Weeding the Web

Hillier bigger than ever at RHS Chelsea 2018

One of the most fascinating things about Chelsea is the preparation that goes before. And if you feel that, then you're not alone. "We get the highest number of hits on social media when we show the preparations for Chelsea," explained Sarah Mills, Commercial Head of Wholesale at Hillier, the family-run nursery near Romsey.  

Stihl Inspiration, Sarah Eberle's design for the Hillier stand in the Grand Pavilion at RHS Chelsea 2018

 With Chelsea firmly on the horizon, the mounting pressure is clear. Director of Retail and Wholesale Chris Francis, ultimately responsible for the success of the Hillier stand, said that these days his first emotion on receiving a gold is relief. With Hillier's uninterrupted, and unbeaten, run of 72 golds since 1945, you can see his point.

For Hillier, Chelsea is inextricably entwined with their brand, adding history and credibility with each year. Both the show and Hillier have come a long way since you pitched up with a van, unloaded your pots, put a rope round them, and waited for orders. And in the last five years, it's changed again for Hillier. Recently moved to a central spot in the Grand Pavilion, the stand's  design is no longer solely focused on what they've grown. "Now we're very much able to produce something that will inspire people to create their own green living spaces," said Chris. 

Designer Sarah Eberle and Hillier's Head Grower Jo Fell examine plants at the Hillier nursery.

Sarah Eberle, the most decorated designer in Chelsea history, is the stand designer for the third year running. She's won gold in more categories than any other designer, and last year became the first to achieve three years in a row of two gold medals; she's taken the innovative step of allowing visitors onto the stand this year. "We've opened up the garden to allow people to interact with it and take inspiration for every aspect so they can get up close to the planting." From the walkway you'll be able to see various parts themed around work (including a potting shed), rest (a relaxed garden room) and and play (a firepit). "Each exhibit will have special element for people to take home," she said. Sponsored by Stihl, the garden will have made liberal use of their equipment in its creation,and include a broader range of what's on offer in Hillier Garden Centres, including pots, tools and accessories.

It's a huge space to fill, up from last year's 12 x 22 metres to 15 x 24 metres. "It's a challenge with growing the number of plants," said Sarah. "We've had snow, rain, twenty-eight degrees heat - designers are stressed! My pillow of comfort is that everyone is in the same boat," she added. 

Charles Carr, Head of Wholesale, and Robert HIllier in discussion. Photo: Helen Gazeley

The Chelsea run-up begins pretty much with the previous year's show. "My greatest source of inspiration is the show itself." So keep your eyes open for Sarah zipping around with sketchpad and notes. On the stand, expect to see earthy, organic colours in the hard landscaping of polished concrete and corten steel provide a backdrop to rich oranges and blues. 

Pampered plants. "From winter blankets on frosty days, to cold storage on warmer days - whatever they want they get," says Charles Carr, Head of Wholesale Nurseries. What makes Hillier such a specialist is the technological advancements and systems we have in place. For example, we use computer-controlled environments to compensate for the weatehr so that we can make sure everything is ready for Chelsea at exactly the right time. And just to be safe, we have batches of the same plant kept in different growing environments purely because of the weather - our attempt to outsmart the unpredictable British climate." Photo: Helen Gazeley

With all that space, the show is the chance to show more and more of the plants that Hillier grows. Three new plants will be in the display. Eryngium 'Blue Waves', an upright plant with large flowerheads surrounded by smaller ones, which along with bracts and stems turn a vivid blue as they mature...

 

Eryngium 'Blue Waves' from Hillier will be on sale at its garden centres

 Hydrangea aspera 'Gold Rush', which starts with gold and flame orange foliage and matures to a golden yellow before turning green...

Hydrangea aspera 'Gold Rush' has velvety textured foliage with lavender blue flowers surrounded by white florets.

 

...and Salvia 'Rhythm and Blues' with stiff, long, black-tipped flower stems contrasting with strong blue flowers...

Salvia 'Rhythm and Blues' liberally repeat-flowers throughout the season, with vivid blue flowers contrasting with black-tipped flower stems.

For George Hillier, fifth generation of the family, the new plants are always a highlight. "We love unveiling our plants at Chelsea and watching people come to find them in the garden. There is almost as much anticipation each year for the announcement of these as there is about the garden design. 

George Hillier, Head of Property, and the fifth generation brought up in the family business.

What visitors to the Hillier stand in previous years will know is that the display will show none of the sweat that will have gone into it - the twenty lorries filled with 8000 plants setting off from the nursery, the 112 bags of cement, the twenty-four pallets of bark, the 150 people involved in the build and all the tea drunk.

If you're not able to make it to Chelsea this year, then pop along to one of the twelve Hillier garden centres around the country. Along with "Chelsea Trolleys" showing a selection of the plants used on the stand, you'll get a small flavour of the show.  "We send pictures to the garden centres," said Chris, "and ask them to produce a version at the entrance." 

