Chelsea 2009: Plants...grow

Designers, I’m starting to believe, might be as unpopular as estate agents and bankers. We can be a difficult breed, turning up on site, cafe latte in hand, nit-picking at the skilful craft of our builders.

I don’t usually panic or make unreasonable demands – but last week I found myself having a tantrum because my plants resembled twigs in a pot with 5 weeks to go. My nursery tried to calm my nerves by telling me that if I’d visited last week I’d have seen nothing but bare earth – I’m not sure if this worked and I went home and had a rethink.

My nursery are actually very good at what they do. The problem is more that Chelsea is so early in the gardening year which limits the plant selection available to the exhibitors. I don’t really want to create a show garden that forces species into flower and creates unnatural plant combinations. This act of illusion neither is helpful to the public seeking inspiration or environmentally friendly due to the amount of artificial heat and transportation expense required to defy nature.

I wanted to use Miscanthus in my garden to provide a textural contrast to the Tellima and Astrantea but they are clearly not going to be able to put on enough foliage. As much as I would love to keep them in – there is too much at stake to behave like a martyr – so instead I’ll use Iris sibirica, which will provide a bit of flower and still have the same vertical accent that is required in this part of the garden.