Hydrangea colours - summertime blues

Have taken a blog break since Chelsea - May seems a long time ago.  Chelsea is always followed by a bit of a grey area and this year even the weather has lived up to that expectation: weeks of dull cool, wet dreariness punctuated by the odd couple of days of summer.  However it hasn't been all bad news for gardens: some plants have loved the conditions, among the hydrangeas which are quite magnificent.

I have just returned from a few days in Cornwall, the English home of the hydrangea. Here in the mild South West with its sheltered gardens and maritime climate hydrangeas come through winters unscathed by late frosts. Neutral and acid soils over hard rocks influence the colour of many mophead and lacecap varieties of hydrangea resulting in those gentian blues and rich royal purples we all admire.  Those gardening on chalk soils come away green with envy!

So perhaps its a good opportunity to clear up the mystery of hydrangea colours once and for all. Here I am talking mainly about the varieties of Hydrangea macrophylla which includes the large flowered mophead and lacecap varieties. White hydrangeas such as Hydrangea macrophylla 'Madame Emile Moullierre' stay white on acid or alkaline soils, however the "eyes" of the florets can be blue or pink.  The main floets can blush pink as they age, particularly if the plants are in full sun.  Lacecap hydrangeas consist of large sterile florets around a cluster of small fertile florets - the latter can be blue or pink, influenced by soil type but the sterile outer florets of white varieties such as 'White Wave' stay white on any soil.

 It is the hydrangea colours of pink and red varieties that turn blue on acid soils, and these are the most admired. 
While in Cornwall I visited Trebah, one of the valley gardens on the Helford river.  This has a famous mass planting of some four acres of hydrangeas, mostly rich blue.  Here varieties such as 'King George, normally rose pink, and the pink 'Bodensee' change their colour the blue.  Those gardening on chalk will have to put up with hydrangea colours in the pink spectrum, or grow one in a pot of lime free soil and treat it with hydrangea colourant.

Hydrangeas are justifyably enjoying a revival in popularity - Few other shrubs deliver so much over such a long period - even if we can't all have the summertime blues.

Gardening is for life - not just for Chelsea

The roses are at their best!

Had a great last day at the show. The morning seemed cooler and more pleasant, the afternoon hot and sticky inside, windy and dusty outside. The team have done a great job keeping the display looking good. We try to keep everything as fresh as possible so that Friday and Saturday visitors have as good an experience as those that visit on Monday and Tuesday. When the weather is as hot as it’s been that can be quite a challenge! As few of the rhododendrons and azaleas had been in cold storage and the roses carried more buds than flowers the blooms have become more and more flamboyant as the week has gone on.  Some of the cherries were still in tight bud at the beginning of the week, these were really coming up for being at their best on Friday and will be fabulous on Saturday. When I started doing Chelsea no one considered that the end of the week was worth bothering about: all efforts were for the great and the good at the beginning of the week.  Today every day is equally important.

Our last live fencing demos finished at 11 a.m. followed by some filming for Friday night’s programme with Andy Sturgeon.  I am pleased we got this – I would have been disappointed to leave Chelsea without a mention on the main Chelsea coverage.

By Friday afternoon visitors were wilting and resting on the walls at the front and rear of the exhibit.  I really have not got the heart to move them on.  I join Owen and Rob for a last jug of Pimms in Ranelagh Gardens – the Plane trees are really seeking their revenge, irritating throats and eyes with their dusty, prickly cast offs.  

I manage a few goodbyes and make my way through the crowds towards the London Gate. I wish I had another day, another week, but then maybe there’s another year.  This has been a great Chelsea in many ways. I loved the exhibit; I love what we’ve achieved.

I resist buying another Panama from my friend Mark, then cheer myself up with a little retail therapy on Sloane Square. Once again Planet Chelsea fades into the distance and my real garden appears on the horizon: long grass, plenty of weeds, fading tulips and a million jobs to do. After all gardening is for life – not just for Chelsea.

Fighting for Survival

 My last day at Chelsea always feels the same: I am sorry to be leaving, can’t bear the fact that it’s all over, but there’s also a sense of relief.  I am tired and emotional; not helped by the consumption of a few Pimms and glasses of fizz no doubt. I’ve met up with so many friends during the week; old and new. Twitter buddies, friends from school and university, fellow horticulturists, lovely ladies I’ve been to speak to and garden lovers that have visited my garden.  I suppose that’s what I love about Chelsea; the variety of plants and people.

Our young fencers from The British Fencing team have been awesome, a delight to have on the exhibit and they have been so popular with the visitors.  Visitors from Beazley, specialist insurers, our partners who sponsor the British Fencing team, have been a delight to welcome to the show. I am particularly pleased that we have welcomed many new people to Planet Chelsea this year. Those that have not visited the show before, but who are now captivated by its magic and look forward to making it part of their year, and who are inspired by a new interest in plants and gardens.

