My Garden

The Andrew Ewing water features have now all been installed and he's just tweaking the water flow and the finish for the stone blocks.  The sculpture by Nigel Hall is in place and is fantastic!  The corten steel finish works so well with the colour of the Travertine, in the sunlight it casts a precise shadow on the wall and looks great.
 
We've already started the perennial planting.  It's been difficult to decide which plants should make the final selection, as Crocus have provided such amazing plants to choose from. I've been experimenting with Catherine and Jane from my team, as well as Speronella, Vicky and Megan who have worked on Chelsea gardens in the past and have come to help me.
 
It's my intention to finish the planting by the end of today, so we've got the last few days to make any changes and to allow the plants to settle before judging on Sunday/Monday.
 
The travertine paving has all been laid and it's beautiful.  During the design stage, I changed the paving layout quite a bit because I was trying to achieve a composed but more unusual arrangement - so I'm very pleased that all that consideration has paid off.  Catherine has been applying the colour enhancer to the stone, and Jane has been on her hands and knees pushing sand into the joints between the sets!
 
We are racing to the finish line!
 

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Tuesday was a very important day this week, as we had a crane in the afteroon to put in the two tonne Travetine blocks for the water features.  They also craned in the five brown sandstone blocks.  It took a bit of manoevering to get them into position!  Also, the stone specialists were on site assisting with the cladding of the Travertine feature wall which is now completed, so it was a busy day!
 
The avenue of trees has been adjusted to create a good view through to the sculpture, which will be installed tomorrow.  It's not been great weather this morning, so we are waiting for the tiered hedges to dry out before we clip them. This afternoon, Catherine and I went to Crocus to make the final selection of the perennial plants we wil be using, also to plan the deliveries for next week.
 
Not having done a garden for Chelsea before, I admit I didn't realise the intensity of the build-up and the commitment that would be needed.  I have been on site every day since Wednesday 28th April.  Catherine and I were at the show ground last weekend and we will be there this weekend as well. We are trying not to get under the feet of the construction team, but we have to be there as there are many important decisions that need to be made, to get the details and the lines and heights of the planting spot on.

Not long to go now!

 
 

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Well we have finally started work on the garden.  The boundary hedge is in, the Carpinus Boxhead trees were delivered over the weekend and are being positioned today.  The stone for the water features has arrived and work on the feature wall has started. Suddenly everything is happening!  
 
It's amazing that it's all coming together - I am at the show ground every day now as so many things need my attention. We needed to find more Buxus for the hedging, so I had to send Catherine to Germany to find some, as I couldn't go myself - I needed to be here. Building this garden is like expecting a baby; exciting but nerve-wracking at the same time!

 

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