No, it won't be quite the same, but nor will it have required 60 tons of hardcore to reproduce!

 

 

 

 

Battery-powered Hedge Cutter Review: Stihl HSA56 v. EGO 6500E

With summer over (and it was a good one, whatever anyone says), it's time to consider successes and failures, and first up is a foray into battery-powered, or cordless, hedge-cutter comparison. This summer I had the fun of putting two head to head: the Ego 6500D and the Stihl HSA 56. Battery-powered tools still have a bit of a reputation to build. On the website Garden Guides, it says "Cordless hedge trimmers have difficulty cutting in general". Nothing could be further from the truth as far as these are concerned. 

The Stihl HSA65 and EGO 6500E cordless hedge cutters.

I had a lot to learn about hedge-cutters. Up to now I've made do with shears, secateurs and the odd saw blade. It turns out that these are quite scary beasts. Mishandled, they could easily maim, so I began to appreciate the effort that's been put into developing safety features. If you've got one, you might like to check what's there.

• Dual handles mean you have to hold the cutter in a stable position to work. The control (rear) handles have two compression switches, so your hand has to be firmly clasped around them. The loop (front) handles have compression switches, so the cutter won't work one-handed.
• A plate in front of the forward handle shields your flesh from the blade, should your hand slip.
• Tooth extensions put a distance between the end of the blades and any flesh they accidentally come into contact with. 
• A switch locks the Off position, which means you (or a curious child) can't absent-mindedly set it going when grasping the handles (the Stihl has this, the EGO doesn't.)
• Insulated gripping surfaces, which protect against shocks should you accidentally cut into hidden live wires.

So, specs up first:

Ego Hedge Cutter 6500E

• Battery: 56V
• Blade length: 65cm
• Cutting capacity (gap between blades): 33mm
• Speed: dual
• Weight (without battery) 3.8kg
• Noise levels:  LWA 91.45 dB(A), with sound pressure level at operator's position LPA 81.4dB(A)
• Vibration: 5.313 m/s² front (loop) handle; 3.115 m/s² rear (control) handle

Stihl Hedge Cutter HSA56

• Battery: 36V
• Blade length: 45 cm
• Cutting capacity (gap between blades) 25 mm (measured by me)
• Speed: single
• Weight: 2.9 kg (the specs don't say whether this includes the battery, but that's what it feels like in comparison with the EGO)
• Noise levels: LWA 91dB(A), with sound pressure level at operator's position LPA 80 dB(A)
• Vibration: Loop (front) handle 1.2 ms²; control (rear) handle 2.7 m/s²

Ease of handling

A glance down the specs show an immediate difference. The EGO has a longer blade, is heavier, and has more vibration. The thing that struck me most was the difference in battery position. Whereas the Stihl's battery is in between the loop handle and the control handle, spreading the weight between them, the EGO's larger, heavier battery is immediately beneath the rear control handle. This balances the longer blade, but it does make the two feel different and it would be worth trying both to see which you prefer. I personally preferred the slightly less ponderous feel of the Stihl.

However, the EGO offers a couple of extras over the Stihl - two speeds and a rear (control) handle that can be set in five different positions by simply pulling out a catch. The handle, therefore, should always be positioned to face upwards and this made a huge difference to both wielding the weight and the comfort of the cutting position.

The yew "lump", needing a haircut

We tried the hedge cutters out on three different projects. One was shaping a yew "lump" in my father-in-law's garden; the other was trimming the holly column and ivy-covered wall in my mother's. Now it became clear that you really need to choose according to the work you're likely to require.

The yew and holly required trimming a lot at head height and overhead. Yes, I'm sure this is not approved cutting technique, but let's be honest, how often are you going to set up a ladder when all you have to do is reach up? There may be a warning against it. If so, it's in the EGO booklet, which carries so many WARNING paragraphs and SAFETY instructions that your eyes start dancing from one warning triangle to another and I gave up reading them all. 

In practice, the Stihl was easier to use. It's easier to sweep the shorter blade around, and if you want to nip the end off some soft growth the shorter blade makes it's easier to be precise.  However, the yew has grown a tad wide in girth and the longer reach of the EGO allowed cutting the top to be a stand-on-the-ground job, even though stretching up and towards the centre was something of a strain with the weight.

A lot tidier.

Given the chance, both Husband and I returned repeatedly to the Stihl; it feels lighter, more manoeuvrable and less tiring to hold. With less vibration it's less of a strain to reach out. However, its shorter blade meant that, had we not had the EGO, we would have been up a ladder, leaning into the bush.

The ivy, twice the height of the wall.

I found the same on the holly. A wide sweep overhead was easier with the Stihl, and its lighter weight meant that it was easier to nip off individual twigs that I'd missed. However, for thicker stems, the EGO has the edge. The central trunk of the holly needed cutting off at the top and I needed the EGO to hack through its inch-and-a-half diameter.

