Chelsea Week

Published on by Catherine

Six on Saturday

Hands up if you are following the Chelsea Flower Show on tv this week! Or perhaps some of you were lucky enough to be at the show in person? Did you enjoy it, what do you think about this year’s gardens – did any give you inspiration, make you want to rush out and dig up your garden and start all over, or maybe you weren’t enthused about the show gardens? Whatever your feelings about the creations there’s no doubt that a huge amount of talent and hard work (not to mention expense) went into creating them.

I spotted some little cameos in the gardens that I thought were lovely. The floral marquee, was as always, full of magnificent displays of floral magic. My favourite gardens have always been those created by Chris Beardshaw who sadly wasn’t exhibiting this year. I’m sure we all managed to find something that had us reaching for Google to find out what online nursery stocked it!

After the torrential rain of the past few days, I’ve been outdoors trying to lift soggy planting off the ground. The oriental poppies have been flattened and ‘Perry’s White’ has started flowering – on the ground. I hope a few dry days will help them pull themselves up, but we’ve added rusty bows to give them some extra support to help them get back on their feet. Hardy geraniums have also been flattened and I wonder if I’d be better just to give them the ‘Chelsea Chop’. But let’s move on to the main topic – here’s this week’s Six on Saturday.

Rugosa Rose ‘Hansa’. The roses in this garden generally begin to bloom in early June, but this rugosa flowers earlier, and it’s a welcome sight. It’s very thorny, but to make up for that, it has gorgeous, large magenta flowers, a beautiful perfume and attractive leaves. You can’t ask for anything more.

Rugosa Rose ‘Hansa’

Chives. This clump of chives grows at the edge of the rose bed, simply because it adds colour in the space between the end of spring flowering and before the start of summer flowering. It also carries the eye into the rose bed where some of its larger family members, Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ grow.

Chives

Lupins are just starting to open and I expect it won’t be long before I’ll be lifting snails off the flower spikes (my resident snails are highly skilled climbers!). They’re currently feasting at lower leaf level – out of sight – but it won’t be long before I spy the slimy things and evict them. I hope. Just visible in the background is Ceanothus thyrsilorus repens.

Lupins

Geranium x ‘Magnificum’. If you’re ever short of colour in the garden at the end of spring, this hardy geranium will soon add some zest to the borders. It’s a large plant (70cm) with clusters of bright purple flowers that will shortly cover the leaves in the second image.

  • Geranium ‘Magnificum’
  • Flowers will soon fill this space

Choisya ternata. I’m not sure how this choisya has managed to cope with the wet winter and then the wet spring as it generally doesn’t like to be over-watered. It’s been flowering for a couple of weeks and the perfume from the flowers has been pleasant during the spell of warm weather.

Choisya ternata

Allium ‘Purple Sensation‘. On one of our recent warm mornings, I wandered out to the garden before breakfast and spotted the sun rising over the fence at the back of the garden, striking the alliums. It looked lovely with the garden bench in the background, so breakfast was delayed while I took some photographs. I liked this one best. The bench was a recent present from my family, including my sisters, and I’m delighted with it.

As I watched the Chelsea Flower Show this week I was interested to hear an Allium Grower say to deadhead alliums as soon as they finish flowering. He went on to say we should not allow the plants to make seedheads, for if we do it will take all the energy away from the bulb and we may lose the flowers the following year or they may be smaller. I don’t deadhead mine, though the winter winds usually blow them over anyway. Perhaps I should deadhead them, just as I do with other bulbs? Food for thought. What do you do?

  • Warm morning sun
  • Tall and stately
  • Bendy

To see many more photographs from enthusiastic gardens from across the world, visit our host, Jim, at his website at Garden Ruminations.

I’m heading up to Aberdeenshire to visit my daughter and her family at the start of next week, so I won’t be posting next Saturday. Meantime, if you’re having rain and plummeting temperatures like us, I hope the weather brightens up for you over this Bank Holiday weekend!

