he biggest hoorah of the horticultural year is coming to an end, and if you listen closely you might hear tiny sighs of relief from the industry. The Chelsea flower show is a bun fight: glorious, indulgent, exhausting, complicated and messy in its perfection – but a huge source of inspiration for the rest of us, even those with tiny gardens.
Beyond Main Avenue and the big show gardens lie the smaller container and balcony gardens, categories introduced in recent years in a bid to make the show more accessible. This is an important nod to the fact that terraces, balconies and little courtyards are just as valid as gardens the size of a basketball court.
They are also a more reliable source of inspiration than whatever is named best in show. I can marvel at a rare species of climbing rose or the canopy of established hazel trees – as Tom Stuart-Smith brought to Chelsea this year in his escapist National Garden Scheme garden – but the back-garden inspiration from these smaller plots filters down more swiftly.
Read more at theguardian.com