A lot neater. Yes, I left some height. Looks a bit odd here, but it offers a touch more privacy and there are plenty of berries left for the birds later in the winter.

The ivy was different. It immediately proved easier with the EGO, partly because of the cutter's ability with slightly thicker stems, but also because of the nifty position-changing handle. It's a matter of a moment to pull out the catch and twist. Not only can you turn it 45 degrees and 90 degrees to the left, but 45 and 90 degrees to the right, which means that you can position the blade to your right or your left, making access to the hedge much more flexible, and in my case, no problem in cutting behind a couple of rose bushes in both directions. 

The EGO 6500E hedge cutter with handle positioned 90 degrees to the left, so the blade cuts to your right.

With the handle positioned at right angles to the blade, cutting on the vertical comes closer to the body, giving you more strength and manoeuvrability and the greater weight is less noticeable, while the longer blade means speedier cutting. 

The EGO 6500E hedge cutter with handle turned 90 degrees to the right, placing the blade to your left.

Noise levels and vibration

As you can see, the official figures are very close and both guarantee a maximum sound level of 93dB.The EGO has slightly more of whine about it, increasing at the higher speed, which I personally find more annoying than the throatier rasp of the Stihl. However, the EGO's higher speed felt more comfortable, vibration-wise, than the lower speed, while the Stihl was more comfortable overall.

The EGO, turned upside down so you can see how the battery slides in, and the Stihl with its drop-in battery housing.

Batteries and battery charging

Both batteries clicked into place and had a switch that clicked them free so you could remove them. Both have indicators that light up to give an indication of how much power is left. As with all the EGO products, one of the leading features is the speed the battery charges. This EGO hedge trimmer uses the 1120E battery which takes a very impressive mere 25 minutes or so to charge fully (if you use the CH5500E Rapid Charger) and, unlike my experience a couple of years ago with the EGO mower, I've found it's still got plenty of juice when I've returned to it after several weeks.

The Stihl takes longer, but the advantage here is that the battery is lighter and slightly easier to handle, a small size that drops into place, rather than having to be slid into place beneath the handle, as happens with the EGO. The Stihl battery is smaller, at 36V to EGO's market-leading 56V, but for the jobs I gave it showed no sign of running out, and had plenty of juice left, retaining the charge for more use a few weeks later.

Conclusion

Initially, my impression was that the EGO design was more clunky. In operation there was more vibration, it was heavier, whinier, and the battery not quite so easy to slide into place.  However, the adjustable handle was a boon, and it had the ability to handle thicker stems (the width between the teeth governs the size of stem that can be cut), and a long reach. Having dual speed was wasted on me. I used it the top speed all the time and can't see why you wouldn't, as it felt more comfortable. That uses up the battery faster but didn't present a problem in the individual jobs I presented to it.

In all of these areas, Stihl is more limited. However, the Stihl is lighter and defter and the battery an absolute doddle to get in and out. It also has that lock switch that prevents accidental start-up if you grasp both handles. Did the longer battery charging time worry me? No, because it also holds a charge for a long time and so you could easily put it on to charge at the end of a session, making it ready for next time. For a well kept hedge, it's ideal. It easily cuts moderately thick stems, but solid stems over an inch it's beginning to bounce off.

This really is horses for courses, while price will help you in your choice. The EGO 6500E comes in at £219, excluding the battery (which costs an extra £84.99) and charger (at £74.99, Rapid charger or £49, Standard Charger). The Stihl is a more wallet-friendly £199, including the AK10 battery and AL101 charger. Both batteries will fit the other cordless tools within the range.

Were I the sort of gardener I'd like to be (not letting anything get away from me), then the Stihl would be fine. My being the type of gardener I am (I mean, how do things grow that fast?) the EGO has the versatility to cope with more of what's thrown at it.

Thanks to Caro, who has added her comment on the Stihl. "I have the Stihl hedge trimmer and absolutely love it. When trimming any length of hedge, the lighter weight is a blessing for my arm muscles! Because all the batteries in the Stihl range are interchangeable and I have other Stihl tools, I sometimes use the more powerful AK20 battery which holds the charge longer and takes about 40 minutes to recharge."

NB: Both the Stihl and EGO were on loan for review purposes.

 

Parsley and parsnips primed to grow better at home

Who doesn't love a sneak peek? One of the most exciting reveals during a visit to Mr Fothergill's trial grounds near Newmarket last week has to be Optigrow, their new primed seed for the amateur grower.

Mr Fothergill's Optigrow range includes 20 vegetable varieties

 

What is primed seed?

Primed seed is used commercially, especially for lettuces. In an interesting article on Seed Dynamics Incorporated's website, H J Hill explains:  

Priming is a water-based process that is performed on seeds to increase uniformity of germination and emergence from the soil, and thus enhance vegetable stand establishment. Priming decreases the time span between the emergence of the first and the last seedlings. Priming also increases the rate of emergence so the stand establishes itself faster. A uniform plant stand helps to ensure maximum cartons per acre at harvest. Wide ranges in seedling emergence decrease the amount of harvestable plants per acre, an undesirable situation. Why Prime Seeds?

