Chelsea with Willmott Ford

Yesterday I went to the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time with Willmott Ford.  Having been to Hampton Court I had heard Chelsea was a bit smaller and a bit more cramped.  This didn't seem to be the case although you never felt you got a good look at the gardens, a bit like seeing Lenin in state, a quick look and keep on moving.  

There were some fine gardens on show although I'm getting a bit bored with the wild garden with a ramshackle hut at the end of it.  I know its about the planting but most people just want a garden that is easy to manage with a bit of lawn for their children to play on.  There were lots of reflective pools on show and the dominant type of paving seemed to be similar to Travertine in colour, lots of beige...

 The QR Code Garden by Jade Goto and Shelley Mosco our CAD tutor, well done Shelley its a shame we missed you.

 The Rooftop Workspace Garden by Patricia Fox, one of my favourites

 The Teenage Cancer Trust Garden by Joe Swift, very eye-catching colours, very bronze. 

 The Arthritis Research Garden by Thomas Hoblin, excellent!

 Carol Klein doing her stuff.

Andy Sturgeon's garden, didn't want to like it, but I did.

 Arne Maynard's garden, he was the only top designer we saw standing there talking to the punters, well done Arne, where were the rest of you?  Pleached trees?  Wasn't I doing that at Calverley Grounds in 2010?  We all get our inspiration from somewhere Arne.

 The Blue Water Garden.  Nice, except for the blue water and the hut.

 Alan on top of Diarmuid's fine erection.

 Aha, a useable space.  Willmott Whyte's garden.

 A wild garden with a shack...

 Another wild garden with a shack...

 Guess what?  Yep, another wild garden with a shack.  How many ways to skin a cat?

 Ah, formality.  Bit of a trip hazard though.  The World Vision Garden by John Warland and Sim Flemons.  Could have sponsored a lot of children for the cost of this.  I'm just saying...

 L'Occitane Garden by Peter Dowle, smelt good with all of the Curry Plants.

The Furzey Garden by Chris Beardshaw.  Another one...

And Willmott Ford, Garen Designers of Distinction...

Jackson's Comp...again!

After a brief pause the lovely people at Jackson's fencing (might need to use them in the future) have put up some of this year's entries into their small garden competition.  So here is the link to the page where you will also be able to find the winning entries,

http://www.jacksons-fencing.co.uk/2012entries.aspx

Look for yourself, I'll let my public decide.

Olympic Park

As I said previously, we went to the Olympic Park on Sunday to see the Visa International Invitational Hockey free for all.  It was good to see where all of the billions of our tax payers money has gone and the different venues are quite impressive.  I will be interested to see what it looks like in August, we're going back as we have tickets for the hockey preliminaries, will there be much of a change in the landscaping or will the weather mean there is just a lot of lush green growth and not a lot else?

It was a grey old day but when the sun eventually came out it started to look a little better and the Velodrome and basketball venue looked particularly good in the late evening sunshine.

And finally some people playing hockey.  Apparently the first time a blue pitch has been used with a yellow ball in competition, so good luck to GB, we have a chance, especially in the Ladies competition.

Coastal Drift

And talking of Hampton Court Flower Show entries, here is a link to Sue Willmott and Adele Ford's Wyevale East winning entry to the Hampton Court Flower Show 2012.  Follow their progress here www.coastaldrift.blogspot.com

Just spreading the love...

Westfield

We went to a hockey test event at the Olympic Park yesterday so here are some materials etc that have been used at the new Westfield Shopping Centre near the stadium for all of you Landscape Architect types to get hot and bothered about. 

A cantilevered table in Wahaca Mexican restaurant, haven't we seen that one before somewhere?