[pwurple]

Anyone watching this? Or going?

Just caught the end of the medals there, seems to be a lot of emphasis on foliage this year. Hedges and topiary. What do people think of it?

[40701085]

There's definitely a more formal look to the show gardens this time. Went last year, its great for getting ideas that you can imitate on a small scale in your own patch (except for anything by Diarmuid Gavin of course ).

[pwurple]

With you on that... gosh that sky garden was daftness.

[paddy147]

Wait till you see Diarmuid Gavins "garden" (more like a crock of shyte) this year.

7 storeys tall and More steel scaffolding poles in it,than actual plants.

Sorry,but the guy really annoys me with he attitude and his "gardening" abilities.

[paddy147]

Originally Posted by pwurple

With you on that... gosh that sky garden was daftness.

Didnt he try to offload it to Cork County Council and then they got hit with a rather large invoice for maintaining it???

Its now sitting in a truck yard,rusting away.

[paddy147]

Originally Posted by pwurple

Anyone watching this? Or going?

Just caught the end of the medals there, seems to be a lot of emphasis on foliage this year. Hedges and topiary. What do people think of it?

From what I saw of it tonight on TV,its more about actual construction work and hard landscaping than actual plants and flowers.

And almost all of those Mediterranean plants in those show gardens would not survive a typical Uk or Irish winter or even our normal weather in general.So in my eyes,its rather pointless.

[pwurple]

Yes, the tall thing was awful. He isn't an architect... (is he?) so I don't know why he would go into this. Anyway, it was not attractive in anyway whatsoever. It just didn't have enough plants. Far too much furniture. It was an interesting idea, i lived in a flat with a north facing windy balcony before, and found it tricky to grow anything at all there. It could have been a very useful experiment, but it was poorly implemented. Loved the photos of the plan for that building in milan with the forest planted on the outside though. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/201...green-buildin/

Don't forget as well that at chelsea, only the judges and the presenters get to go into the gardens. The paying public can only see the outside of it, and most of the interest was in the center. He even had a lift in it. Must have cost a fortune.

I think he just continues to get funding for being controversial.

The mediterranean plants... That was just the theme of last nights programme I think. They clutch at straws sometimes to bring things together. I thought there was plenty of stuff that would live here. The thymes and other herbs do fine here, and they had suggested replacing the italian cyprusses with skyrocket and the thuja.
Bouganvillia as bedding in a hanging basket was an interesting one.

[paddy147]

Originally Posted by pwurple

Yes, the tall thing was awful. He isn't an architect... (is he?) so I don't know why he would go into this. Anyway, it was not attractive in anyway whatsoever. It just didn't have enough plants. Far too much furniture. It was an interesting idea, i lived in a flat with a north facing windy balcony before, and found it tricky to grow anything at all there. It could have been a very useful experiment, but it was poorly implemented. Loved the photos of the plan for that building in milan with the forest planted on the outside though. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/201...green-buildin/

Don't forget as well that at chelsea, only the judges and the presenters get to go into the gardens. The paying public can only see the outside of it, and most of the interest was in the center. He even had a lift in it. Must have cost a fortune.

I think he just continues to get funding for being controversial.

The mediterranean plants... That was just the theme of last nights programme I think. They clutch at straws sometimes to bring things together. I thought there was plenty of stuff that would live here. The thymes and other herbs do fine here, and they had suggested replacing the italian cyprusses with skyrocket and the thuja.
Bouganvillia as bedding in a hanging basket was an interesting one.

The only part of that entire Chelsea Flower Show that I liked,was the part about wild native flowers and the "meadow style" gardens.

But even that particular show garden looked a bit too "man made" with too much paving slabs and concrete in it.

Why dont people make their gardens look more "natural"??