Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer ^W^W^W^W uk.rec.gardening, I
heard Jane Lumley say...
Anyone else been? I was there yesterday - Tuesday - and found the
flower pavilions wonderful, esp. Avon Bulbs, Bloms Bulbs, Peter Beales
roses, and Kelways - magnificent flowers on all. Some lovely veggies
too - red carrots!

However, the show gardens were pure dreck. Despite some nice planting,
IMHO there was still far too much impractical hard surfacing designed
solely to bring money to the designer. Who really wants an upright
block of steel in their garden, or a nice slab of concrete? Can anyone
tell me in simple words why designers are diligently building these
monstrosities?

I would be keen to hear others' views....

I was there yesterday too. First time and I had a great time. Pity
that the scrums to look at the small gardens were so disorganised, and
once it started to rain, it was impossible to see anything for the flock
of umbrellas that sprouted up.

I found a lot of the planting in the show gardens to be very similar,
despite the differences in style and alleged localities. With the odd
exception, I wouldn't want my garden to look like that.

I guess the over abundance of hard landscaping is to make it look low
maintenance - no lawn, so no mowing. And if you don't have a lawn, you
have to fill the space with something, hence the reliance on slabs of
concrete. I don't think much of the gimicky structures, although I did
like the blue glass columns in the LMU garden.

It's difficult. I have an assignment at the moment to design a garden
to Chelsea criteria. You really don't get a lot of space in the small
gardens and it has to have a strong theme or gimmick in order to stand
any chance of getting picked. But saying that, I didn't think that many
of them were all that extraordinary.

I did enjoy the displays in the floral pavillions. The Alpine Society
display was great, as were the various stands of tropical plants from
sunnier climes.

Didn't get to see everything, as we only had afternoon tickets. I don't
think I could stand a whole day of it, but it's too much to see in one
afternoon.
--
Fenny
All extremists should be taken out and shot.