A gold medal at Chelsea

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Gold! When the medals are awarded, the BBC makes a habit of pouncing on designers, and sticking a camera in their faces, to capture tears of joy or disappointment. I’ve never had an ambition to cry on national television, so I was in my hotel room doing some ironing, when my sponsor rang to break the news that the M&G Garden had won gold at Chelsea.

It’s been a long journey, and the first emotion you feel, is relief. It’s like finally passing the finishing line at the end of a marathon. And I always shed a tear.
 
The planting was a struggle, because so many of the plants were small, or just didn’t flower. But the end result was as good as I could possibly have hoped for. A lot of plants didn’t make the final cut, but the pared down palette was actually a bonus. Without planning it I ended up with quite a few native plants, including cow parsley, geums and aquilegias, which have really helped create a wild perennial border.
 
Everyone has noticed the increase in naturalistic perennial planting at the show. On press day, the actor John Hurt, was standing in front of one of the neighbouring gardens, and was heard to say, "I spend my whole time trying to stop my garden from looking like this".
 
The unexpected stars are Paeonia ‘Claire de Lune,’ and Trollius ‘Cheddar’. The round buds of both echo perfectly the holes in the stone walls that were inspired by the repeated patterns of William Morris wallpaper. And they reflect the shapes of the sculpture perfectly.
 
We were lucky that planting week was cool and dry, but now this scorching weather is drying everything out rapidly. We aren’t meant to water during the day but we have to, as everything is shrivelling.

It’s interesting to see how the garden has grown so much in just a few days. The pink Hesperis was partially in bud when we planted it, and now it’s in full flower. So too is Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Alba’. Both have also grown taller, making the garden more colourful, and not quite as flat as it was at the beginning of the week.

So, that's it for another year. I've had an amazing time, designing and building the M&G Garden, and show week has been as thrilling as ever. I hope you've enjoyed reading about my progress.

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