So, given that you won't be packing boxes of veg from your garden plot, what's in it for the amateur? Well, Mr Fothergill's, which is using Swedish seed priming technology, have chosen plants that often present problematic germination - think parsley and parsnips. 

Here's what they say:

Extensive trialling of Optigrow seeds under garden conditions has consistently produced more uniform crops, better harvests and quality vegetables. There is also evidence that germination becomes possible under a wider range of conditions, allowing gardeners to sow Optigrow seeds in colder, warmer and drier conditions than the ideal.  In comparison trials nearly 80% of Optigrow-treated Carrot Amsterdam seed germinated within 50 hours from sowing, compared to 90 hours for the same percentage of standard seed.

The primed seed also enjoys increased vigour through the life of the plant, out-growing competing weeds.

Parsley seed, unprimed (top) and primed. Note the primed rows are more advanced, with true leaves clearly visible.

The demonstration trays, with lines of primed and unprimed parsley, carrots and onions showed a clear difference in the speed with which the primed seed had got away. Apparently results are even better under normal, rather than laboratory-grown, conditions; regardless of temperature and soil type, the primed seed should appear notably earlier. On top of this, the treatment seems to reduce mould growth, creating a clean germination.

 

Primed parsnip seed (right) has sprouted more quickly than the unprimed. There were shadows of mould among the unprimed seeds, but not the primed.

What's the difference between primed seed used by commercial growers and Mr Fothergill's?

The problem with primed seed produced for commercial growers is that it's not been created to have a shelf-life, which makes it useless for seed packets spending time in garden centres. Mr Fothergill's is using a patented process that has shown itself to create primed seed that's viable for two years (probably longer, but that will be the date on the packets).

The process brings seeds to the start of germination, kicking enzymes into readiness. They're then dried completely. When sowing brings them into contact with moisture, they remember the stage they were at and leap into action.

There are different methods of priming, but chemicals are often involved. A notable feature of the method used by Mr Fothergill's is that it only employs air and water in carefully controlled conditions with no chemicals involved at all.

The full Optigrow range will be available from garden centres from January 2018.

In the meantime, you might like to consider that it is possible to prime seeds yourself - to an extent. See Getting a Good Stand of Garden Spinach on the Growveg blog.

The joy of hanging baskets - Begonia Apricot Illumination

A reassessment is in order, not so much of the garden, as the gardener. If you'd asked...ooh, a year ago, "Are you a person who welcomes hanging baskets?" you'd have seen a flinch of pain and a headshake. How twee! How surburban! How very...not Proper Gardening! 

Now I have an inkling of Sean Connery's probable sense of abashment when he ended up in Never Say Never Again, because, well, You Never Know.

Begonia Apricot Illumination - how to please your father-in-law.

Last year I received two two Easy Fill Hanging Baskets, Incredicompost, and 30 Garden Ready Begonia Apricot Illumination, courtesy of Van Meuwen. Not only would this be my first experience of hanging baskets, but it was only my second run-in with begonias - plants which really didn't perform well for me a few years ago. Still, nothing loath, I planted them up when the begonias arrived in May.  Nice healthy plants, and the hanging baskets were very easy to deal with. You just fill them up to the level of the lower holes, feed the rootball in from the outside, clip in the gate that half fills the hole, so preventing the plant from falling out, and then fill up again to the next level to do it all over again.

I could have left them to sit on the ground. They have a nice flat bottom and, with no hooks fixed anywhere, I was tempted, but they left on a journey for my father-in-law's where the frame of a pergola provided a nice easy position. It also meant that someone else would have to remember to water them. 

Begonia Apricot Illumination in the rain.

And boy, did they grow. Husband's pa is not known for effusiveness, but I was heaped with praise for the gorgeous display (did I say I didn't do the watering?). And it was astonishing value for money. In full bloom from July, the baskets continued in profusion until late autumn. Leaving the baskets on the ground would have been a shame, as they grew into a huge ball of sunset-intense colour. They were an absolute magnet for the eye, and I spent ages just drinking them in.

Quite obviously I had to do it again this year and the great thing, I discovered, about hanging baskets is that you can just take them down and leave the compost to dry out and the plants to die down. In fact, I only unearthed the tubers this spring, when it was time to plant up the baskets all over again. Out of the original thirty, three weren't up to replanting.

Begonia Apricot Illumination from Van Meuwen, second time around, in the same Easy Fill hanging basket

How's the display this year? Every bit as good! I'm buried even deeper in my father-in-law's good books. At least, for the basket dedicated to begonias. A complete mental aberration resulted in my mistaking pinks for petunias. Now that basket's a peculiar-looking affair - plants all straining upwards as Nature intended, while the pinks themselves disappear into the background. At least they smell nice. 

