The final planting has just about been done today, with only a handful of plants to quickly put into place tomorrow morning (Sunday). Sam has told us to be clear of things by lunchtime, or in his words 'I need the garden for a few hours', to tidy up and finish off the tiniest details. I looked at him slightly despondently: 'don't worry, I'll give you the garden back afterwards.'I've got a live radio interview on site with Geoff Hodge for BBC Radio Cambridgeshire in the morning and previously to that, a two minute slot with the RHS assessors, a sort of advance party for the judges, to tell them about the garden. They have a written Client's Brief to refer to as well so it's more of a quick blurt about the key points/features and any plant changes. There haven't been any radical ones although some of my perennials I wanted to use are swapped (see earlier blogs!) with others. Essentially, I've created the effect I was aiming for with a slightly different palette of plants but I'm happy with that.
The Homebase team have been fantastic all week, so helpful and enthusiastic about things. On Thursday, I had them washing the three Prunus serula trees to bring out the lovely bark. From late afternoon, the sun shines behind these trees and brings a magical orangey-brown glow to them. Also on Thursday, Ed my gardening supervisor at Brocket Hall (where I'm gardening consultant) came and helped out. He clipped the hornbeam hedge but was told to take his shoes off so as not squash the meadow turf in the process!Press Day is on Monday and I hope I have few functioning brain cells left to talk sense to journalists! Today I was asked if all the colour in the garden was a response to the cool green of Chelsea's palette. I created my plant list last October- November, not knowing that green was a predominant feature at Chelsea, so my plants were chosen for texture, effect and place and not a knee-jerk reaction to Chelsea's plants. Besides, a herbaceous colour without colour doesn't exist in my gardens!