As ever I have particularly enjoyed meeting and working with keen young horticulturists who see horticulture as a career. Chelsea rekindles ones hopes for the future of British Gardening and no year needed that more. The sunshine has helped, it always does. Some of the media, especially those responsible for the main coverage of the show seem to have missed the fact that the garden industry has had a disastrous spring – life threatening in many cases.  We all talk tritely about how difficult it’s been to get things ready for the show. This misses the fact that plant and gardening sales have been half of last year through April and May – the biggest months of the year. Can I just clarify how difficult that makes it to justify spending huge amounts of money on Chelsea – will we all be here next year?  Told you I was tired and emotional............................

 

What happens next? Early on Sunday morning, very early, Duel and the Crown will be torn apart. The show plants will head back to the nursery for R&R. Some of the other plants will be sold off on site, the rest head back to Sunningdale for our annual Chelsea sale.  There will be some salvage, and the rest of the foundations of the garden will be scrapped. Duel and the Crown will live on in pictures and in the memories of those that worked on the garden and hopefully visitors to the show. Many say it’s our best Chelsea exhibit ever; but they say that every year. What do I think? – I’ll tell you in a couple of weeks time.

Show Time

It’s just impossible to keep up with blog posts, twitter, facebook and all other communication through the transition from build-up to show time. We finished the exhibit by early afternoon on Sunday, said our farewells to the build up team and then headed back to the apartments in reasonable time for showers, early evening drinks and an early dinner at Benitos.  Sunday night is always a mix of exhaustion, relief, deflation, satisfaction and the realisation that this is only the beginning. Monday is press day, Royal visit, Gala night, celebration dinner followed by an early start on Tuesday when the show visitors arrive.

Sunday evening took a dangerous turn when we settled down in the back room at the restaurant, a quiet group of ten tired Hillier people. Just as we had ordered the doors burst open and ten large, merry and loud Irish folk arrived having missed their flight home after rugby at Twickenham. Determined to have a good time the singing commenced. Two choices: have a disturbed evening or join in – what would you have done? I think I’ve performed Sweet Caroline better, but I did manage to keep my shirt on. This was no mean achievement as the Irish boys seemed to have acquired a taste for Desigual!

Monday – Press Day. Better weather but cool and breezy. The exhibit looked great and a small hitch with the electrics had been resolved – thanks Paul. Our two fab fencers arrived: Alex and James. They would be with us right through the royal visit.  We had an amazing press call and I must say the whole thing looked dazzlingly photogenic.  The lads are tall, slim and elegant, and struck an arresting pose amidst the flowers and foliage.  There were certainly plenty of cameras around – no BBC main coverage but Hillier are accustomed to that. Perhaps corgis made from chrysanthemum heads are more appealing to the population than 3500 trees, shrubs and perennials in peak condition and live dynamic fencers that will probably be part of Team GB London 2012?

Great Press Launch – lots of people – sparkling Rose soon disappears; both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Somewhere along the line we have been judged; fingers crossed for the result. 3.30 comes around very quickly and it’s time to turn attention the Royal visit. We know that Her Majesty will be visiting Hillier and that she will meet the Fencers. I brief them on what I think will be the course of events but we all know that things can change very rapidly at the last moment. The red carpet is rolled out and everyone takes their places. We seem to stand for ages; the temperature has risen and it looks like a nice evening is on its way.  Eventually The Duke of Edinburgh arrives with entourage; there is lots of hand shaking, and the fencers have been asked to fence during his arrival.  It takes several minutes to get to Hillier, and then the Duke watches and chats.  I do feel for the lads; they will certainly be pretty warm and exhausted by the time Her Majesty arrives.

We wait again and there are several false starts. Eventually the moment comes, fencing commences and Her Majesty comes around the corner.  John and I greet her and I explain the exhibit and tell her about James and Alex and invite her to meet them.  I call an end to the fencing, they raise their masks and Her Majesty approaches, a fantastic moment.   They are clearly awestruck, as everyone is. Her Majesty is charming, chatty, interested; she asks them where they train, when Olympic team selection happens and although its only minutes it seems as if she has been with us for a long time.  This was a fantastic moment for all of us and I think one we will all remember always. Meeting Her Majesty in her Diamond Jubilee Year, and talking about what we do and what we are passionate about, whether its sport or gardening.

Other Royal parties follow: Prince Michael of Kent chats to the fencers, also Princess Michael.

