Awarding of medals - Tuesday 23The Daily Telegraph Garden, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith, has won Best in Show at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Seven of the 19 show gardens won gold medals in all.
It's Tom Stuart-Smith's sixth Chelsea gold medal, and the second time he's won best in show. But he’s modest about his achievement.
"It's a funny award - I mean, how can you compare, there are so many good gardens here. But I'm not complaining!"
The sun has at last shone on Chelsea as RHS members arrive in their hundreds for the first official day of the show. For many designers, it's a great relief: gold medal winner Cleve West, who designed The Saga Insurance Garden, says the recent downpours have added to the stress.
"The team's put up with quite a lot from me, especially in the last few days with the weather, but basically, I'm really, really chuffed," he says.
In the Courtyard Gardens category, five first-timers from Leeds Metropolitan University, won best garden with their evocative design A Garden for Robin, inspired by York Gate Garden in Leeds. "We didn’t expect to get anything like gold, and to get Best Courtyard Garden as well is unbelievable," said delighted designer John Walker.
Best Chic Garden went to a spectacular Japanese garden, entitled Ao Arashi (Blue Storm), evoking a mountain landscape, complete with waterfall, designed by Kazuyuki Ishihara from Nagasaki, Japan.
Of the City gardens, just one gold medal was awarded, to Caspar Gabb's The Green Room, a lush green oasis of ferns and moss surrounded by a simple curved pergola in rusted iron.
For a full list of medal winners visit the RHS Chelsea Flower Show website . | | |
