapestry of red shades. It appeared as a witches broom, a random mutation, in a very old Acer palmatum ‘Atropurpureum’ and proved such an interesting slow growing form that it was propagated and introduced to the world.
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| Exochorda 'Niagara' |
Exochorda ‘Niagara’ is a completely new hybrid bred from Exochorda ‘The Bride’, a Hillier introduction from the 1930s. I look out from my office window onto the original plant of The Bride and beautiful though it is I couldn’t have it in my garden; it is just too big for me. ‘Niagara’ has inherited the gorgeous arching branches packed with masses of pure white flowers but on a much more compact plant. It looks like a perfect choice for calm relaxing green and white of the Garden of Contemplation.
Lavenders are always staples at Chelsea as they flower right on time every year. This year the calming oils in the Lavender are right on trend as we look at how the garden fits into your life. Certainly I know that the rich, heady scent of lavender drifting across the garden on a warm sunny day is guaranteed to make me smile.
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| Lavandula 'Imperial Gem' |
I have a soft spot for English lavender with its tall elegant spires of deep blue flowers. I love ‘Imperial Gem’ as it has the most fabulous dark flowers combined with really silvery foliage. A combination that will work well with deep jewel shades of roses and perennials. I always mulch my lavenders with gravel as they love good drainage and hate too much moisture round the top of the plants. The gravel slowly works its way into the soil improving the drainage in the longer term and I top up with a fresh layer every summer.
Pip Bensley