Pinks grow upwards. What on earth made me think they were petunira?

Meanwhile, the begonias that were ousted from the second basket are in my garden (you thought I'd want to miss out again?), in pots. However, either it's me (more than possible) or they just prefer hanging baskets. They've grown, but have hardly bushed out to the same extent, so I'm still not getting the display to which I think I'm entitled.  In fact, it reminds me of why I didn't bother with begonias again the first time.

The plan is already clear. I'll make sure I get them out of the pots in good time, dry them off, and put them all ready to take their rightful place in the other hanging basket next year. 

Do I like hanging baskets? Oh, come one! Who doesn't?

NB Although Apricot Illumination doesn't appear on the Van Meuwen website this year, Apricot Shades looks like exactly the same plant.

 

Win garden storage with Waltons' 'I love my shed' competition

Who among us doesn't love our garden shed? I'll spend time arranging shelves there that I just wouldn't think of spending in the house. [Pace, Husband.]

Here's the chance to upgrade/add to your outdoor storage with a 5' x 3' Overlap Wooden Garden Mower Store in Walton's 'I love my shed' competition.

Win a Garden Mower Store from Waltons, worth £149.95.

Please enter your photo here; if you win, I get a small prize too.  Go on, take a snap. Share your prized hub of garden activity and let's see your ideas of how to make the most of a favourite space.

 

  

And in preparation for winning, you might like How to Preserve Your Garden Shed

A Bouquet from Prestige Flowers - review

A large, floppy picture hat, trug on one arm, and the bedewed sunniness of a summer morning. That's the image of a cutting garden for me. And due to remain only an image. Hah! I'm pleased to have colour in the beds, without stealing it for the indoors. 

Not to mention the hard work. If you want an idea of the complications arising from trying to produce cut flowers regularly, then you can catch up with Michelle's attempts for her mum at Vegplotting. Which is where florists come in.

The Vintage Peony bouquet from Prestige Flowers currently costs £25 down from £35, and comes with free plant food and chocolate truffles.

It's taken me a long time to appreciate the small pleasures of life. At university I was bemused to see fellow students (female, of course) going home with a small bunch of flowers. Fancy, I thought, spending money on something so unnecessary. And which would be dead in a few days.

I was wrong. Small moments equal small pleasures. And small pleasures accumulate into gracious living. So I was delighted when Prestige Flowers asked me to review a bouquet of their choice.

The flowers arrived in excellent condition. In transit, the bouquet is kept damp with plastic backed water-absorbent material and double-wrapped in plastic "tissue paper". They're in a box that's the right size, and tied to it, so they arrive with everything in place, dampness contained and securely held.  They come with a sachet of flower food and, these being the Vintage Peony bouquet, a small box of four truffles, which were very good. Quite a few of their bouquets offer the addition of free chocolates.

The white ribbon ties the bouquet to the side of the box.

The Vintage Peony colours took me by surprise. A muted combination of dusky pink Memory Lane roses and what I'm fairly sure are Sarah Bernhardt peonies, although the website describes them as Bernard (anyway, they're big, blowsy and pink) and pale lime-green carnations with sprays of Santini chrysanthemums (Zantini on the website), they're a more polite colour combination than I'd normally go for, but they did tone rather tastefully with the colour of the walls. 

The peonies came in a nice combination of tightly budded and fully open, which meant you weren't waiting for the whole bouquet to come into its own, and the roses and carnations still had opening power in them.

What I particularly liked was that the leaves had already been removed from the lower stalks, so you didn't have to spend time stripping them off. This is a thoughtful point. If you allow leaves to sit in the water, it can reduce the life of the blooms. For more tips, read my Top Tips to keep cut Flowers Fresh.

The bouquet also comes with a helpful leaflet explaining how to keep them looking good, and I admit I neglected the instruction about trimming the ends every two days - that should have been Sunday. They arrived on Friday morning and on Monday most of the roses were looking limp, along with one of the peonies. So I followed instructions for drooping roses and plunged their ends into boiling water for 30 seconds. It didn't work on this occasion and the roses were jettisoned. I personally wasn't too disappointed, purely because that dusky rose colour doesn't do a huge amount for me, but I don't think you'd be unreasonable to hope that they would last longer, cutting the ends or not. 

 

By the following Wednesday, five days after arrival, I had the above, and they're still going strong. There's no doubt that having fresh flowers somewhere in a room just lifts the feel of it. It promotes enjoyment of life, of the little things, of gracious living.  

Prestige Flowers provide all sorts of arrangements, from flowers for birthdays to boutonnieres and corsages.

You might also enjoy my post about NAFAS's Lonely Bouquet

A selective review of RHS Chelsea 2017

Chelsea had a relaxed feel this year. Much has been made of the small number of Show Gardens - eight in all, but I think it benefited. There was more space; it felt less crowded; we weren't having to rush down the Main Avenue to ensure everything got seen before we were booted out pre-Majesty arrival at the end of Press Day.

