Chelsea Flower Show Solved

[Terry S.]

Congratulations to Craig House and Ottershaw for winning Gold Medals at this year's Chelsea Flower Show. Both have top class exhibits with many mature specimens and lots of flowers. Much hard work and money goes into Chelsea exhibits, with little short-term financial reward because sales are kept to a minimum by the organisers (slightly relaxed this year). It is great that two of our nurseries are keeping the flag flying for succulent plants at the country's most prestigious flower show. Will the BBC ignore succulent plants as usual in their TV coverage?

Oh, but don't we miss the presence of Southfield!

[Tony R]

My congratulations too to all concerned for these two great Gold Medals.

If you are also interested in other SA plants then the Proteas and Restios from Kelnan Plants got the top award in the Pavilion and of course SANBI-Kirstenbosch got Gold again with their Mountains of Abundance display.

[Apicra]

Some picture from the Floral Marquee yesterday ... First Craig House Cacti's stand:

Craig House Cacti at Chelsea Flower Show 2019

There was another red-flowered specimen in the display as you can see above:

Echinocereus coccineus

Next Ottershaw Cacti's Gold Medal stand:

Ottershaw Cacti at Chelsea Flower Show 2019

Ferocactus pottsii var. alamosensis

Graptoveria opalina

Americans think this is included among succulents plants and I agree:

Dyckia goehringii

Andy's Air Plants at Chelsea Flower Show 2019

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble

[juster]

Derek, many thanks for posting these excellent photos. There are many superb plants there and I can only imagine the work involved to get them along to Chelsea and set up the displays. Well done to all involved for representing our hobby so well.

[Apicra]

This Agave had an unfamiliar name, on the stand of a company that I believe buys-in from abroad:

Palms Exotics Limited (for palms, Dasylirion, yuccas & agaves)

Agave purpurasorum

They probably should have used Agave ghiesbreghtii 'Purpusorum'.

As usual, there were very few cacti and succulents elsewhere in the show. I heard that half of the plants for the South African stand never got through customs because of incorrect paperwork, but their display of cut flowers (mostly Proteas) still looked splendid. I did spot these on the Dubai Majlis show garden:

Aloe vera(?) and Bulbine frutescens 'Hallmark'

... and an imaginative container on a greenhouse stand display:

Echeverias displayed in a greenhouse

However, the Plant of the Year is a succulent that I had never even heard of before:

Sedum takesimensis ATLANTIS 'Nonsitnal'

Best wishes,
DT

[Stuart]

Nice boost in interest for the humble Sedum, usually a genus that sits quietly in the background. I've seen this in Home Depot in the US, it's got Plant Breeders Rights which growers don't normally obtain unless something is attractive to gardeners and is being grown in large numbers. I would expect to find it in UK garden centres. There are some quite attractive 'gardeners' Sedums.
Stuart

[juster]

That's a really lovely plant, Sedums are great for the garden.

[Apicra]

A final batch of photos ... the memorial for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Landings was very good:

Sculptures for the D-Day 75th Anniversary Garden in Normandy

It is the unexpected that makes a visit to Chelsea so memorable:

A floral arrangement of wild plants.

A reminder not to spread this invasive succulent from the University of Reading:

Alien Carpobrotus edulis from South Africa

I wondered why there was a crowd in my way around this Artisan Garden:

BBC crew discussing their next recording

You could buy these to take home and all were sold! (red dots):

Mushrooms and lichen for sale

So how were they preserved? It took a very close look to realise they are superb embroidery! More info:
https://www.amandacobbett.com/fungi

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble