The Chelsea Flower Show 2010. Click the heading for more photos.
The Chelsea Flower Show this year fell in a glorious sunny week, the temperature on the first day topping 90F, but the gardens remained spectacular and those with strong water features unsurprisingly attracted the judges the most. The Best in Show garden was so crowded that I was unable to get close enough for a decent photo and had to be content to shoot over the heads of the BBC cameramen. But I liked his concept of the diverging paths and the huge wall, at the beginning so opaque, opening gradually to reveal that all paths lead to the same end.
My favourite designer, Ishihara Kazuyuki, again produced a stunning moss-covered room lit by his signature glass waterfall and surrounded by rich and unusual planting, but this year he only received a silver - having previously won two golds - possibly on the judges' perception that this garden was somewhat less original.
The small gardens were as always a delight, my favourite being a garden at the edge of a moor, complete with music stand on which rested the music for Die Schone Mullerin.
Click here for the Chelsea Flower Show 2008
Click here for the Chelsea Flower Show 2007
