Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
Britain’s best garden? It could be YOURS!
Britain’s most prestigious amateur garden contest is back, and if you think yours has that little spark of magic – no matter what size it is – why not try your luck, says Monty Don
During the week I spent at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show I had privileged access to every one of the 32 different Show Gardens and was able to visit many of them numerous times. Their range, scale and diversity was enormous but there was something to learn and be inspired by in every one of them.
Of course, this was not the first time I have found myself in that position, both at Chelsea and at many other flower shows, but I always learn something new and am always bowled over by the skill and effort that goes into producing a superb Show Garden.
Having said that, a Show Garden is a very different animal to our own beloved plots. Show Gardens aim to be perfect for one brief week, but our back gardens grow alongside us and our families, and we forgive them a lot because ultimately they give us so much pleasure.
The Daily Mail National Garden Competition, which is now entering its 23rd year, celebrates real gardens that exist as part of their makers’ lives rather than as a display of their horticultural skills. The idea is clearly not to encourage people to make mini-Chelsea Show Gardens attached to their homes but to make a virtue of the way all gardens reflect the characters of their owners and in some way are a key part of someone’s home.
As well as Show Gardens, I’ve also visited hundreds of private gardens around the world, big and small, and the good ones all share a spark of magic that comes directly from the gardeners as well as the garden. While a Show Garden often reveals little of the endeavour that went into its making, our own gardens are a tribute to the joys and woes, the trials and tribulations of the years that went into their creation. You cannot separate the garden from the gardener.
This is why anyone who has a garden they love should enter. There are no categories, no restrictions on size, no expense involved, no limitations at all. Anyone aged 18 or over who is not a professional gardener and who has created their garden themselves and maintains it with minimal help can enter. Any type of garden in any situation is a potential winner – it really could be you. And if indeed that does turn out to be the case, then you, as winner of the 2015 Daily Mail National Garden Competition, will receive a prize of £2,000 and a blue plaque, an enduring validation of an outstanding garden.
So I urge you to share the pride and pleasure you have in your garden and enter. We are not looking for conventional Show Gardens, but your gardens. Above all, the judges will look for character and a genuine sense of place combined with horticultural passion. This is the best chance to be rewarded with one of the garden accolades of the year. My final advice is not to try and impress by doing anything that you would not normally do. Share the pride and pleasure of what your garden is, rather than trying to second- guess what it ought to be. Good luck!