Catherine 😊

38 thoughts on “Chelsea Week”

    1. I’ve been working in the garden most of the day, Rosie and I’ve had to lift and move a couple of plants, plant annuals and pull weeds. With every operation I’ve come across multiple slugs and snails and I know that will only be a tiny percentage of the population here! Hope your lupins flower soon. Enjoy the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend!

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  2. Like Graeme this morning you highlight the good advice not to wait too long before cutting the allium faded flowers. 2 people for similar advice, I’ll probably follow it!

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  3. Funnily enough I was commenting on that Allium grower in my post too! I think Heyjude mentioned something about the alliums taking a year to recover last year, explaining why the seem to dwindle some years and then return the next – so deadheading sounds as though it would solve that issue. I hadn’t realised (or forgot) that you don’t get to wander in the show gardens as common mortals – in which case watching on tv is probably better! Your garden is looking splendid. That lupin is great – I hope you win the battle with the snails.

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    1. I see that Jude has now given a detailed explanation on your blog, Graeme. I’ll deadhead this year, but as I said to Fred, I’ll grow some bulbs in pots and have them ready to pop in the ground if deadheading doesn’t work! My brother & his wife went to Chelsea a few years ago and said it was too crowded and they saw more on tv catchup when they came home.

      I never win the Battle of the Snails! 😐

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  5. It’s funny you should mention the alliums as I’d been wondering if I should deadhead them or not. A quick internet search gives lots of conflicting opinions so I might hedge my bets: deadhead some and leave others.
    I haven’t been around to watch much of the Chelsea coverage but I find it quite repetitive anyway. Some of the show gardens are stunning, others definitely not to my taste. I’m a fan of Chris Beardshaw’s gardens too, I think he creates breathtaking gardens which inspire “ordinary” gardeners.

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    2. Oh, it’s good to meet another Chris Beardshaw fan, Helen. I’ve been fast forwarding through this year’s Chelsea as there’s a lot I’m not interested in or doesn’t appeal to me. I have made a few notes of plants, but it’s tiny compared to what usually gets into the notebook!

      I’m going to deadhead all the alliums, so maybe we can compare notes, during Chelsea week, next year! 😁

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  6. I really love your Rugosa rose! Went around yesterday and gave goldenrod and New England asters the Chelsea chop – a few weeks earlier than usual. I’m hoping they won;t need a second chop in July, but we’ll see…

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    1. I was just eyeing my new england asters with thoughts of the chelsea chop – they appeared late last summer and bloomed at the dainty height of about 2 feet tall, but are much taller than that already! Also they popped up in a random location that happened to be in front of everything else!

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      1. New England Aster flowers are amazing, for so many reasons…but the plant itself will get so tall and floppy, with the lower leaves dying off…in a garden setting (as opposed to being in a meadow where grasses etc cover up the bottom and helps hold them up) I think giving them a chop (or even two…) is often necessary.

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        1. Well, I did it – there were some stems that were not tall yet, but the tallest ones got taken down by 1/3-1/2. Last year they were so cute and short since they had a short growing season by the time the seeds germinated, but they can be a beast as you say with nothing much to support them or cover their bare legs!

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    2. Thanks, Chris, I rather like the Rugosa, too. I gave a few of the hardy geraniums the Chelsea Chop this afternoon. One had to be moved so I thought today would be the ideal time to try it out. I have a tall Aster, and I think I might try cutting some of the stems back rather than the whole plant.

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    1. Thanks, Dock. The geranium was on its face after the two days of torrential rain, but it’s back up today and looking good again.

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  9. It is always a delight to enjoy the quality of your photographs, I can vouch for that geranium. This year I shall give my a shearing after they have finished flowering in the hope of getting a second flush later.

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    1. I’m planning to do the same with the geranium, Noelle. I’ve given a few perennials the Chelsea Chop today and I’m hoping this method work wonders. I guess time will tell. 😁

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  10. My Geranium magnificum has been a stalwart for many years but this year has been something of a failure. Time to lift, split and replant I guess. It’s so reliable I have come to take it for granted.

