The Queen visited the Chelsea Flower Show in her Golden Jubilee year. 51 Gold medals were awarded at the show, which has been proclaimed a vintage Chelsea. Thousands of wonderful plants, 19 Show Gardens, and numerous Small Gardens – Courtyards, Chic and City Gardens – attracted 157,000 visitors.

This year there was more emphasis on plants than on concrete, decking and steel structures. It took real gardeners to recognise the expertly chosen species and varieties of plants in some of the wilder gardens.

Show Gardens

A Gold medal and Best in Show went to Garden Open - a garden designed by Roger Platts to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the National Garden Scheme. Naturalistic planting, non-obtrusive wooden garden furniture, a brick wall, and block paving helped to create a typical English country garden. Delphinium ‘Guinevere’ and roses ‘Chianti’ and ‘Seagull’ were memorable among a multitude of carefully chosen blooms.

Mary Reynolds’ A Celtic Sanctuary won a Gold for a beautiful presented garden of plants indigenous to Ireland – including sundews, vivid purple-flowering butterworts and her declared favourite daisies. And Merrill Lynch Investment Managers gained a Gold medal for the Sanctuary. Verbascum ‘Suttons Apricot’, orange-brown grass Carex buchananii and Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ were among the spectacular plants on this garden, designed by Stephen Woodhams.

Kowa Creative Art, Relections on a Tateshina Meadow, designed by Miss Kay Yamada, was awarded a Silver-Gilt Flora medal. Inspiration for the garden came from the wild flower meadows of Kirigamine Plateau located in a central region of Japan. A small representation of meadow formed part of the design, including plants hemerocallis, Iris japonica, aquilegia. A wooden platform, potted topiaries, and a Japanese garden parasol also provided strong features.

His Highness Shaikh Zayed gained a Silver-Gilt Flora for The Garden of Transparency. Visitors liked the display of scented white Rosa ‘Winchester Cathedral’, the hornbeam topiary arches and the long pool. The blackbirds that nested in one of the trees in this garden were granted protection by the RHS.

Laurent-Perrier Harpers & Queen The Healing Garden, designed by HRH The Prince of Wales (in association with Jinny Blom) in honour of HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, was awarded a Silver medal. White and mauve honesty, deep pink roses, and orange calendula formed bold splashes of colour. A lime-washed earth shelter contained an oak bench and trees, shrubs, medicinal herbs, and a traditional laid hedge drew a lot of attention from the public. At the entrance, large rocks formed focal points. Dandelions (complete with clocks), cowslips, campion and red clover had been expertly planted between the hedge and the kerb.

And a Silver medal went to Marie Curie’s Garden of Discovery, for a Show Garden based on the Parisian house and garden of the scientist who discovered radium, one hundred years ago.

Golden Garden from Help the Aged was awarded a Bronze. Rosa ‘Golden Showers’ was just one of over 200 yellow, cream and white-flowering rose varieties chosen to highlight the golden theme. The delightful roses climbed over brick walls and arches. A Bronze also went to The Wonderful World of Koi – a garden that fascinated the crowds, mainly due to the giant fish.

Small Gardens

Best City Garden

A Gold medal went to Spare the Water – designed by Caroline Simpson for Shaw Trust in association with Barclays. The Trust enables disabled and disadvantaged people to find work.

Best Chic Gardens

The rich colours led to a Gold for Alison Wear Associates’ Kelly’s Creek.

Best Courtyard Garden

Aylesbury College gained a Gold for Child’s Eye View – a den, water and food plants formed part of this garden for Children.

BBC/RHS People’s Awards

People’s Best Garden

The West Midlands Shizuoka Goodwill Garden, designed by Julian Dowle Partnership, was based round a farmyard - complete with an old Ferguson tractor in a barn, wild flowers, and a brick gully for running water. According to the contractor Chris Caligari, inspiration for the garden came from a water-colour painting.

New Plants

Keen gardeners visit the Chelsea show to learn the names of new plants. The following are among many outstanding introductions this year:

Bound to be popular is the new orchid-shaped foxglove, Digitalis ‘Saltwood Summer’, shown on the Gold award winning Hillier Artist’s Garden.

Pioneer Nurseries in Hertfordshire, who supplied the perennials for Show Garden Wherefore Art Thou?, introduced Verbascum ‘Ebeneezer Howard’ (buff pink flowers with central purple eye) - a plant said to continue in flower until September.

Ken Muir showed new strawberries Fragaria ‘Hapil’ and ‘Rosie’. From Steven Bailey came carnations: bright salmon ‘Cheerio’, lavender pink ‘Day Dream’, orange ‘Solar Chiaro’ and apricot ‘Solar Oro’. And C S Lockyer introduced new Fuchsia ‘Avon Glow’.

New from Blackmore & Langdon were Delphinium ‘Amadeus’ and Begonia ‘Mother Goose’. Blooms of Bressingham Ltd introduced Coreopsis rosea ‘Sweet Dreams’ and deep purple-flowering Jacob’s ladder, Polemonium ‘Bressingham Purple’.

New roses

Introductions from David Austin Roses Ltd included ‘Royal Jubilee’, ‘Spirit of Freedom’, ‘Mortimer Sackler’. From Peter Beales Roses came rose ‘Anthony - to raise funds for the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust. Among Fryers Nurseries Ltd., roses were ‘Annick’ and ‘Seventh Heaven’. Harkness Roses introduced golden yellow ‘Gracious Queen’, while C&K Jones displayed rose-of-the-year 2002, named ‘Simply the Best’. And Notcutts Nurseries gained one of the Gold Medal Awards and launched Rosa ‘Gold Beauty’.

Societies’ stands, numerous educational exhibits, and horticultural sundries to make a gardener’s life easier, could be found at the show. In the area reserved for greenhouses and garden frames, a Burgin conservatory had been constructed with Paxton style features, using a new type of glass called Conservaglass.

Alitex joined forces with organic gardening organisation HDRA - drawing attention to a beautiful garden and Thomas Messenger style glasshouse.

A video of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show can be purchased from this website.