And now for something completely different, a garden that should appeal to those of you with more freestyle sensibilities.
There are always one or two show gardens that linger in the mind from one year to the next and they are frequently conceived by Cleve West. His 2016 design for Chelsea Flower Show sponsors M&G Investments will surely be remembered as one of the most effortlessly beautiful creations in the event’s recent history. Best in Show was always going to be a close run thing, a two-horse race between this exquisite evocation of an Exmoor landscape and Andy Sturgeon’s homage to the Jurassic period. The latter won the coveted prize but was so different in tone and concept that it could not overshadow the brilliance of Cleve West’s romantic, naturalistic scheme.
Despite giving the impression of being a bit wild and wooly, the M&G Garden had fine structure, great planting and plenty of interest. What clinched it for me was how the designer had transported the damp, cow dung, cut grass and cow parsley scented essence of Somerset to the heart of London. Water settled in shallow depressions hewn from cool grey stone, rough-barked oaks cast dappled deep shade on the ground, and a dense carpet of “wild” flowers jostled to secure the brightest positions before the canopy closed over for summer.
Cleve West spent his teenage years living on Exmoor when his family moved to the pretty village of Porlock to run a hotel. It was the memory of this happy time and the ancient oak woodlands surrounding the village that inspired his garden. The stone and gravel path leading from the front of the garden to the sunken terrace and pool at the back was a metaphor for his own journey into garden design, which was not one he had planned. Unsure at first, the path is surfaced with gravel and pebbles, transitioning into smooth, sawn stone at the far end. There can be no question that Cleve has attained incredible maturity during his unexpected career as a garden designer and he’s relaxed about the hype surrounding the judging and medal allocation: “I’ve done it enough times not to get too involved in all that speculative stuff” he says.
As I stood admiring his garden at 7am on the first day of the show, shafts of bright sunlight filtering through tender oak leaves, illuminating the sharp green foliage and bright flowers beneath, I could imagine myself in any one of hundreds of peaceful, sheltered woods in the West Country on a mild spring morning. Droplets of water, dispensed about 10 minutes previously by a ruggedly handsome landscape contactor, hung on the tip of every leaf, making the whole garden sparkle. An incredible sense of permanence and lightness prevailed, solid rocks swamped by a glittering flood of fresh new growth.
There was nothing not to like about the M&G Garden although, had this been a real garden, the following season would have been a symphony of green rather than a carnival of colour: exactly what you’d expect of a West Country woodland in summer. As a show garden, views through the plot were also shrouded by a veil of translucent oak leaves, which was lovely and frustrating at the same time.
Having won five RHS gold medals at previous Chelsea Flower Shows I am sure the Best in Show award would have been a welcome addition to Cleve West’s trophy cabinet. Happily for us punters I think we can guarantee that the designer will be back to have another go next year or the year after, which means that by the time the memory of this heavenly garden starts to fade there will be another sent to replace it.
Hear more about the partnership between M&G and Cleve West in this short video:
Plant List
trees, shrubs and climbers
- Quercus pubescens (downy oak)
- Hedera helix “Arborea”
- Lonicera periclymenum
- Rosa pimpinellifolia
- Vaccinium corymbosum
- Vaccinium myrtillus
Perennials
- Acanthus mollis “Rue Ledan”
- Ajuga reptans
- Alchemilla erythropoda
- Amsonia hubrichtii
- Anemone leveillei
- Angelica dahurica
- Aquilegia alpina
- Aquilegia chrysantha
- Athamantha turbith
- Asarum europaeum
- Bunium bulbocastanum
- Bupleurum perfoliatum “Bronze Form”
- Campanula persicifolia “Alba”
- Cardamine pratensis
- Centranthus ruber “Albiflorus”
- Cirsium atropurpureum “Trevor’s Blue Wonder”
- Digitalis grandiflora
- Digitalis lutea
- Disporopsis pernyi
- Epimedium “Amanagowa”
- Epimedium “Flowers of Sulphur”
- Euphorbia amygdaloides “Purpurea”
- Euphorbia “Whistleberry Garnet”
- Euphorbia wallichii
- Fragaria vespa
- Geranium pyrenaicum “Bill Wallis”
- Geranium robertianum
- Geranium sylvaticum
- Geum “Savannah Sunset”
- Gillenia trifoliata
- Gillenia stipulata
- Helleborus foetidus “Wester Flisk”
- Hosta “Devon Green”
- Iris foetidissima
- Iris sibirica “Tropic Night”
- Lamium maculatum
- Lamium galeobdolon
- Libertia grandiflora
- Ligusticum lucidum
- Ligusticum scoticum
- Lunaria annua “Chedglow”
- Lunaria rediviva
- Meconopsis cambrica
- Molopopspermum peloponnesiacum
- Mukdenia rossii
- Omphalodes cappadocica
- Phlox divaricata “Clouds of Perfume”
- Ranunculus acris “Flore Pleno”
- Saxifraga urbium
- Silene fimbriata
- Soleirolia soleirolii
- Symphytum x uplandicum “Moorland Heather”
- Thalictrum “Black Stockings”
- Trollius x cultorum “Cheddar”
- Valeriana officinalis
- Valeriana pyrenacia
- Zizia aurea
Ferns
- Asplenium scolpendrium
- Asplenium trichomanes
- Blechnum spicant
- Dryopteris felix-mas
- Polypodium vulgare
- Polystichum setiferum
Grasses
- Briza media “Golden Bee”
- Deschampsia flexuosa
- Luzula sylvatica
- Melica altissima “Alba”
- Melica nutans
Bulbs
- Allium cowannii
- Camassia leichtlinii “Semiplena”
- Muscari armeniacum
- Nectaroscordum siculum
Annuals
- Taenidia integerrima
Categories: Chelsea flower show, Flower Shows, Flowers, Foliage, Garden Design, Landscape Design, London, Perennials, Photography, Planting Design, Plants
Love this garden. Always prefer the naturalistic approach, here it is done near to perfection.
Glad you loved it June! Definitely a very English garden and inspiring for those of us with shady plots.
Do you know, I’d stood gazing at this garden for hours but it never occurred to me that it didn’t have furniture on the terrace, until I read your post? That’s how perfectly it was done; even the curiosities don’t jump out and look at all wrong!
In fairness he mentioned, when being interviewed on the BBC, that he had considered it and then decided against cluttering the space up with furniture. Oh to have that kind of restraint!
My personal favorite. Cleve doesn’t make a wrong step with this one. I wish I could transport it to my back garden.
I wish I could roll it up and send it to you!
Lovely wildish woodland feel…Emphasis seems to be on blues, soft yellows and white flowers which create such a fresh and naturalistic scheme, especially with a range of ferns, grasses and of course the multi-stemmed Oak providing fresh green traceries below and above… Thanks for including Cleve’s plant list. Your description of the plantings, and delightful photos really give a sense of the experience for those of us who could only attend vicariously… Thanks for sharing : )
You are welcome Jo. A rogue orange geum, despite being “on trend”, was not on the original plant list which instead included a yellow variety. The planting was lovely and evoked an earlier phase of springtime.
The stone work was magnificent. The juxtaposition of massive slabs with hand-sized stonework in the walls and patios blended the geologically ageless and the artfully homey. And the pristine flow of water gliding from beneath the pondside monolith, instead of the conventional waterfall, gave it an eerie touch of fairyland.
Poetically put Dale. I agree with you about the touch of fairyland. A garden capable of transporting visitors to a place in their imagination.