I’ve always loved following the RHS Chelsea Flower show although I’ve only ever once managed to visit as a paying ticket holder. Last autumn I spotted the announcement that a small charity called the Teapot Trust would be having a show garden in the All About Plants category. I immediately recognised the name as being the charity that my husband’s cousin works for. During the exchange of Christmas correspondence we jokily said we were available should they be looking for volunteers. It turned out that they were! So we leapt at the chance.
First came the volunteer application forms then, once we’d been accepted, we had to supply documentation for our day passes. Next up was our training which took place online about 2 weeks before the show. We had a briefing from the designers (Nicola Semple and Susan Begg), an explanation of the soundscape that was to be incorporated, and a briefing on what we would be wearing (aprons are all the rage at Chelsea!), where we needed to report to and all the other practicalities of the day. Most importantly, we were given guidance on the key messages that the charity wished to get across to visitors. After all, Chelsea was a unique opportunity for this small charity to gain national exposure.
It was with some trepidation we approached the day itself. Our shift on the garden wasn’t until 4pm and would run until 8pm and we knew that there was nowhere to sit whilst on duty. However, we also wanted to see the rest of the show, so we tried to arrive at a sensible time and pace ourselves, hoping that we could take time to sit down with a leisurely lunch to sustain us till late into the evening. It wasn’t to be as Chelsea doesn’t seem to do seating! We managed to see all the Main Avenue big show gardens, the Sanctuary gardens and most of the Great Pavilion but we simply couldn’t fight our way through the crowds to get to anything else. This was Thursday, the first public day and it was absolutely packed to the gunnels.
By 4pm we were already flagging but somehow we had to get into gear to represent the garden and talk to the public. From the moment we donned our aprons, it was really full on with a constant stream of questions about the plants, the garden and the charity. The Teapot Trust provides art therapy for children with chronic illnesses and is currently based in Scotland but would like to grow its reach across the UK. Having a garden at Chelsea, partly funded by Project Giving Back, provided them with a magnificent opportunity for showcasing what they can do and attracting potential new donors.
The garden itself was very much designed with children in mind and it will eventually be relocated to Glasgow Children’s Hospital. Whilst it can provide a relaxing space for both parents and children, it also incorporated fun elements. The soundscape artist had enabled visitors to ‘talk to the garden’ through a watering can rose which provided much amusement. In response to sounds, certain plants would move! I think this was probably the only garden in the whole show that really made people laugh! And it won a Gold Medal too!
The garden was called the “Elsewhere Garden” as the designers hoped that it would transport children elsewhere from their illness and treatment in the same way that art therapy does. There was a plant wired up to sensors similar to those used during an ECG designed to make medical equipment seem less intimidating. Wearing headphones, it was possible to listen to the sounds the plant made in response to touch. It was a novel experience for many visitors.
Overall I think we had a bit of an advantage having a reasonable knowledge of plants as it was easy for us to talk to the visitors and then turn the conversation towards the charity, whereas the charity volunteers found it harder to pick up the plant knowledge.
After 4 hours of non-stop standing, questioning, handing out leaflets, one of the charity administrators told me not to worry, I’d earned my glass of wine. I think my response was along the lines of don’t worry about the wine, but please can I have a chair to sit on!! It was an amazing experiencing being immersed in the Flower Show and being part of the very welcoming Teapot Trust team. Would we do it again? Probably! (But I’d buy one of those little portable stools first!!)
I’ve only been to Chelsea once (so far!) and that was three years’ ago. Interestingly from planning our visit with a focus on plants, I recall that our first bit of real inspiration came from a hard landscaping idea, and not a very exciting one at that – a drain cover! Around the edge of our patio we have several metres of boring metal Acco drain but at Chelsea we discovered we could replace this with more stylish and attractive patterned steel drain covers! We particularly liked the wave pattern and, whilst this seemed a rather silly indulgence, we could see that these drain covers could also have the practical advantage of being less prone to filling up with fallen leaves. Of course we then costed up this idea and, perhaps not surprisingly, three years later we still have our rather boring Acco drains!
I didn’t really need to be inspired by some of the planting as many gardens featured plants that I already knew I liked, namely anything that’s purple! I really liked Nigel Dunnett’s Blue Water Roof garden which featured a striking bank of deep purple verbascum. This year it was another roof garden that caught my eye whilst flicking through the RHS website – the Sir Simon Milton Foundation ‘fresh’ garden which was a closely planted contemporary space with lots of classic Chelsea alliums.
Outside the Backdoor 