Speaking of the Main Avenue, though, I was surprised at how some of the spare space was dealt with. OK, so Show Gardens were thin on the ground, but was this all that could be done to fill the gap between the Welcome to Yorkshire and Breaking Ground gardens?

The Main Avenue, Chelsea. More scenic parts were available.

By contrast, behind Chris Beardshaw's The Fractal Facts of Nature for Morgan Stanley was a cool, calm seating area with benches, with the large self-advertisement that's featured in the top photo. Why ever not put that in the space on the Avenue, allowing a view of passers-by as you sat, and hide the loos behind Chris's The Fractal Facts of Nature garden?

Welcome to Yorkshire. Please park your boat on the beach.

Sound asserted itself more strongly this year. Not only did we have the premiere of Linger in Light, Lauren Marshall's composition for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, created in response to Chris Beardshaw's garden (see some of the performance), but Welcome to Yorkshire (which I would classify as more of a film-set than a garden - a conundrum I looked at in 2015) played the cries of distant gulls to evoke the seashore, in conjunction with a buoy that ducked somewhat stolidly up and down in the water to create ripples. (I sound as if I disliked this, but actually it made me laugh.)

"Not in Kansas any more" - feel of the strange in James Alexander-Sinclair's design.

In a new position for gardens, along the Royal Hospital Way, were five Radio 2 Feel Good Gardens, each dedicated to one of the senses, including the Zoe Ball Listening Garden, designed by James Alexander-Sinclair, built by Crocus and described by James himself as "strangely mesmerising". He was referring to the way deep bass notes resonated, creating ripples in the water troughs and vibrating the ground (which you could feel if you dared to place your foot over the line and on the gravel of the actual garden).

 

Zoe Ball Listening Garden. If the video isn't visible, see it here.

"It's creating the feeling," said James, "of a walk through the woods, where you come across three rusty troughs and you're 'not in Kansas any more'. It's surreal and strange." The planting certainly came together to create a slightly malevolent feel. Many of the sounds were merely frequencies played in a pattern, but every twenty minutes or so the bass beats of rock songs came through. Though the chances of recognising Smoke on the Water, Another One Bites the Dust, Help!, or Seven Nation Army seemed slim.

It's always interesting to earwig other people's opinions. Someone over my left shoulder asked her companion if she liked Sarah Raven's design for the Anneke Rice Colour Cutting Garden. "I do - as a working garden," came the equivocal reply.

What became abundantly clear with the Radio 2 gardens, extremely popular as they were, was that the DJs whose names graced them had had virtually nothing to do with the designs. Makes you wonder why they chose who they did. Wouldn't it have been fun, for example, to have had the Suzy Quattro Listening to Rock Garden...?

Back to the Avenue. It can't have come as a surprise to anyone that Chris Beardshaw's design for Morgan Stanley won People's Choice of the Show Gardens. It was never going to be anyone else's, even if the judges did only give him Silver Gilt, his being the only one packed full of colour and making you want to linger...

Love the way the peonies pick up the red lupins in the background.

 

Packed with colour at the sunny end of the Morgan Stanley garden, designed by Chris Beardshaw.

  ...without strange, multi-coloured ribs interposed between plants...

The Silk Road, Chengdu, China garden

 ...which tended to overpower the colourful planting in the China garden, which won Silver Gilt too.

Over in the Fresh Gardens, only one stood out for me, and that was City Living, the self-funded design by Kate Gould, addressing the problem of an urban apartment block where residents have no access to outdoor space. Plants were taken vertically and lush leaves gave a cool feel to shady areas.

City Living, Kate Gould's Design for an urban apartment.

In the Artisan Gardens, the Poetry Lover's Garden invited you to sit and contemplate. My attraction to this had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I was dying to take the weight off my feet and it was in one of the coolest, shadiest parts of the grounds.

The Poetry Lover's Garden, designed by Fiona Cadwallader, almost had me mounting the steps to sit down.

Meanwhile, next door, at the World Horse Welfare Garden, there was a fine display of the etiquette of snuggling up for the camera without getting too personal behind the scenes.  

Deborah Meaden on Photo Call duty at the World Horse Welfare Garden., designed by Adam Woolcott and Jonathan Smith.

And what would Chelsea be, without that odd quirkiness?  There were Flower People...

...and Tree People...

But my very favourite had to be this.

"Is there a person in there?" I asked. Apparently there was.

A very hot one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RHS Chelsea 2017 - plants I'm looking forward to seeing

With Press Day at Chelsea on Monday, this is the moment for some frenzied exploration of all the gardens and plants I want to check up on during the all-too-brief time allowed (and yes, 7.30 am to 3.30 pm just isn't enough - assuming you want to leave upright and not on a stretcher).

