Chelsea Flower Show last word. Read my stuff at Guardian gardening blog and Telegraph gardening blog.
1. I was interested to see that Alan Titchmarsh and show manager Alex Baulkwill agreed Chelsea was vintage show on the basis that it sold out and some nurseries were happy.
Not great the BBC should spin things this way. Reith would turn in his grave.
2. Met William Notcutt at Chelsea press day. His family garden centre company were not exhibiting for the first time since the show moved to Chelsea. Discussed possible interview in Garden Retail magazine-Notcutts have bought new centres and sold nursery business. Rang him later last week-he was still at Chelsea. Rang him this week. MA: “Hello William. How are you? How was Chelsea?” William: “Stop hounding me. I don’t want to talk to you.” Umm.
3. Showed a delegation of overseas trade journalists around Chelsea on final Saturday afternoon. Went to press office to get a catalogue-they had stopped selling them. Press officer was about to give me six she had packed away, then changed her mind and said as RHS was a charity she couldn’t. They are useless after the show. Jobsworth?
4. Overseas journalists got to meet Ulf, Adam Frost, Mark Gregory, Peter Seabrook, Steve and Val Bradley, James Wong, Patrick Collins etc. Also Ricky Gervais walked by. Me: “Look, it’s Ricky Gervais!” Overseas contingent: “Who, Wer, Kto, Qui etc?”
5. The BBC won’t tell us how much Chelsea cost to televise or why they dropped the People’s Choice award. Just won’t. Don’t want to.
6. Garden hacks rounded on the trade at Chelsea. Dan Pearson in the Observer said: “There seemed to be a lot of distractions this year, there being 14 [actually 13] show gardens, down from 22 in 2008. Paradoxically, the void that they left was filled with commercial stands, which seemed at odds with the times. It left me to think how nice it would be if there was a plant sales area that allowed the small nurseries the chance of plying their wares. It would put the horticultural back into the trade.
HTA consultant Doug Stewart said: “It was a shame to see so many trade stands, where show gardens used to be. It is becoming a biennial show, with a good year and poor year, and this was certainly a poor year.”
FT garden snob Robin Lane-Fox said: “There are fewer big gardens and the supplementary space is taken up by tat and accessories.”
Guardian environment editor John Vidal said: “Last week saw the biggest ever, most heavily attended Chelsea Flower Show, with unimaginable amounts of gardening equipment being hawked.” He then goes on to make a tenuous point about gardening expenses and patio heaters.
Matthew Appleby : “Not biggest ever. Equal number trade stands as last year. Forty percent fewer show gardens. Same size footprint as last 10 years.Not most heavily attended. Used to get 250,000 before capped at 157,000.
Amounts of gardening equipment-quite easy to imagine there will be some gardening equipment on show at a gardening show."
7. Scotsdales garden centre at Chelsea got a bronze. Sun’s Steve Bradley asked if judge was “Stevie Wonder”. Also talk about gardens judge Michael Balston being ex Chelsea designer for Daily Telegraph. DT won best in show. Doesn’t make any difference I’d say.
8. Lookalikes:
Joe Swift-Phil Spencer. And both boom year Islington media slapheads.
German tree expert Claus Mattheck. Brum/LA rocker Ozzy Osborne
9.
How the media works:
HW interviews Nigel Taylor, Kew cutrator. Taylor says Kew has received £2m bail-out from government. We run story and tell newspapers. They decide to go with ‘Queen and Prince Philip eat cake to celebrate 250th anniversary of Kew’. Three weeks later Amateur Gardening runs story – fair enough - they have long printing deadlines. The Press Association sees the story. Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail run it next day after contacting me for comment. My comment: “I wrote the f##king thing three weeks ago.”
10. Posh gardeners. Prince Charles was given a Victoria Medal of Honour at Chelsea Flower Show last month by his mum. Charles is Britain’s poshest gardener. Gardening is still a posh pastime. As a northerner I obviously have a chip on my shoulder about this.
Here’s my top 17 posh gardeners.
1.Prince Charles-no other royals like gardening. Heir to throne. Runs own label organic firm. Duchy spades costs £65. Recently given VMH.
2. Lady Mary Keen-so posh she doesn't like using title
3. Bunny Guinness-Mitford's were married to a Guinness
4. Alys Fowler-At Horticulture Week former dep ed Amy Jenkins asked Fowler if she ever went out in Basingstoke after finding out AF is a Hants girl. Late editor Pete Weston interjected: "I don't think Alys is the type to go the Basingstoke's nightclubs.
5. Sir Roddy Llewellyn -Princess Margaret's ex. Likes using his new title.
6. James Alexander-Sinclair posh through and through. Slums it a bit though
7. ?-always on about her other homes. Writes for RHS. Aims at snooty gardeners.
8. Joe Swift-mockney youngest son of literati dame M Drabble, nephew Dame A Byatt, stepson Sir M Holroyd, rest of family acting clan.
9. Lady Salisbury-gardener to the nobs. Dowager Marchioness. Family seat Hatfield House. Says 'dreadfully' a lot.
80. Debo Devonshire-owns Chatsworth.
11. Arabella Lennox-Boyd-married to son of Viscount but went to Thames Poly. V grand. Designed for Duke of Westminster etc.
12. Monty Don-christened Montagu (Cambs) trustafarian.
13. Jinny Blom/Tom Stuart-Smith-design for Prince Charles.
14. Valerie McBride Munro-Garden Media Guild
15. Simon Thornton-Wood -most RHS-types16. Graham Paskett-gardening PR. Tweeds. Fly fishing.17. Tom Hart-***-family sold Lullingstone Castle but Tommy HD made his garden in the grounds anyway. 