Every spring, the experts who are growing plants for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show – whether for the Great Pavilion or the show gardens – have either warm or cold weather, cold nights or late frosts to contend with. And this year is no exception – the unseasonably warm spring, which has already seen roses in full bloom in the south, is creating a challenge for Chelsea growers. The good weather has brought plants on too early.
Paul Seaborne is coordinator of this year's Plant Fairs Roadshow within the Great Pavilion and owner of Pelham Plants. "I really wanted to include a vibrant orange Geum 'Dark and Stormy, and was looking forward to seeing that with the dark purples on the display, but it's all in bloom now," he says. "I'm also looking at Cirsium 'Trevor's Blue Wonder', a classic for Chelsea, with a really vibrant purplish-blue flower. But sadly most of the batch has bloomed too soon as well, so I doubt we will have any to include."
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Growers for Chelsea are adept at bringing plants on, and holding them back, for the show. Nurserywoman Rosy Hardy has grown plants for her award-winning exhibits since 1992, and now mentors new exhibitors in the Great Pavilion. "If we were growing 20 plants and wanted maybe 12 to use, we would put half into our polytunnel and half would stay outside. We don't have any refrigeration, so the only way that we could make the plant material change in any way was to additionally use our shade tunnel, covered with netting." Rosy would be looking at the plants every other day, deciding whether they needed to go inside or outside: "We'd be moving material left, right, and centre."
This is exactly what Annie Godfrey of Daisy Roots, a member of the Plant Fairs Roadshow and also exhibiting this year, has been doing this year: "My whole life has been about moving things that are flowering now into the shade, and things that aren't flowering into the sun, so I'm getting my steps in."
She adds: "The cold nights plus peat-free compost that doesn't root quite as quickly has been a challenge because newly potted plants don't make up time quickly enough."
And then of course, there's the risk of frost: "There's nearly always a frost the week before Chelsea," says Rosy Hardy. If frost is forecast, plants need to be fleeced at night.
A new pest on the block
Every year, growers also need to look out for pests such as slugs and aphids and diseases such as powdery mildew, but this year there seems to have been a new threat: mice. "In general, nurseries in the UK are experiencing increased mouse numbers – I'm not the only nursery who's experiencing this," says Annie Godfrey. "They're after the juicy seedlings. I've also got three Jack Russells and they're after the mice, so there has been some trampling."
But it's not all bad news...
As a result of the warm temperatures, the plants people may see at Chelsea may be a bit different this year. "On the upside there are many things I never expected to flower for Chelsea," says Paul Seaborne. "I've got some interesting and unusual tradescantias with ultra-violet blue flowers and lovely baptisias like 'Lemon Meringue', with dark brooding stems and bright yellow flowers. The judges weren't too happy last year that I included a euphorbia that wasn't in flower - Euphorbia 'Excalibur'. It has lovely grey foliage and dark mahogany stems but this year the judges can't complain, as it's going to be in flower and will look pretty special."
He adds: "We always have a backup plan. Even though we are a small nursery and batch sizes are quite small, we have some stock pots of ferns, grasses, hostas and ivies that provide an evergreen background – they won't dominate. We also have lovely white flowering woodland grass called Melica uniflora, with rice-grain like flowers and seeds with a long-lasting effect. I'm trying to manage that so we can underplant with it. Lots of astrantias are being kept cool to slow things down in the shade tunnel – but there's only so much space we can do that! We will also be using nepetas we wouldn't usually have at this time of the year."
"In terms of appearance on the stand, I'm going to be more 'woodlandy' than normal this year and I think Chelsea overall will be greener," says Annie Godfrey. "A lot of the plants that I'm taking are white, which you wouldn't normally see at this time of the year on our stand."
