From wilderness to the perfect plot
A YeAr ago, my wife Gloria and i moved into a house that had been unoccupied for five months. The garden had become wild and overgrown with all sorts of wildlife, some welcome and some not. Thanks mainly to Gloria’s considerable creative efforts — i only do the heavy lifting — the garden is now organised and orderly. Wildlife is still very welcome, of course. So, we were horrified to learn that had we left it alone we could have been contenders for the Best in Show prize at the Chelsea Flower Show, which was won by rewilding Britain landscape, a beaver-themed garden with hardly a bloom in sight. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
IAN STROMDALE, Wokingham, Berks. THAT the Best Show Garden prize at the Chelsea Flower Show went to a wild garden is beyond belief, but not altogether surprising. To my mind, the whole objective of gardening is to create something beautiful. The aim is an achievement of which you can be proud, not an ugly, overgrown, uncared for eyesore. Just imagine if all gardens were left to grow wild as we gardeners are told we must do to save the planet. Garden centres and nurseries would go bust and the country would become a wilderness. Yes, we must all do what we can to help the environment, but please keep things in proportion and show some common sense.
DAVID MORGAN, Shrewsbury, Shropshire. iT’S time the organisers, judges and exhibitors realised Chelsea is a flower show, not a construction contest. every year the show gardens become more reliant on large glass, timber or concrete structures and are less to do with flowers. What we want to see are plants we can grow in our own gardens, not South American rain forests, beaver lodges or fantastic waterfalls. it says it all that the People’s Choice Award, the beautiful Perennial Garden ‘With love’, was only awarded a silver by the judges.
M. COOPER, Northwich, Cheshire.
Transformed: Ian and Gloria Stromdale in their pretty garden. Inset: How it looked just a year ago