Going for gold Long-time exhibitor, Hillier's nursery, won its 62nd gold medal this year.

Hillier's go for gold

The Great Pavilion was a showcase of horticultural excellence where nurseries and growers covet medals every bit as much as show garden designers. There were over 100 exhibitors in the huge marquee at the centre of the showground, and every stand was produced to dauntingly high standards.

But if there’s one exhibitor which can claim perfection, it's Hillier Nurseries. This was their 63rd year at Chelsea - and they’ve now won 62 gold medals. It's earned them a place in the Guinness Book of Records, and the enduring respect of their fellow exhibitors

Planning for this year's show began as last year’s finished, when designer Andy McIndoe decided the theme and some central ideas. There was no designated Chelsea team; those who put together the display have to fit it in around their day jobs running the many Hilliers ventures, from the Harold Hillier Arboretum in Hampshire, to garden centres and a wholesale nursery.

First of all, the 3,500-plus plants it takes to stock the stand were raised by Ricky Dorlay and his team. This year it was particularly tricky because of the unusually warm spring, and Ricky estimated his stock had been about three weeks ahead.

"Every year nature does something to make it awkward, and it's no different this year," he said. "Having said that, because it's three weeks early, certain stock has come into its own - in particular the trees this year are superb."

Once the plants are on site, it was time to put them together to Andy's design. Unlike show gardens, there was no firm planting plan to the Hillier’s display, and it was plant buyer Philippa Bensley's job to decide what combinations inspire her on the day.

"All you have is an idea of what it's going to be," she said. "So for the front section, with all the hot colours, the brief was, "Let's have it very Biba, very 1960s, strong colours.” And then you go and interpret that however you feel is right."

"I don’t believe gardens are created entirely on the drawing board," said Andy McIndoe. "I think you have an idea and then it develops by putting the plants together."

The Hilliers team have a unique overview of how Chelsea has changed over the years. Ricky Dorlay has been on the Hilliers stand for an incredible 43 years, and since the 1960s, he says, he has seen the show become more commercial, and less elitist.

"We had the lords and the ladies and their gardeners with them, the bowler hat brigade, with their umbrellas which they'd point," he remembered. "You lived in fear of being asked a question - there was a whole different feel about it."

The Hilliers approach has certainly impressed the judges over the years. So what's the winning formula?

"We treat every one as the first gold," said Ricky. "Our past record means nothing, until we get this gold - then we can talk about the record. Complacency must never creep in - never. And if we carry on down that road, then I don’t think we can go far wrong."