Chelsea Flower Show – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

Plant of the Month: Iris (May 2024)

The show gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show each May just zing with the stunning colours of the irises in bloom and they really are one of the main attractions (apart from roses) that are on display. Being ‘show-stoppers’, their impact allows the designers to then infill and arrange around them the more delicate flowers and foliage to an harmonious effect. Visitors admire, with ‘oooh’s and aaah’s’ at the soft, subtle shades and again, of the deeply-rich and vibrant colours of each and every iris grouping.

The name Iris means rainbow and in Greek mythology ‘Goddess of the Rainbow’. The petals and roots of several species, including Iris germanica (bearded) and Iris pallida (Dalmatian/Orris root) are used in the beauty industry, in the manufacture of perfumes, lotions, in food such as spices and even added to gin. Seemingly, the dried root, after 3 years, has the aroma of violets. This industry goes back to the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians and probably long before their time.

I have an Iris pallida flowering in my front garden, low-growing, which is highly fragrant. This was kindly given to me by Penny S some years ago. The flower is fading so unfortunately not worthy of a photograph but it certainly should be grown, as the variegated grey-foliage blends nicely with neighbouring plants. I wouldn’t be without it.

My number-one favourite, though, is Iris ‘Langport Wren’, a Kelways‘ introduction from 1973 and deservedly worthy of the RHS Award of Garden Merit. It was flowering in my front garden until a few days ago when the slugs/snails chomped its head off! The fragrance is reputedly of orange and chocolate – but I wouldn’t know as I haven’t had the chance to find out!!! The first photo below is of this delectable flower, a painterly amalgamation of browns, purples and russets, growing in Margaret T’s garden.

CABAHS medal-winning Chelsea experiences

As a volunteer at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, I was expecting to be revelling in the uncrowded gardens at Press Day today, prior to going to work in the very crowded gardens later in the week. Very sad. But as I have time on my hands, I have looked into some of CABAHS history at the Show.

On 18^th May 1987, CABAHS won a Grenfell Silver Gilt medal at that year’s show, for a window box display. In those days a lot of the Affiliated Horticultural Societies entered exhibits, as the Chelsea grounds were not so pressed for space or so prohibitively expensive. Here is our winning entry (thank you to Joyce and Jane for these photos).

In 1990, CABAHS won a Bronze medal in the hanging basket category. Then in 1991, we really went to town! With the help of sponsors, the Society entered the “City or Town Courtyard Garden” category. The brief was “An interpretation of plants to consider in the lifestyle conditions for the occupants of a property situated in a City or Town, with limited space”. The space given was 14ft x 11ft (4.3m x 3.4m). So here is the Plan:

191Courtyard Design

Here are pictures of the build process. Can you imagine the huge organisation that must have gone on behind the scenes, for our small amateur group! Marshalls (which is still in business) supplied the paving and seats. Members supplied a lot of the plants and organised the collection and transport.

391Courtyard 3

And the finished result:

591Chelsea Courtyard Final

Here are some members (Win H on the left and Marjorie P) relaxing in the garden while the visitors queue around them.

991Courtyard ladies sitting

We were featured on the BBC coverage, Alan Titchmarsh looks very young! He said there were 29 show gardens that year, and marvelled at the idea that some of them cost nearly £65,000. Those were the days. The presenter for the small gardens was Anne Gregg. She complimented our design for getting a veg bed and herbs into the space, as well as the scented geraniums display.

791Chelsea Courtyard Queue

891Chelsea Courtyard Medal

We even got a mention in Amateur Gardening magazine.

999Courtyard Magazine

CABAHS entered the Courtyard Gardens again in 1992 and won a Bronze medal, and won a Silver in 1994 for its Windowbox and Hanging basket display.

I hope you enjoy this week’s TV coverage of the last decade of Chelsea, and look forward with fingers crossed to next year’s “real” show.

Kathy A

RHS Chelsea Exhibitors – A-Z List

The RHS is busy planning its Virtual Chelsea Flower Show, which will take place from Monday May 18th. In the meantime, they have put the whole A-Z list of exhibitors up on their website, and its a very good place to browse. Click on the exhibitor name and you get a short description of the nursery or company and the web link to their site. Good to support, some of these are small companies.

Chelsea bits & pieces

Plant of the Year at the 2019 Chelsea Flower Show was this unassuming but rather pretty Sedum ‘Atlantis’.

Kathy had a great week volunteering at the Show, and was able to have a quick word with Nick Bailey as he was passing by and remind him he is coming to talk to CABAHS for our November meeting. I don’t suppose it was top of his To Do list that day but he was very kind about it!

I expect everyone has been following the BBC coverage of Chelsea – but they didn’t cover very many of the trade stands and some had really fabulous planting. Here’s a pic to give you all “Urn Envy”…