First up the new Edelweiss Leontopodium alpinum ‘Berghman’ Blossom of Snow, developed by Harperley Hall Farm Nurseries and marketed by Suttons - sure to have you unconsciously humming the Sound of Music tear-jerker once you've clocked the name.

As so often, this Edelweiss was born out of frustration, bred by a florist who was frequently asked for Edelweiss with stems long enough for a vase and large flower heads. Available to florists previously, now gardeners have access, with its promise to grow in larger clumps, have long, straight stems, flower for longer and produce masses of bigger flowers.

Hillier Nurseries will be launching a rather stunning new crab apple, the development of which you can read about in Roger Brook's More about Malus x purpurea 'Crimson Cascade'. Weeping, smothered in blossom, dark red fruit, bronzed foliage and only reaching around 15 feet, it's a tree that Roger predicts will be everywhere in a short time.  I think he might be right. I wonder what sort of apple jelly it makes?

Hillier are seeking their 72nd consecutive gold medal this year with a stand designed by Sarah Eberle who has learned from Chelsea judges to keep a sharp eye for detail. “I have been known to lose Best in Show for a few screws out of line,” she says. The focus of the garden a one-tonne metallic spring, made by Fordingbridge. Twelve metres long and 4 metres high, it feeds 3,000 litres of water into a pond weighing 350kg. Bet it was fun moving that into position.

Also on their stand will be a 'memory tree' in support of Wessex Cancer Trust, where, if you like that sort of thing, you can write a garden-related memory in a book and sign a copper tag to be hung in the tree (they've got 2,500 tags waiting for inscription).

The tree is a Davidia involucrata, which is a cunning touch. After all, you tie a knot in a hankie to remind you not to forget, and this is the Pocket Handkerchief tree, timed to be draped with white 'hankies'.

Another Gold winner of somewhat younger vintage is Morrice and Ann Innes' stand. They're travelling down from Newmachar, north of Aberdeen, to try for their third Gold in a row. Sponsored by Thompson & Morgan, they offer an homage to the tuber, featuring around 150 varieties, including the new Vizelle to be launched in September (I'll zip along to find out what it's got to offer), as well as selection of Wild Solanum potato plants. Ann says there will also be some ‘weird and wonderful’ tubers of Solanum Tuberosum, cultivated from wild species of the group Stenotomum.

Out in the gardens, I'm particularly looking forward to Chris Beardshaw's creation as - and one can only think that designing a Chelsea Garden isn't hard enough - he's been growing the plants himself. They're looking rather gorgeous. 

As usual @chrisbeardshaw planting is amazingly beautiful for The Morgan&Stanley Garden #RHSChelsea #Breathtaking #lovechelseabuild pic.twitter.com/eGyUgFOUUD

— hayleymonckton (@hayleymonckton) May 18, 2017

So, along with the pale blue Nepeta on Hardy's stand and the extremely neat fastigiated birch on the Horticultural Trades Association stand, I can see this is going to be another whistle-stop tour around Chelsea.

Am I the only one who's really pleased there are only 8 Show Gardens to take in this year?

 

 

 

 

Garden equipment review: Gtech Cordless Lawn Mower

What is the thing that I am least likely to do at this time of year, and yet have already done twice? Well, if you look at the picture below, you'll get the idea.

This was June last year. A path had been cut in the grass, but otherwise? Yup, it was all pretty much the length of the grass on the right.

For several years now, I've given the 'lawn' its head. Laziness, mainly. That, and the fact that our old lightweight Qualcast electric mower really hates wet grass, so the green stuff always got away from me in spring. That mower isn't much fun to use.If you're a regular visitor, you may remember I had a summer fling with the EGO mower a couple of years ago. That was a revelation of battery-power potential.

This year, I have the G-Tech, modelling here, once again, for comparison sake, with the old Qualcast.

The handles are level, so you can see the difference in length. Click through to the EGO post to see how big that was.

When the mowers started humming around the neighbourhood last month, I took a speculative look at the damp, thrusting sward and thought I'd give it a go. Would the Gtech, put away with a charged battery around November last year, still have a charge left in it? Unlikely, I thought.

Battery power

The EGO's battery, which is a massive 56v and charges in half an hour, was dead every time I got it out (having left it about three weeks each time). The Gtech? No problem; its 36v battery fired things up straight out of the garage after four months.

The first cut this spring wasn't so fierce as last year's.

I could probably have cut the entire lawn, but for my incompetence. When the mower stopped around three quarters of the way round (approx. 20 x 50 ft of grass), I immediately assumed the juice had run out and took the battery off to charge. What I'd actually done was jam up the blade with long, damp grass. The instructions tell you not to cut the grass when wet but...you know... (Besides, there's no explanation why not and, as that appears under the Personal Safety instructions, perhaps they're fearful that you'll slip?)

Press the button in the centre and the circle lights up to show you how much charge it has.

