Britain at its blooming best

WHAT a welcome recovery: this year's Chelsea Flower Show was really back on form.

- 

There was a verve and enthusiasm among the flower displays that lifted the heart and the Great Pavilion was a joy to navigate. Outside, the tradestands showed particular imagination and, among them, remarkable for its elegance and simplicity, was the Bamford stand, where the combination of daisies and oldfashioned bee skeps with traditional tablecloths and china drew visitors into its celebration of organic growing. Agromenes was pleased tosee that historic rivalries continue with gold-medallist companies—Peter Beales, David Austin and Harkness—all seeking to outdo each other with the most staggering arrays of roses in full bloom and heavy with scent. It was the smells as well as the sights that, warmed by the spring sunshine, made this a Chelsea to remember ('A famously good show', page 118).