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    1. That’s a pity, it’s such an impressive plant. I’m sure you’ll work your magic with it and have it back in the best of health before long! Will you divide it now or wait until autumn?

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  11. I watched the Chelsea coverage Catherine but perhaps not with the same enthusiasm that I did a few years ago. I loved the Octavia Hill National Trust garden – so much vivid colour. I would no longer consider visiting as when I did the crowds were overwhelming a times and I now have some mobility issues to contend with. I have though added a handful of plants to my wish list 😂 Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ is a star. I won’t be deadheading mine as I like the seed heads too much. Your photos of it are excellent. Enjoy your trip to see your daughter and family.

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    1. I haven’t finished watching it, Anna. I expect I’ll get round to it in due course though. The Octavia Hill National Trust garden was the best of all the show gardens, I did see a few planting combinations I liked. I like the Allium seedbeds too, but even though they have strong stems, the wind blows them over. The torrential downpours this week has sent several to the ground already. 🙄 Thank you, I leave tomorrow morning and I’m looking forward to spending time with them all.

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  12. I was disappointed with the Chelsea coverage, they seemed to repeat the same stuff over and over (which is why I record and then can fast forward) and my lasting impression was of green! Everything seemed to be a woodland garden. I want colour! The Octavia Hill garden was the best for that and I love that dark red/purple poppy and some of the irises. Somehow though I don’t have much success with annual poppies, I suspect my ground is too heavy and wet. As for alliums, Purple Sensation doesn’t do well for me either despite planting new bulbs several times – Christophii on the other hand comes back each year! I do love the photo you have with the bench behind. Now that’s a Chelsea view to admire.

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    1. You’re right, Chelseas is very repetitive…and green. 😐 I have similar problems with annual poppies, Jude, although I’ve discovered one patch in the garden where the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, will grow. I have seeds of Papaver somniferum ‘Lauren’s Grape’ and have sown some in a tray, and I’ll sow some in two places in the garden to see how they do. Maybe there are more alliums that are less fussy about the soil than Purple Sensation that would do well in your garden? If Christophii, likes your growing conditions there must be others waiting to be discovered. 😀

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  13. I haven’t been to Chelsea this year. I have been a few times in the past and it is too busy. The thing that I found really annoying the last couple of times is that some of the main show gardens can only be seen properly when you are in them, which is just unacceptable when you are paying £120 a ticket for what is a restricted view.

    The TV coverage seems to concentrate too much on those main show gardens to the detriment of the smaller gardens, some of which don’t seem to get much coverage at all. There is definitely a woodland planting trend at the moment which may seen refreshing and original to a London audience, but not so much to those of us who are surrounded by cow parsley when we walk out the gate. At least sawn paving and outdoor kitchens have died a death. So that’s good.

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    1. Oh, I’d no idea it cost so much for a ticket, Catharine. I’d be somewhat irritated if I paid that then couldn’t manage to see what was going on – I’m small so that makes viewing anything from street level a challenge! They have sufficient tv hours to be able to cover more, perhaps if they dropped all the celebrity interviews there would be more time to view the smaller gardens? I agree with you about the woodland planting trend – but I’d imagine that most people are looking for more curated ideas for the small garden outside their own back door. I am.

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  14. Lovely photos Catherine, especially of the Allium. 😃 I leave mine standing, but I have noticed my ‘Everest’ alliums are getting smaller each year. They are spreading though, so it’s a difficult choice – more smaller ones and late summer/autumn interest with seedheads, or a few big ones. I have the same problem with rain flattening my geraniums! It happens most years and of course I have never put a support in in time! I am wary of the Chelsea chop though! Hope yo uget some good weather in your week away, and enjoy your break!

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  15. Lovely photos, and I appreciate the way you provide several angles/shots of each group. I deadhead some Alliums, but I like to have some go to seed and provide structure in the garden through the summer. They are special plants, aren’t they? And the rabbits don’t eat them! Yay! All your other plants are beautiful, too! Happy almost summer!

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