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Chelsea Inspiration 2003
A mass of flowers – inspired by wildflowers but definitely in the garden - was the predominant inspiration running through this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. The wilderness areas were still there, but more gardens showed garden plantings with an abandoned or woodland air. The Best Garden in Show was the Laurent Perrier garden designed by Tom Stuart-Smith, a flowery woodland planting under dogwoods (Cornus kousa), juxtaposed against a minimalist formal pool and backed by a plain slate wall.
The colour scheming at Chelsea is always remarkably homogenous, with the trend colour for the year being found in most gardens. The Laurent Perrier garden followed this year’s mauves and blues, yellows and creams but lacked the deep reds and maroon found in many other gardens. Plants lit up the dappled shade beneath the four dogwoods , with white through blue into yellow and lime from geraniums, foxgloves, tiarella, tellima, paeonies, Solomon’s Seal, Siberian iris, thalictrum, sweet rocket, and aquilegias.
