The RHS Chelsea Flower Show opens to the public on 21st May, but the team at Sparsholt College are ready well over a week in advance.

Chris Bird, lecturer in horticulture at Sparsholt College, along with his dynamic team of past and current students are putting in all the hours. Every element of their garden is about to be transported to the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, where it will be constructed within The Great Pavilion.

Not only are they under pressure to produce a garden filled with exceptional plants, including eight new cultivars, for the 157,000 visitors who come to the show, but equally they aim to keep up the medal-winning success regularly achieved by Sparsholt College in Hampshire.

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It’s early May and I find the team in the ‘Chelsea tunnel’ all wearing sunglasses against the glare, along with a smell of sawdust and paint in the air. They’re preparing the hard landscaping for a trial build. They’re the shapes that will give their Behind the Genes garden form and structure and in this design includes a shed, some fencing, a sculpture and paving. As well as providing a base for the softer elements – the plants and flowers – each item has a function.

• The shed will display a T.V. screen and an iPad – possibly sounding like the perfect shed to some.
• The fence panels will create divisions and a foil for the plants, as well as exhibiting information boards.
• The sculpture gives visitors a clue about the theme of the garden, as well as height and visual impact.
• The paving, laid in a chevron pattern, will have potted plants placed on it.

The DNA spiral ladder, known as a double helix, is represented here as a metal sculpture. A different colour depicts the unique bonds that form among each of the four nucleotides or bases. DNA is the genetic code that determines all the characteristics of a living thing. Plants use DNA to pass on traits like colour and height.

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As promised, here it is: the plant that’s been trained strictly anti-clockwise – practically since it was a seedling!

Clematis ‘Kokonoe’ (above) has a magical quality: flowers that change shape. At first, rich purple blooms emerge with a single layer of petals, but as the season goes on it produces a wonderful pompom centre; a flower within a flower. It has a double-flower trait and its beauty is a sign of the success of genetics and plant breeding.

Techniques used to improve plant species are also valuable in edible crops. Various peas grown for the Sparsholt garden, with wonderful names like ‘Jumbo’, ‘Shiraz’ and ‘Bikini’, have been developed with attractive attributes. Amongst the heavy croppers and dwarf varieties there’s a leafless pea; it’s been developed to improve harvesting, as the leaves tend to block up the threshing mechanism. How can it photosynthesise? Luckily Chris is nearby to explain: in the absence of leaves the plant uses stipules, a leaflike appendage borne in pairs at the base of the stalk.

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Constant maintenance is needed:

• Training and tying in of peas, sweet-peas and Clematis – anticlockwise
• Plant spacing has to be increased as they grow
• Monitoring for pests
• Plants that are not up to standard are selected for culling
• Moving plants to assist with irrigation, to harden them off or to encourage more buds to form
• And watering . . .

Of course plants depend on us for all their requirements and Chris refers to the ‘Fine Art of Watering’

Well, watering really is a tricky thing to teach. The answer to how much and how often depends on so many factors. Like: how old the plant is, how hot or cool, windy or not conditions have been. And that’s just the beginning . . .

Watering tips from the team:

Not too early, to avoid the leaves burning in bright sunshine –

Alex

By hand: it’s a bit of a hassle having to keep refilling the can, but you’re able to get right in there with the water –

Jess

There are so many risks and responsibilities with watering –

Liz

Water leaves a chalky residue, which then has to be wiped off every leaf before the show –

Chris

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And this beauty (below) went up to London for a press engagement a fortnight before this years show. It bears six times more flowers than the average hydrangea and with a long flowering period, it’s a match made in heaven for gardens in need of a hardy shrub. It gained RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year 2018.

How the foxgloves have changed in a month:

In spite of the unbelievable level of care dispensed to the 2,500 plants being transported to London by Chris’s team, around 1,500 will pass muster and be used in the Behind the Genes garden. We hope to see you there!

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Next Time:

• Find out how the Sparsholt team get everything to London and how the ‘build’ goes . . .
• Will Thompson & Morgan win Plant of the Year 2019?
• Will Sparsholt College win a medal?
• Follow my blog to find out!
• Remember to share this blog with your friends too . . .

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