The Chelsea Flower Show may be the ultimate garden show, but it takes a lot of dedicated people working hard to bring it to fruition. Here we meet some of them...
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Chelsea Flower Show key figures
The judge: Tamsin Westhorpe
What does your role involve? I was asked to train as an RHS judge about ten years ago and have taken part in show garden judging at Chelsea every year since. A judging panel is made up of three assessing judges, four regular judges and a moderator and I’ve either been an assessing judge or a judge. Assessing judges visit the garden a day before the other judges and hear the designer give a two-minute presentation. It is a chance for the designer to share any changes to their submitted brief – they might have had issues with sourcing a particular tree, for example. The assessors then work through the criteria and come up with medal recommendations to share with the judges.
Assessors and judges then meet the following day on the garden, to go through the criteria again and make a final medal decision. The brief that designers submit in advance of the show is vital. Judges are expecting to be presented with a garden that fits that brief, and if the designer has moved away from their initial plan it can have an impact on their marks. For example, if they have said they’re creating a garden for pollinators and the garden has few plants for pollinators, they’ll be marked down. Once you’ve judged at a show it’s not a given that you’ll be asked again. You have to follow the criteria and offer great value to the panel. We’re all volunteers, but this doesn’t stop us from taking our roles incredibly seriously. I see it as one of the most important things I do each year.
The biggest challenge? It has to be expressing your thoughts about a garden without being too emotional. You can’t judge with your heart – it has to be with your head”
Tamsin Westhorpe, Chelsea show garden judge
What is your background? My background is as a garden writer and hands-on gardener, so I’m on the team to share my expertise on planting, the long-term maintenance of the garden and its story. Alongside me there are designers and landscapers, so there is a wide variety of expertise to call on.
What is the biggest challenge? It has to be expressing your thoughts about a garden without being too emotional. You can’t judge with your heart – it has to be with your head. The criteria are absolutely vital and by using them you ensure that clear feedback can be given to designers. It’s tricky but essential to avoid using words such as like or love. Our comments must be clear, factual and have substance behind them.
Gardens at Chelsea Flower Show
- A guide to the Stroke Association garden
- The National Garden Scheme garden
- A guide to the Octavia Hill Garden
- Bridge to 2030 garden
- A Guide to St James' Piccadilly
- National Autistic Garden
What was your first experience of Chelsea? My first experience was in 1993. I was a student at Sparsholt College in Hampshire. Along with fellow students we built a garden exhibit in the Great Pavilion. It was such an important memory for me – so much so that I wrote a chapter on it my gardening book Grasping the Nettle. I’m sure this early opportunity is why I just adore this event. The students at Sparsholt still exhibit and every year I make a point of going to see their work at the show. Much to my delight one of my tutors, Chris Bird, is still the mastermind behind their work.
What are you looking forward to this year? The show gardens are a highlight but I’m always keen to see the displays of cut flower tulips in the Great Pavilion and make my selection for the following year.
What is your favourite aspect of the show? Definitely the privilege of being able to step on to the show gardens. Very few people get to do it and the excitement I feel each time is always as great as it was ten years ago. You feel as if you have stepped into another world. It’s just magical.
The mentor: Paul Hervey-Brookes
What does your role involve? This year I’m mentoring the designers in the Balcony and Container Garden categories for new designers to the show. Our work starts with the selection panel process in June the year before the show, so we spend 11 months with the designers, with monthly workshops and meetings, refining their design and construction methods and looking at the assessing and judging of gardens.
We also hold one-to-one meetings for individual aspects of the build. I generally pose lots of questions, such as asking about the size and quality of plants and the layout, to make the spaces feel both realistic and engaging for visitors. After that, the mentoring team are on hand during the build to help keep the designers on track. It’s easy to start looking at what others are doing and lose your individual focus. Often changes are last minute or plants may not have performed as expected. I am there to offer, I hope, a calming hand and to give the designers the support to make decisions and keep to the build timeframe.
At Chelsea I’ve made eight of my own gardens since 2010, so I hope I am able to share useful insights with the designers, who always come with exciting and new ideas.
What is your favourite aspect of the show? Working with the team building a garden, everyone is working to create something that has really until this moment only existed in the designer’s mind.
What are you particularly looking forward to this year? The unexpected. Every year you read or see something you anticipate, but often it’s the exhibit or garden or component you didn’t expect which stands out.
The head of a planting team: Gillian Goodson
What does your role involve? I’m a garden and landscape designer and I’ve have worked at Chelsea for over ten years, leading planting teams on many award-winning gardens. This year I’m working on Miria Harris’s garden. I co-ordinate the planting team but also work closely with the designer leading up to the show, from visiting nurseries to checking progress of plants, budgeting, receiving plant deliveries and choosing core team members and volunteers.
The core team usually work for five to ten days whereas I would be involved earlier. My role is to free up the designer to focus on other things. The whole team works together and lots of camaraderie and team spirit is needed. The core planting team often start at 7am, working ten to 12-hour days, in all weathers, without a day off. Physical, mental and emotional strength is needed to persevere.
Planting at shows is theatre. It involves a lot of smoke and mirrors. It captures a moment in time, rather than plants growing and evolving over the years. But the planting needs to be horticulturally correct – shade lovers must be planted in shade, for example. We also have the chance to try out new planting combinations. The secret is to give the plants time to settle before the show, so they look as though they have been growing in harmony and combine effortlessly with the hard landscaping. We remove all dead and damaged leaves to make it all look perfect.
“Planting at shows is theatre. It involves a lot of smoke and mirrors. It captures a moment in time, rather than plants growing and evolving over the years”
Gillian Goodson, head of planting team
What are you looking forward to this year? Designers and contractors are becoming more aware of the impact their choices have on the natural environment, coming up with innovative ideas that push boundaries or redefine what we consider beautiful or acceptable. I love seeing those gems that are translatable and adaptable to clients’ gardens.
What is the biggest challenge that you anticipate? Miria’s design includes a natural clay-lined pond. Clay needs time to settle and we only have a small window of time. The challenge will be planting the aquatics directly into the clay without compromising its integrity. Should a plant not perform, we may need to ‘levitate’ above the pond as there’s no second chance to go back in the water in our waders.
The grower: Simon Sutcliffe, How Green Nursery
What does your role involve? We’re growing for three gardens, all in the All About Plants category: the Sue Ryder Grief Garden, designed by Katherine Holland; The Panathlon Joy Garden, designed by Penelope Walker; and The Pulp Friction Garden, designed by Will Dutch and Tin-Tin Azure-Marxen. In total we are growing around 2,500 plants – mainly herbaceous perennials, ornamental grasses, herbs and hardy annuals. Growing started back in October 2023.
“Growing for Chelsea is an extremely demanding and stressful process. We are growing plants for up to eight months to look at their peak for one day – judging day.”
Simon Sutcliffe, How Green Nursery
This will be our 12th year growing for Chelsea and our third growing peat free. Growing for Chelsea is an extremely demanding and stressful process. We are growing plants for up to eight months to look at their peak for one day – judging day. Plant selection throughout the process is critical, to hand pick the best plants, for ultimately the best garden show in the world.
What is going to be your biggest challenge? The weather. Plants are constantly moved between glasshouses, tunnels and outside, depending on the weather patterns. It’s becoming increasingly difficult with the extremes we now get.
What’s your favourite aspect of the show? Seeing fabulous gardens with our plants come to fruition. I’m constantly amazed at some of the plant combinations designers can put together.