More women wanted to design gardens for Chelsea show

ONLY A third of the top gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show during the last 10 years have been designed by women as the Royal Horticultural Society called for more female designers to apply to the world-renowned event.

The RHS has admitted it is concerned that a “disproportionately small” number of female garden designers apply to create Chelsea show gardens, which occupy the most high-profile plots, on the Main Avenue of the flower show.

The society is calling for more female designers to apply for them at Chelsea in 2016, as only a third of the almost 200 show gar- dens created on the Main Avenue in the past decade were designed by women.

RHS director general Sue Biggs suggested the low application rate might be down to a lack of confidence among women.

Designers are selected on the quality of their design, and female entrants including Bunny Guinness, Sarah Eberle, Jinny Blom, Charlotte Rowe and Sarah Price have created award-winning gardens for Chelsea in the past.

This year just two of the 15 show gardens are designed by women, one of whom, Kamelia Bin Zaal, is making her Chelsea debut with “the beauty of Islam”, which explores and celebrates Islamic culture.

A Multi-RHS gold medal-winning designer, Jo Thompson, is returning to Chelsea this year with an all-female workforce to create the M&G garden “urban retreat”.

MAIN PICTURE: GARY LONGBOTTOM. BACK ON TRACK: Stephen Middleton working on his 1912 Edwardian directors saloon carriage at the National Railway Museum, main picture (GL1006/01b); and above, a scene from the film version of the Railway Children.