A famously good show

From tiny spots of the soft yellow buttercup to towering tree ferns from Co Kerry, SW3 was filled with interest large and small, finds Tiffany Daneff

- Photographs by Andrew Sydenham

THE warmth of the May sun brought a special spring in the step to this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Visitors avoided last year's frustration of peering through raised umbrellas and, although growers and designers had to water more than usual, the frost-free weeks leading up to the show meant there was much more colour everywhere, with the roses, nerines and clematis in the Great Pavilion impressing even seasoned nurserymen.

The six large show gardens offered a great variety of designs and plantings that ranged from dry Mediterranean to lush greenery, notably in the Japanese Tea Garden, where the filigree foliage of acers shaded fresh moss and running water. Foxgloves, irises and umbellifers were to be seen everywhere, but it was shrubby baptisias with their lupin-like flowers that stood out as this year's less familiar introduction. All in all, this was a happy, sunny return to form.

Cha no niwa Japanese Tea Garden

Gold and Best in Show

Faultless attention to detail, immaculate placement and a gently thoughtful plant selection ensure that Kazuyuki Ishihara's gardens are always a draw. This, however, was his first large garden and it was a triumph, delivering calm, green beauty enriched by the history, culture and philosophy of Japanese tea gardens. The seemingly organic balance of moss, water, rock and plant lingers long in the memory.

The Avanade Intelligent Garden Gold