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| Chatsworth garden wins top prize at Chelsea flower show | Chatsworth garden wins top prize at Chelsea flower show |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The large crowds around Dan Pearson’s ambitious Chelsea flower show re-imagining of the grounds at Chatsworth House would be advised to enjoy his creation while they can: immediately after winning the award for best show garden, Pearson said he might never return. | |
| Related: ‘The day I uprooted Chatsworth and took it to Chelsea’: Dan Pearson | Related: ‘The day I uprooted Chatsworth and took it to Chelsea’: Dan Pearson |
| “There won’t be a next time. I really don’t think I will come back,” Pearson said from amid his rock-strewn, naturalistic site, which includes 10 truckloads of stone shipped 160 miles from a quarry in Derbyshire. He then paused: “I might, you know. I’ve said that before.” | |
| But it could be a while. Pearson’s Chatsworth Garden, an amalgamation and recreation of a rockery and trout stream at the duke and duchess of Devonshire’s estate, is his first appearance at Chelsea for 11 years, and he said it would be years before he thinks of trying again. | |
| The Observer gardening columnist said: “I think I’ve said something about the way I’m planting at the moment, and where I’m looking at space, and I won’t come back for some time, if I even do come back. I feel you need some time to recharge with some new energy.” | The Observer gardening columnist said: “I think I’ve said something about the way I’m planting at the moment, and where I’m looking at space, and I won’t come back for some time, if I even do come back. I feel you need some time to recharge with some new energy.” |
| The garden, which took two years to plan and 18 “very intensive days” to build, at one point almost never happened when Thames Water engineers said the plans could place too much strain on a Victorian sewer running under the site. Pearson said it was his most testing creation yet. | The garden, which took two years to plan and 18 “very intensive days” to build, at one point almost never happened when Thames Water engineers said the plans could place too much strain on a Victorian sewer running under the site. Pearson said it was his most testing creation yet. |
| “It was quite ambitious, yes,” he explained. “At certain points we felt very intrepid. One of the planters arrived and saw the site on the first day and she said to me, ‘Dan, what were you thinking?’. So we had T-shirts with that on printed up for the whole team at the end.” | “It was quite ambitious, yes,” he explained. “At certain points we felt very intrepid. One of the planters arrived and saw the site on the first day and she said to me, ‘Dan, what were you thinking?’. So we had T-shirts with that on printed up for the whole team at the end.” |
| Even inside a packed first public day at the central London event on Tuesday punctuated by heavy showers, Pearson’s huge, triangular creation was a clear highlight. | |
| “It’s so impressive, especially the way he recreates nature,” said Judith Glover, once tender of a small north London garden but now transplanted to a bigger plot in Suffolk. “It’s really hard to do – it’s not just knowing what to plant, it’s knowing what to leave alone,” added Linette Ralph, her friend and former London neighbour. | “It’s so impressive, especially the way he recreates nature,” said Judith Glover, once tender of a small north London garden but now transplanted to a bigger plot in Suffolk. “It’s really hard to do – it’s not just knowing what to plant, it’s knowing what to leave alone,” added Linette Ralph, her friend and former London neighbour. |
| Equally innovative was the smaller creation that took the award for best fresh garden, the grandly titled Dark Matter Garden, which has as its aim nothing less than to explain the secrets of the universe. | |
| It was designed by Howard Miller in conjunction with Professor Michael Bode, who heads the Astrophysics Research Institute at Liverpool John Moores University. Bode is involved with the National Schools’ Observatory, an educational trust that aims to interest children in the wonders of the cosmos. | |
| Bode, whose previous gardening expertise was mainly growing vegetables, began by advising on a prize-winning galaxy-themed garden at the Royal Horticultural Society’s sister show in Tatton, Cheshire, two years ago. | Bode, whose previous gardening expertise was mainly growing vegetables, began by advising on a prize-winning galaxy-themed garden at the Royal Horticultural Society’s sister show in Tatton, Cheshire, two years ago. |
| “We sat in the tent on the last day in the rain thinking, what shall we do next?” Bode explained. “I said, ‘What about Chelsea? And what if the theme was dark matter?’ I didn’t know how we would interpret this.” | “We sat in the tent on the last day in the rain thinking, what shall we do next?” Bode explained. “I said, ‘What about Chelsea? And what if the theme was dark matter?’ I didn’t know how we would interpret this.” |
| The eventual design is based on a European Space Agency diagram of how dark matter – which cannot be seen but is believed to comprise most of the universe – can be detected by the way light bends round it. | The eventual design is based on a European Space Agency diagram of how dark matter – which cannot be seen but is believed to comprise most of the universe – can be detected by the way light bends round it. |
| In the garden, light is represented by long metal rods that curve elegantly around plants, standing in for something more grand than usual. “This giant bamboo represents a cluster of galaxies,” said Bode, pointing at one element. | |
| The final top prize, for best artisan garden, went to the Sculptor’s Picnic, by Graham Bodle, featuring a woodland theme including oak branches shaped like stag antlers. | |
| In the show gardens category, a garden created by Prince Harry’s Lesotho-based charity Sentebale had to be content with one of the silver gilt awards. | In the show gardens category, a garden created by Prince Harry’s Lesotho-based charity Sentebale had to be content with one of the silver gilt awards. |
| One of the more predictable elements of the day’s prizegiving came when a Hampshire-based nursery was handed one of the gold medals in the pavilion awards. Now with its 70th consecutive such prize, Hillier Nurseries in Romsey is the most successful exhibitor in the history of the show. |