Officially, the battery takes five hours to charge fully from flat and is ready when four quarters of a circle light up. However, because it's holding a charge so well, I've been waiting only until it gets low and then charging after use. You can check the status of the charge when the battery is in the mower by pressing the button in the centre of the circle. If ever it gets too hot while mowing it will flash red, when you should stop and allow it to cool, which in my experience (see below) takes only seconds (but I did stop instantly).

The battery itself is 10 inches long (25.5cms), a graspable size and easy to manoeuvre, as it has a handle designed into the top which allows you to remove it easily from its station. Again this was a big improvement on the EGO's large square battery that I found awkward to get in and out of place.  After a full mow and a bit, three quarters of the circle are still lit, meaning there's still 30-60% left in the battery.  That's one of the nice things about the Gtech operating manual - it's given answers to just about all the questions I've thrown at it.

Chucking it into the long grass

But how does it cut? Well, some people would say I've mistreated the Gtech already. The picture at the top? That long grass was cut down to size by the Gtech. It was dry. It would probably have been a different story wet. The very long grass jammed it a couple of times, and the battery flashed red very briefly, but otherwise, with me taking it slowly, it coped extremely well, helped by the "gear-change" height adjuster set to the top level. 

It has six settings, ranging from 30mm through to 80mm - a breeze to operate with a smooth, easy action.  With a cutting width of 430mm, it makes decent progress around the lawn, without being a beast to manhandle through doorways. The weight also means that if you do use it in an unapproved manner (i.e. very long grass) it's not hard to tip over to clear the blades.

The activation key (shown here disengaged) remains attached to the mower even when it's disengaged, which is good if, like me, you tend to put things down and not find them again.

Health and safety

Speaking of manhandling, it weighs 16.95kg. It also has a well placed carrying handle on top. There isn't another at the front but the nose is nicely shaped to fit into the hand, so it's comfortable to pick up. For me, the weight means that if I really needed to I could lift it, unlike the EGO's back-freezing 26kg.  The handle folds down for neater storage and the mower won't work unless its fully extended and clicked into place. For me, at 42 inches off the ground, the handle is as high as it could be to still be comfortable.

Safety features include two-part starting - press the button and squeeze the handle. No fiddly "key" to insert each time, though there is a simple "activation key" set into the main body which clips in and out and should be removed whenever you go near the blades.

So, I've been trying to think if there are any niggles and, to be honest, it's hard. I find the Gtech easy to move around (to the extent that I can go for my "vacuum cleaner" style of mowing under low branches). It cuts close to edges. The soft-sided grass box holds 40 litres.

This flap is designed to flip up when the grass box is full.

The weakest point is the flap on the grass box, which should flip up to indicate that it's time to empty. However, if you overfill, then the grass chute clogs and the flap closes again, which means you could miss it. There's no sense, from the design or the modus operandi, that this is a precision piece of engineering, but the fact that I haven't yet seen it open probably has more to do with my emptying the box more often than necessary, just so it's easier to mix clippings into the compost heap.  The 40 litre capacity meant that I got it all cut in a couple of goes at the length (pictured above) it was for the first cut this spring.

At £349 on the Gtech website, there's no denying this is an expensive piece of kit, but this includes the battery and charger and, with its 43cm cutting width, compares comfortably with other models on the market. Other mowers cut down to 20mm, rather than 30mm, but tend to have a maximum cut height of 70mm, instead of 80mm. If you have grass like mine, that will suit you fine.

So, all in all, this surely makes the neighbours happier, as they are all neat and tidy lawn mowers. It also purrs along at a decibel level that's guaranteed no more than 96 dB(A). It makes Husband happier, as a meadow doesn't quite fit in with his idea of a decent back garden. And it most certainly makes me happy, as being able to bring it easily out of the garage for a quick blast on the shadier, faster growing areas, without untangling the electric lead, and without frequent emptying of grass box, is my idea of keeping things under.

I have seen the future...

Sometime soon all garden mowing will be like this and no one will have an electric mower, except an old one stashed in the shed. I question the future of small petrol mowers too, given the advances in battery power. If you need to buy a new mower but the battery models are still a bit expensive, then hang on and make do until you've saved enough to get one. Honestly. You'll never look back.

The mower was supplied by Gtech for independent review.

 

 

 

 

Scented Spring planting combination: hellebores and daphne

After giving the scent accolade to Winter Honeysuckle last month, I have a new scent hero taking the crown for flooding the garden with heady sweetness. The daphne that Husband put in the shady bed in his father's garden has been pumping out insect attractors for all its worth. It works with humans too. Pulls me to it every time I'm there. 

Planted around five years ago,the daphne is  around four feet high and making a useful mound at the back of the bed. Meanwhile, the hellebores have been flowering their hearts out.

I don't know if you've ever fallen for a pink hellebore, got it home and then wondered where on earth it will fit. The pale colours are easy. Dusky, pinky tones are much harder to place. Here the daphne has proved to be the perfect companion, providing a backdrop that anchors the pink naturally into the scene.