After the visit there is a short hiatus before Gala Night. Our two fencers for the evening arrive: Anthony and Alex, and James and Alex stay on.  They get stuck into the canapés, and the two retiring fencers down a well-deserved glass of champagne before the Beazley Guests arrive. Soon afterwards the Beazley party assemble. For many of them it’s their first visit to Chelsea. We are treated to a fencing demonstration and I have the pleasure of showing our guests around the exhibit. Monday was a really pleasant evening: appreciative, interested charming guests, many of whom stayed with us for most of the evening. Our fencing lads had a good time and I have to say it was such a pleasure having them along.  Every Chelsea brings a new experience; the opportunity to see a little of someone else’s world: Chelsea 2012 has been one of the best!

Sabres on Sunday

Yesterday was a good day - all went relatively smoothly and we finished in reasonable time. We left with a little planting still to do and plenty of labels still to write.  This has been a relatively sensible Chelsea -no hooligan nights and hungover days. Perhaps the cool temperatures have been something to do with it.

By Sunday late morning the planting is finished. The polythene lifted and its clean up time.  Its always amazing just how much there is to do in those last few hours, stone and gravel to move, deserted pallets, remaining foliage - the poor misfortunate rejected plant specimens that the staging team have left on the sidelines.  The boards that cover the ground around the exhibit have to be lifted and removed, the grass raked, the paths swept, again, and again, and again.  I am always amazed by Neil and Nigel's stamina - they just keep going until he job is finished. We pause to take a few pics - but other than that its all go.

Alex and Josh are our Sunday fencers. They fence with Sabres - rather more violent than the delicate blade work of epee. A rose is beheaded, a piece of acer flies throough the air and I fear for my sculpture.  Our lovely clean paving is soon marked with footprints and looking distinctly lived in. 

We are keen to get the minibus off early - most of the guys and girls are back to their day jobs tomorrow. Chelsea won last night and there is to be a Victory parade - not good news on Chelsea Sunday. We get them on the road before 3 - not bad. Team Chelsea 2012 has been fantastic - A group of people from different areas of the company and some friends old and new from the industry. This seems to create a dynamism and determination to create something amazing! I hate it when the team split up at he end of the day; its always an emotional moment.

I always have dreams of leaving early on Sunday afternoon and shopping, having a nap and then heading off for dinner. Needless to say it does not happen - we leave late afternoon. 

Lights cameras action...

Saturday morning starts with recording for the official Chelsea DVD - As ever the Pavilion is hectically noisy but filming doesn't take long - charming crew as ever.  Our deadline today is 2p.m. -  That's when our fencers arrive for photography.

By lunchtime the two areas at the front of the exhibit are completed and all that remains is to sweep up and take up the polythene to reveal the paving.  Tim cracks on with some of the photography - we are determined to get ahead of schedule - but we are every year.

The morning passes swiftly and the gaps in the planting soon get filled. A team make a start on decorating the RHS exhibit and Quist – one of our regular favourites.  Right the way through the morning it seems like we are ahead – but gradually time creeps up on us.

Neil and Nigel unpack the small bronze sculpture by Sue Freeborough and it takes its place on the plinth. It really is truly stunning and has such impact for a piece of its stature.  I want it instantly.

By 2p.m. a camera crew from Australia arrive with our friend Graham Ross from Melbourne telly; he’s a Chelsea regular.  They’ve come to see our two lovely young lady fencers demonstrate their art on the piste for the first time.  The polythene that covers the path is ripped up and the pathway is revealed – transformation.  It’s just as if someone turned the lights on!

Another camera crew arrive and a crowd quickly gathers – the fencing commences and the exhibit really bursts into life – this is going to be good.  It’s easy to see what a draw this will be when the show is open.

Frantic Friday

Friday always is the BIG staging day.  Its amazing how the time disappears and the plants vanish into the group.  At the beginning of the day there seems to be so much to do and progrss seems slow.  But as another three lorry loads of plants everyone gets second wind and by lunchtime the exhibit suddenly morphs into a garden.

Sreve and Mark have been labelling all day.  The exhibit requires around 800 labels. Up until now those labels have been written by hand - this year we've gone tehno. Labels using the laptop and a fantastic Brother labeller - they look relly good!

Tim has been posing around with the camera capturing some of the action and getting pics of all the team members. We also discuss tomorrow's photography when we will be shooting the key vistas for our Chelsea Live magazine.  I'm praying for a bright ay tomorrow - I have to say today has been rather gloomy at times.  We still have the RHS xperience to plant tomorrow - and Quist.  It will be nice to get outside and escape from the Pavilion for a while - that is if the the sun shines.

Our guest team members Paul and Owen have been enjoying themselves on the Piste with Pip and Dan.  My sharp spiky scheme reflecting the sport of fencing has been in danger of becoming pink and rather "girly" at times - but the finished result is fabulous!

Can't believe its Saturday tomorrow. Where did that week go.  Every year I imagine that I'm going to have loads of time to go and buy that shirt, chat to friends go to the gym - who am I trying to kid!